THE GLORIFIED MISSION OF SUFFERING.

“Do you not understand that God dwells within you, that he has become what you are that he may make you what he is!” [UB Paper 148, Section 6]

Thought Adjuster: “You were just reading about the complexities of the biblical story of Job and his attempts to make sense of his dire predicament. In his days, wealth and prosperity were viewed as sure signs of the divine favor, whereas sickness, personal losses, and any type of misfortune were interpreted as the unequivocal proof that the ‘sufferer’, his ancestry, or the fruit of his loin had brought them upon themselves by living in iniquity. Far from comforting those ‘down on their luck’, such opinions delivered them additional emotional blows, mercilessly ‘hitting them while they were down’. How could these downtrodden and seemingly abandoned souls find the inner strength to go on?

“Do you not see that Job longed for a ‘human’ God, that he hungered to commune with a divine Being who knows man’s mortal estate and understands that the just most often suffer in innocence as a part of this first life of the long Paradise ascent? Wherefore has the Son of Man come forth from the Father to live such a life in the flesh that he will be able to comfort and succor all those who must henceforth be called upon to endure the afflictions of Job.”[UB 148, section 6]

The above statement by Jesus sheds light on the subject of suffering, a light that neither Job nor his ‘friends’ were able to detect in the midst of tribulations. Job’s theological understanding was flawed and thus made it impossible for him to understand the ‘mission’ of the personal suffering he was enduring. At the apex of his distress, he was granted a ‘vision of God’ that was followed by ‘a soul peace that passes all human understanding’.

Since Jesus’ incarnation on earth, a divine Fragment came to indwell each one of you. Jesus Himself, having been subjected to unspeakable human sufferings is always there to ‘comfort you’ in your times of need—unlike Job’s immature friends. What an amazing and unprecedented turn of events it is! “There is correction in suffering”. It is a stern, yet very effective disciplinarian as well as a powerful catalyst for an unprecedented and deeply rewarding God experience.”