Suffering → Endurance → Character → Hope
Romans 5:1-5
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 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. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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.
Imagine the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, in misery because of their bondage. This is what life is like for everyone, apart from Christ. Paul has been explaining how both Jews and Gentiles are enslaved to sin and living in misery. But Jesus died for sinful humanity and everyone who trusts Him will be freed from slavery to sin and death. Those who trust Jesus have “peace.” Imagine the Hebrews on the far side of the Red Sea, freed forever from Pharaoh. Just like the Hebrews in the wilderness, those of us who have been freed are eager to enter Promised Land where God’s glory shines and everything is renewed. We rejoice at that hope:
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God [5:2]
But we’re not there yet. Life can still be difficult. Those freed Hebrew slaves still had times of trial in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land. But, before them constantly was the glory of God, leading the way:
21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. [Exodus 13:21-22]
So, the dark night meant that the Lord’s fire before them shined even brighter.
Paul says it is the same way for us today, that even the hard times can be good:
[W]e rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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. [5:3-5]
Suffering can produce endurance;
Endurance can produce strong character;
Character can sustain hope;
Hope is not an empty feeling, but a sure thing, because:
God has given us His Holy Spirit, and He makes God’s love real to us so that even now—when things are hard—we know that everything is going to be okay.
Suffering→endurance→character→hope.
There is an idea (recently expressed by the author G. Michael Hopf, though the idea has been around for centuries):
Hard times create strong men;
Strong men create good times;
Good times create weak men;
Weak men create hard times.
It is of course an oversimplification, but there is obvious truth in the idea that difficult circumstances can produce people of strong character.
Paul explains to the Romans that those who are in Christ can even be grateful for sufferings because, through the grace of God, suffering can be used by God to produce hope that will not disappoint.
What if the Lord is allowing difficulty in your life for your own good? What if what God wants to produce in you is hope?