he word was from Paul, and it snagged on my soul: �That I may know him . . . and the fellowship of his sufferings� (Phil. 3:10, KJV).* Ever since, over many years, it has goaded me to understand and experience it.

What about this Paul�did he need to see a psychiatrist? He also said that he tried to fill up what was lacking in Christ�s sufferings (Col. 1:24), and that he took pleasure in insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties (2 Cor. 12:10). Is all this evidence of psychological problems?

Or could it be that it�s Paul who has the sound mind? That suffering, hardship, and pain serve a key purpose in God�s hands?

Such ideas fall strangely on the modern mind. The good life as it is touted by the media is one free of suffering. Hundreds, yes thousands, of books, magazines, and programs focus on the pleasure to be derived from food, sex, travel, homes, cars, gadgets, and so on.

But the goal of pleasure betrays the seeker. A life without trials and obstacles, struggle and pain, becomes devoid of meaning. �It is not pain that has driven the West into emptiness,� notes Ravi Zacharias; �it has been the drowning of meaning in the oceans of our pleasure.�¹

A sob of suffering echoes through the Scriptures. God�s people endure hardship, trouble, difficulties, and pain. God does not bring it (�An enemy did this� [Matt. 13:28]), but He takes suffering and uses it for a redemptive purpose. And in the supreme act, God Himself becomes human, suffers like us and with us, and dies on the cross.

�Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps,� Peter tells us (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus Himself became �perfect through suffering� (Heb. 2:10), and �learned obedience from what he suffered� (Heb. 5:8).

Some qualities of character develop only in the crucible of suffering. The book of Hebrews describes the discipline of our loving heavenly Father: �God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it� (Heb. 12:10, 11). Peter tells us that �he who has suffered in his body is done with sin� (1 Peter 4:1), and links suffering with the perfecting of our characters (1 Peter 5:10).

The poet W. B. Yeats put it like this:

�But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.�

�The trials of life are God�s workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character,�² wrote Ellen White. Going further, she linked suffering with success: �Trials and obstacles are His chosen methods of discipline, and His appointed conditions of success.�³

Words, words, words; but are they borne out in living?

I believe the answer is a resounding yes! The noblest souls to walk this earth, the finest and the best, have been purified by the fire.

We visited Jill Anderson last year in a hospital in Toronto, Australia. She and Richard, whom she married, were our classmates at Avondale College. We all went to India as missionaries; for a time we served together on the faculty at Spicer College. Later Richard and Jill gave many more years overseas, serving in the South Pacific.

Only the eyes, only the voice. Cancer had struck her two years before; now it devastated her body. She was a wisp, almost transparent. Only the eyes, only the voice, were those of the Jill we knew.

For 30 minutes we talked and laughed and cried together.

It was a blessed, a holy occasion. Jill�s eyes glowed with hope and joy. No questioning of God. No anger. Only a deep confidence, the serenity of someone who has come through the fire perfected.

She died six days later.

Friend of mine, suffering comes to you and me in many forms. Its hardest strokes, maybe, involve relationships with loved ones and friends.

But as we enter its crucible�because we certainly will�we can know that One passed through the fire before us. He will be with us and will bring us out like pure gold.

*Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts are from the New International Version.

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¹ Jesus Among Other Gods (Word, 2000), p. 13.
² Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 10.
³ The Acts of the Apostles, p. 524.

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William G. Johnsson is editor of the Adventist Review