Pain, Perplexity & Promotion

I've been thinking a lot about the purpose of pain in our lives. When Sarah and I went on our East Coast trip we heard more then 7 sermons on testing, trials, and suffering. After that I was kind of wondering if God was trying to say something to us. God had really spoken to me from the book of James during our third miscarriage about faith and perseverance in trials. As some of you know that miscarriage happened around the time we faced a bunch of other problems in the ministry that we had never faced...things that hurt in more ways than there's time to write. So During the last month I've decided to see what might be happening here. I got a book from my Bro-In-Law, David G., called Pain, Perplexity and Promotion that examines the book of Job (I thought it fitting given the melee of sermons on the topic). So far I had heard about the Israelite's testing in the wilderness, Jesus' testing in the wilderness and on the cross, and the testing of the church in James and Revelation. After finishing PP&P last night I decided to read one of C.S. Lewis' books I'd been meaning to get around to: A Grief Observed (it chronicles his grief over the loss of his wife to cancer).
Here are some of the interesting things I've learned from both:

• A different look at Suffering in the Bible:
• The Bible begins with suffering (Job was the first book in the Bible to be written).
• The New Testament begins with suffering (James was the first book in the NT to be written)
• The Bible ends with suffering and then VICTORY in the book of Revelation.
• ...this isn't the goosebumps kind of thing we all think of when we read "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you not to harm you." Maybe He prospers us by making us better???
  
• God tests us BECAUSE He loves us (Job had it going on, yet God wanted to take him deeper and there was a deep part of him that needed to change in the process of suffering.)
• It said He was pleased with Job...it was God's idea!
• Sounds sick unless you think of the example of a good doctor who wants to make you better through surgery...which is what happens when we persevere through testing.
  
• A lot of times you don't realize you're grieving until you've been in it for a while (it took me several months to realize that I was grieving a family and ministry loss)
• Grief clouds your understanding when you're in it.
• Pain and Suffering are part of God's plan of promotion...We all want to be part of the five-fold ministry, but do we really want to go through the fire?
  
• The test from God and temptation from the enemy are the same event (each of them has a different end in mind...the devil wants to make you BITTER, but God wants to make you BETTER).
• Actually the devil wants to kill you, but if he can get you to give up or avoid the test then he's neutralized you and he won.
• God does amazing things through suffering in our lives that wouldn't be possible without it...it's like a pressure cooker that speeds up the readiness process.
  
• Until you've suffered, it's really easy to look at outward appearances and judge the cause of others' sufferings (like Jobs friends)
  
• There's a supernatural release that happens when you bless those who judged or accused you in your testing (like Job at the end).
• I experienced pain, but I have not experienced persecution...

It's too late for more, but I'd like to read C.S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" one of these days...I also read his Screwtape Proposes a Toast. I bought his greatest works in one book...cool way to get them all at a good price. He definitely makes you think.