From "Suffering Saints,"
by A. W. Pink
"Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19).
In different ways and in various degrees, the Christian is bound to meet with trying opposition: "All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
No matter where they reside, the saints live among those who cannot but cause them suffering. And as Scripture makes abundantly clear—our worst afflictions are to be expected from those who profess to be our brethren and sisters in Christ.
Moreover, there is much within the saint himself which cannot but be the cause and occasion of suffering: indwelling corruptions which ever resist the actings of grace, lusts which have to be mortified, a conscience which accuses us when we displease God.
But the grand thing in which we are here to take to heart, is the fact that the suffering of saints is "according to the will of God." Those oppositions he encounters, the injuries done to him are not accidental: they are not the result of blind chance or fickle fortune—but are according to Divine ordination and ordering.
How inexpressibly blessed to be assured of that! Does it not at once remove the bitterest ingredient from our cup of trouble?
The saint never suffers—except by the will of God. He who is too wise to err, and too loving to be unkind—is the One who mixes the medicine and hands it to us. If only we could always realize this, how many rebellious repinings would be silenced, and the rod meekly borne.
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