The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. | Deuteronomy 8:1–6
On Sunday, we read the above as our Reading of the Law. It points out the fact that God is working through both the blessings and suffering of His people. He is giving them what they need, while making sure that they don’t make these things ultimate. He is humbling them and giving them a reason for hope.
The first thing that we can take away from this is that the health and wealth gospel is absolute garbage. The health and wealth gospel basically says God wants you to be healthy and wealthy, and if you just had enough faith, you would be blessed by God with health and wealth. There is no place in this theology for a God who intentionally humbles His people; who allows them to struggle and suffer for the specific purpose of not being fulfilled by the things of this life. But if God disciplines those He loves, then hard times a measure of His love, not a weakness of faith.
The second aspect that we should glean from this pushes the other way: the difficulties of this life do not equate to righteousness. I say this, because there seems to be a rise in the church for what has been called: the evangelical persecution complex. This does the opposite of the health and wealth gospel, claiming that suffering is the fruit of faithfulness. It measures faith based on how much you are disliked (and begins to see oppression in everything).
What both of these perspectives do is take one part of what God is doing without the other. Health and wealth sees God’s work of blessing and creating hopefulness, but denies his work of humility. A persecution complex celebrates humility, but does not acknowledge how blessed we are at every moment. The reason why both of these views grow is because you can find evidence to support them, though it also requires ignoring the other half. God is both bringing hope and producing humility, at the same time.
This is complicated for us to imagine, because we assume that these pursuits are opposites; to push toward one is to move away from the other. Blessing and suffering do not seem to run parallel. The reason why it is so hard for us to keep them together is because we have a temporary and individualistic view. This means that we measure things based on how things are now and how they affect us. In contrast, God’s purposes are eternal and in relation to Himself. He is working everything toward a future that is defined by His glory. Blessing and suffering are both tools towards God’s sovereign end. God’s goal is not about your best life now, but about forming you for a future perfection. In order to get you there, humility and hope must be cultivated.
As you face both blessings and suffering, see them not as moments to be grabbed on to or avoided, but as opportunities to be formed for the glory of God (to borrow a phrase from a book of the same name). With this beatific vision (another name for the full experience of God in eternity) in focus, this life becomes a preparation for what is to come. Humility and hope become traits that God is working in us, to be the people who we were created to be.
This takes the ultimate weight off of blessings and suffering, while also giving both a purpose in this life. It allows us to not get lost in the moment (or in ourselves), but to use the ups and downs in this life to become more dependent and in love with God. Do not waste this journey because you are too busy trying to find heaven on earth. Be swept up in God’s eternal plan – it is only here that you will find the joy that you are looking for.