Suffering and God Love...

[Sissy]

Very true, so what does that tell us about God Love and how does it benefit us for Jesus to suffer without retribution?

One of several passages that comes to my mind is 2 Corinthians 1:4

I think that verse is very telling about the friends of Job.
He was hurting terribly.
And rather than just comfort him (as they should have), they accused him and tried to make him doubt the relationship between him and God.

It's these words that should comfort us, not that our life in the flesh will be a bed of roses:

1 Thessalonians 4 ESV
(17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
(18) Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

[Mr E]

and so how did God use it? What good came from it as God promises in Romans 8:28?

btw I love that song, especially after knowing the story behind it...when our son died, his favorite song at the time was by downhere called How Many Kings I can't hear that song without being reminded that God didn't ask for more than He had already given, even when He asked for our son...songs have huge meaning.

No earthly good. His body was broken, and his spirit was diminished. His integrity was never damaged however and he went to the grave with his character intact, but there was no 'earthly good' in losing a leg to gangrene. His testimony needed no improvement.

The good that came from a life well lived was received when that life ended. While a living soul that rotting, stinking diseased flesh was cut off.

 

[Arial]

Psalm 139 is a prayer that David prayed when he was in trouble and suffering unjustly. It is interesting what he said, which takes up most of the psalm, before he came to the short request. I will quote it to put it before our eyes. To me, it puts things into proper perspective and should set our hearts to singing with thanksgiving and trust as we prepare to seek His aid. He is always and only our sole help, though He may use people as a means of giving it.

Oh Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off, You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are aquanted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and light are both alike to You.

For you formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet
unformed.
And in Your book they are all written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O
God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in
number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

And then David asks for God to come to His aid. I am not presenting this as a formula for prayer, but as a way for us to remember who God is and our relationship to Him, as a comfort and confidence and hope.