Suffering Multiplies

Hardship meets everyone sometime in their lives. Often called the “winter season” it is a time that feels barren and empty, like there is no life or growth at all. Like walking through a desert, it seems to drain everything, leaving us feeling dry with nothing left. While that is how it often “feels”, that is not how it actually is. Our feelings do not always accurately reflect the truth.

 

Exodus 1:5, 11-12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

All the people who descended from Jacob were seventy people, but Joseph was already in Egypt…So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they dreaded the sons of Israel.

 

When the Israelites moved to Egypt, the entire “nation” at that time only totaled 70. Yet when they left 400 years later, under the leadership of Moses, the men alone totaled over half a million. That rate of growth is quite remarkable in itself, but just short of miraculous when considering the many years of slavery they lived under. One would think that such great hardship would cause them to decrease, and by scientific, human reasoning and methods it would have.

 

But God…I love this phrase because it captures both the difficulties we face and the great potentials of God at the same time. God saw their hardship and caused them to grow and flourish in spite of it. It was all part of His master plan to show the world His glory and bring His people to the Promised Land. If they had not endured such hardship, they would not have wanted to leave to go to the Land He had for them.

 

Genesis 29:31 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children.

 

The story of Leah, Jacob and Rachel is a tragic tale of a deceitful, manipulative father and a husband’s favoritism (and one of the best examples of the evils of polygamy.) The girls’ father tricked Jacob into marrying Leah even though he wanted Rachel, and then let him marry Rachel later (all to get him to stay and work for him.) Jacob loved Rachel and not Leah. Even though there is no record of the sisters quarreling at this point, just knowing that one’s husband preferred another would be a terrible crucible.

 

But God…He felt sorry for Leah and made up for her lack of love from her husband by blessing her and showing the love He had for her by giving her sons. Bearing sons was the greatest status a woman could have then, the highest honor, and Leah bore four. Even though her husband didn’t love her, she still experienced multiplication by having children (far more than her sister ever had.) That multiplication showed God’s blessing, love, kindness and compassion. He cared enough about how a woman felt, about the unjustness of her husband, to show her how much He loved her.

 

These are just two examples of physical multiplication as a result of hardship and suffering, but the spiritual application is far greater.

 

Acts 5:14 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

And increasingly believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being added to their number

Acts 12:24 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

 

It is important to remember that this increase was in the midst of great persecution. These early Christians faced the daily threat of imprisonment and death. Men and women were being dragged from their homes and beaten, sometimes to death, or locked in prison. They were ostracized by their countrymen and treated even worse by the Roman soldiers because of their new faith. The persecution was so bad it should have driven everyone away from them so that no one would be converted and most would forsake their faith (that was the goal.)

 

But God…Instead of being frightened away, people were continually being drawn to this new faith and new believers were added daily. Their rate of growth was exceedingly greater than that of the Israelites in Egypt. Instead of being deterred, they were strengthened. Instead of hiding, they spread out to reach new people and nations so that the Good News of Jesus Christ stretched beyond the Roman Empire into the far reaches of the world. It was that very persecution the leaders thought would squash this new faith that caused it to grow and spread, and in the process God was able to show His love and power to the world, not through physical miracles, but through the faith and spiritual works of His people.

 

1 Corinthians 3:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

James 1:2-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 

God causes all good growth, but it often comes through hardship and suffering. That is what causes our faith to grow, and it can cause multiplication in and around us. The way we respond to suffering influences others (for good or bad), and that can inspire them to seek this faith which has given us the strength to endure. It can cause them to seek this God who blesses in the midst of hardship and causes such miraculous multiplication. The key is our response.

 

How do you respond to suffering and hardship? Do you continue to trust and have faith, seeking God for strength and endurance, or do you wallow in self pity and bitterness, trying to escape the pain? The answer will determine whether you experience growth or decrease. It is important to note that you may feel dry and empty, like you are shrinking inside, but that may just be God’s spiritual pruning, removing what was holding you back. Don’t pay attention to how you “feel.” That is not an accurate gauge of God’s work. Instead trust God. Seek Him, and He will pull you through and cause the growth.