In the midst of a tough patch you're going through, you may have heard well-meaning people say,

take heart, God never wastes your suffering. Well, is that statement really true?

Does God redeem our pain? Are unexpected calamities? Today, on Insight for Living, we're listening

to a message that Chuckswendall delivered to a receptive audience of men and women preparing

for ministry. In his address to the students at Dallas Theological Seminary, Chucks shared a

quote that delivers an unpopular truth. When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible

person and crushes him.

Don't miss the messages in your misfortune. There are many of them you have yet to learn,

you've not learned them because you've not suffered the crushings of those misfortunes,

and they will crush you. They will break you down. They will cause you to wonder,

should you be doing what you're doing? Should you keep on doing it?

Should you ever trust anyone else when a really good friend betrays you?

Should you ever try to select another elder when an elder you have endured has made your

life miserable for years? You're going to be crushed. So don't miss the messages. That's my point.

Now, the Scriptures. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 8 and 9, give us sort of a

difficult job description. We are afflicted in every way. We are perplexed. The passage goes on to say,

it means not knowing which way to turn. Several render this in paraphrases. We are at which end?

You'll be there. You'll be there. We are afflicted. We are at which end? Third, we are persecuted.

And fourth, we are struck down. Knocked down. Now, each of them has a contrast. The benefit,

the message in the misfortune. I'll not get into from this passage. The point is,

you will be pressed on every side. You will be bewildered. You will be at a loss to explain why this happened.

And you will be knocked flat down. Wondering if you'll ever get back up. Yes, yes. Yes, that will happen.

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