Rom.4:24-5:11
"... Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
The second paragraph above is part of the first. We rejoice in our sufferings... how? why? The human tendency is to say, "God must be angry with me, and therefore I am suffering." Paul is saying, God shows His love for us in that Jesus died to save us while we were still ruined sinners. If Jesus' death paid the punishment for my sin and reconciled me to God, much more will Jesus' life now in Heaven interceding for us save us from God's wrath in our life presently. God cannot have His anger upon us now, because the Son He loves, whom He always listens to, is on our side and pleading our case before Him. Therefore nothing in my life can negate that. No circumstances can be construed to be evidence of God's wrath upon me, if I am in Jesus.
Therefore - I can rejoice in sufferings, because I can be sure that in Jesus, God's love is resting upon me. Therefore He must mean good by giving me trials. He will use those trials to produce the endurance of faith, which will yield character, which gives me hope that I am truly His, that I am truly being made more like Jesus, which is the most loving thing God can do for me! And this in turn gives me more assurance of His love for me, love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Suffering then - rather than being evidence of God being against me - is an evidence of His love, if I am hidden in Jesus. It brings me closer to the Father!
