Kissing the Cross~Quotes on Suffering

Tomorrow I will be preaching on why our good Father allows us to suffer. Here are some quotes from men of faith and from the Scriptures about suffering. Of course, these are only a few Scripture verses on suffering from the hundreds I could have chosen. Without suffering we cannot be sons, which is hard to hear because we often think that being a son will keep us from suffering. 

Scripture

Exodus 2:23-24
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 

Job 3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 

Psalm 69:1-3
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. 

Psalm 119:71  It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

Psalm 143:3-4
For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. 

Luke 23:32-33
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 

Acts 5:41
Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 

Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

II Timothy 3:12
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

Hebrews 2:10
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 

Hebrews 5:8
Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. 

Revelation 1:9
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 

Quotes

God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering. Augustine

Holy Christian people are externally recognized by the holy possession of the sacred cross. They must endure every misfortune and persecution, all kinds of trials and evil from the devil, the world, and the flesh, by inward sadness, timidity, fear, outward poverty, contempt, illness, and weakness, in order to become like their head, Christ. Martin Luther

It is indeed a singular consolation, calculated to mitigate [lessen] the bitterness of cross, when the faithful hear, that by sorrows and tribulations they are sanctified for glory as Christ himself was; and hence they see sufficient reason why they should lovingly kiss the cross rather than dread it. John Calvin 

Christ did not suffer so you wouldn't suffer. He suffered so that when you suffer you will become like Him. Tim Keller

God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C.S. Lewis

To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering, which is the fruit of exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.  Richard Sibbes

The secret formula of the saints: When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines. Samuel Rutherford

I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable … Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library. Charles Spurgeon

I have never heard anyone say, "The really deep lessons of life have come through times of ease and comfort." But I have heard strong saints say, "Every significant advance I have ever made in grasping the depths of God's love and growing deep in him, has come through suffering." John Piper.  

Participation in Christ's glory can only come through participation in his sufferings. Douglas Moo