You Can Experience Freedom in Suffering
Read Philippians 1:6-7
Today’s Truth
Paul also knew hardship. After all, he wrote Philippians from a prison cell.
The presence of God can’t be kept away by bars and chains. Even in jail, Paul experienced the unhindered presence of God. He continued preaching the good news. He trusted God’s promises of deliverance and prayed for others to be filled with the righteousness that only Jesus can provide (Philippians 1:6-7).
Paul understood that sometimes God trusts us with hardship. That what we see as an obstacle might be God giving us an opportunity.
Discussion Questions
- Do you feel stuck in a season of hardship? Are you fighting your battles with an eternal perspective of from an earthly focus?
- What is the worst-case scenario from the struggle you’re facing today? Ask God to speak to that fear today. How does the Gospel give you hope even in the worst possible outcome?
Application
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be immediately delivered from hard things. But God might have something greater in mind. And if we’ll look to Him in our hard times, we’ll see, like Paul, that what others meant for our harm God can use for good.
When you find yourself in a season of earthly suffering, try to view your hardship from an eternal perspective. Rest in knowing that this life is not all there is. The worst the world can throw at us — death — was defeated at the cross.
