The Fellowship Of His Sufferings

I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Philippians 3:8–10

Christiana Tsai, the Christian daughter of a former governor of Kiangsu Province in China, wrote, “Throughout my many years of illness, I have never dared to ask God why He allowed me to suffer so long. I only ask what He wants me to do.” Saint Augustine wrote, “Better is he that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doeth evil.”

The eagle is the only bird that can lock its wings and wait for the right wind. He waits for the updraft and never has to flap his wings, just soar. So as we wait on God He will help us use the adversities and strong winds to benefit us! The Bible says, “They that wait upon the LORD . . . shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).

Christians can rejoice in the midst of persecution because they have eternity’s values in view. When the pressures are on, they look beyond their present predicament to the glories of heaven. The thought of the future life with its prerogatives and joys helps to make the trials of the present seem light and transient. “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Our Father and our God, help me to wait patiently for Your timing. I am impatient and stubborn, I know. Bless me with Jesus’ calmness and quiet acceptance of Your will. Give me pleasure in just serving You in the way You have planned for me and in Your own good time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).