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There is a peculiar mercy in being
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broken that the comfortable never
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Most of us spend our lives negotiating
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with God. We pray for protection. We ask
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for provision. We strike bargains. Be
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good. Stay healthy. Avoid catastrophe.
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And when the breaking comes anyway, when
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loss arrives despite our faithfulness,
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we feel betrayed. as though God violated
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an agreement he never actually made. But
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consider what the scripture actually
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says, not what we wish it said. In
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Hebrews 12, we find these words, "The
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Lord disciplines the one he loves and he
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chastens every son whom he receives."
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This is not punishment. This is
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A father who loves his child does not
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leave him soft, untested, unable to bear
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weight. Jesus himself learned obedience
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through what he suffered. Not despite
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it, through it. Luke tells us this
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plainly. The son of God, sinless,
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was refined by anguish. If this was
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necessary for him, what makes us think
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we should be exempt? There is a version
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of you that exists only on the other
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side of your suffering. Not because pain
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is good. It is not. But because
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endurance builds something that comfort
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cannot touch, resilience, depth, the
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capacity to love without illusion, to
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trust without guarantee. This is what
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Job discovered in his devastation, not
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answers. Answers would have been easier.
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Instead, he discovered that knowing God
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was larger than understanding why. That
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presence mattered more than explanation.
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The question is not why is God letting
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this happen? The deeper question is what
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is God making of me in this furnace? And
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are you willing to let him finish the
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work even when it costs everything?
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Because the person you will become is
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worth more than the comfort you are
