I was studying The Zohar this week and I ran across something that I wanted to share; a few verses regarding the suffering, and to expand upon it a bit, mainly with scripture.
My own personal life has been filled with challenges that I've had to overcome. I know that I'm no different than anyone else and that everyone has their own cross to bear, but I often wondered why and what I had done to deserve much of the suffering that I've had to endure (as a great deal of it was sent my way and was not by own actions). Thankfully, as my faith has grown into maturity, I now see it all as a blessing and I do my best to welcome it into my life and thank HaShem for every single bit of it. We should all thank Our Creator for every single challenge that we've surmounted, every hard lesson learned and for every single tear that we've shed in this life. The goal of this post is to hopeful bring a bit of light on this for all of us and to help us keep HaShem before us at all times. He is Our Good Shepard and He will give us the strength that we need to endure the trials in this life. Walk the path that He laid out for us, follow His Commandments and keep Him as close to you as you possibly can.
From The Zohar, Section (Parasha) Vayeshev
25. Rabbi Chiya opened the discussion with the verse: "Therefore listen to me you men of understanding: Far be it from El to do wickedness and from Shadai to commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall He pay back to him, and according to his ways will He cause to befall every man" (Iyov 34:10). Come and behold: when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He created it by Judgment, and it exists upon Judgment. All worldly affairs exist according to the principles of Judgment. Nevertheless, to support the world and prevent its destruction, the Holy One, blessed be He, spreads Mercy over it. This Mercy tempers Judgment, so that it does not put an end to the world. Thus, the world acts according to Mercy, and endures due to it.
26 - And if you say that the Holy One, blessed be He, judges man without justice, we have learned that when Judgment prevails on man and he is righteous, it is because of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He. As we have learned, when the Holy One, blessed be He, feels pity for a man, it is to bring the man closer to Him. The Holy One, blessed be He, breaks the body so as to give the soul total control. Then man can come closer to Him with love, as is fitting, and the soul controls man while his body is weakened!
27 - A man needs to have a weak body and a strong soul that shall grow stronger still. Then he is beloved by the Holy One, blessed be He. According to the friends, the Holy One, blessed be He, causes sorrow to the righteous in this world so that the righteous may merit the world to come.
28 - When the soul is weak and the body strong, man is hated by the Holy One, blessed be He, who does not care for him. Therefore, He inflicts no suffering on him in this world. His life runs smoothly and perfectly, for if this man gives alms or performs a kindness, the Holy One, blessed be He, rewards him in this world so that he will have no portion in the world to come. This is why Onkelos translated the verse: "And he repays them that hate him to their face" (Devarim 7:10) as 'And he repays them that hate him in this world.' Thus, the righteous person, who always experiences pain, is beloved by the Holy One, blessed be He. This is true only if he is found to have committed no sin that merits punishment.
36. Rabbi Elazar said that the Holy One, blessed be He, does everything according to Justice. IF HE BRINGS SUFFERING ON A RIGHTEOUS MAN, HE DOES SO to purify that soul (Nefesh) and bring it to the world to come, for all the deeds of the Holy One, blessed be He, are true and just. To remove from the soul the filth it accumulated in this world, the body is crushed and the soul cleansed. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brings pain to the just man, so that he will be cleansed from all sins and thereby merit life in the world TO COME. As it is written: "Hashem tries the righteous" (Tehilim 11:5), as we have already learned.
The Apostles truly understood all of this and it's evident throughout their writings. The following example below if one of my favorite sections from all of Paul's Letters:
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
"My Grace is Sufficient For You" - INDEED!
Paul really sums all this up beautifully, there's really not much else to say here. If the Apostle Paul, who witnessed to gentiles and ultimately made Jesus a house hold name across the entire planet, had to suffer in this life; then we know there must be a purpose for it all. People love to misquote Paul and to twist his words around to fit all sorts of strange views. To be honest, it literally took me years to understand much of what he wrote (and I'm always learning)...however, over the past few years, I've really developed an entirely different appreciation for Paul. Paul is difficult to understand sometimes because he was truly on a whole other spiritual level that most of us will never achieve. I now see his writings as some of the most enlightened and thought provoking works in the entire Bible. Much Love for Paul!
"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." - 1 Peter 5:10
This a main idea covered throughout scripture, so I will point out some of many verses that cover this idea of "Suffering as Refinement":
"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." - Job 23:10
"The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth." - Psalm 11:5
"For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined." - Psalm 66:10
"The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts." - Proverbs 17:3
"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." - Isaiah 48:10
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God." - Zechariah 13:9
Knowing what I know now, I can honestly thank HaShem sincerely for all of my troubles in this life and for every one that surely is to come later in life. Woe to the man who doesn't suffer in this life, as he is surely receiving his rewards now and will not see anything good in Olam HaBa (The World To Come).
חסד ושלום עליכם והרבה אהבה וברכות
May Grace and Peace Be Upon You and Much Love and Blessings!
Amen! Woe to the one who never suffers. Everybody suffers in this world, but it is people like us who suffer constantly with this broken world for a greater good, and that greater good is Yeshua HaMashiach.