Remain in the fire until He brings you out of it

Is there ever joy in suffering? Why do we find it so difficult to remain in seasons of suffering? Why is our first response often to ask God to take us out of the fire? Perhaps it is because we struggle to see that even in suffering, God can still be working. Not every suffering is directly caused by God, but no suffering is beyond His ability to use for His purposes. Sometimes the enemy may attack, but God remains sovereign, and even in the things we do not understand, He can refine us, strengthen us and draw us closer to Him. Deuteronomy 8:2 reminds us of the Israelites and the forty years they spent in the wilderness. The wilderness was difficult. They complained, they doubted, they longed for Egypt, and they questioned God. Yet God used those forty years to humble them, test them and reveal what was in their hearts. He taught them dependence. He gave them manna daily and showed them that they could not live by what they had known before, but had to trust Him for their daily bread. Even Jesus, in His deepest agony in the garden, asked the Father if there was another way, yet surrendered His will and said, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” There was agony, but there was also obedience. There was suffering, but there was purpose. And perhaps that is what we forget. We want God to take us out of the fire, when sometimes He is using the fire to purify us. We want the storm to end, when perhaps He is teaching us to keep our eyes fixed on Him in the middle of it. We want the wilderness to be over, when perhaps He is teaching us to depend on Him one day at a time. So, remain in the fire. Cry if you need to. Ask God for strength. Tell Him that it hurts. But do not run from the work He may be doing in you. Let Him refine you. Let Him prune you. Seek Him in the suffering. Eat your daily bread. Keep your eyes on Christ. There can be joy in suffering, not because suffering itself is good, but because we know that God is with us in it and that He can use even the hardest seasons for His glory and our growth. And pretty please do listen to refiner by Maverick City Music💗