She was so small and frail, sitting across from me in the visiting room of the hospital ward. Only a preteen, her illness had robbed her of any excess weight, and her skin stretched tightly over her frame. She had been through so much in the struggle to combat the disease.
 
Yet the eyes that looked back at me were bright with hope and determination. As she spoke of the illness, her focus remained on what God had been teaching her and on His great faithfulness. She understood, on a deeper level than many adults I know, what it was to completely trust in God.  I was thunderstruck at the profound wisdom coming out of this young girl.  The struggle to survive had spiritually matured her far beyond her years in just a few short months. I left the hospital awed by the evidence of God at work in her young life.
 
While none of us would choose to suffer, Scripture teaches us that beneficial results come from suffering. It is a crucible of sorts. The Refiner's fire purges us of our imperfections, purifying the hardest of hearts.
 
A silver refiner begins his work by setting crushed ore containing silver over an open flame. As the heat brings each mineral to its melting point, it liquefies and rises to the surface of the molten mix. The refiner skims off the impurities. He continues to carefully tend the flames, making sure the heat is neither too cool nor hot. Gradually more and more substances melt, rise to the top, and are skimmed by the refiner. After a long day over the carefully tended ore, the refiner can eventually see his own reflection in the purified silver remaining in the crucible. This is when he knows that the process has finished its work, and the silver is complete.
 
Isaiah refers to the work of God in His people as a refiner's fire. The people had become corrupt and had turned away from their God. "How the faithful city has become a harlot! . . . Your silver has become dross. . . I will smelt away your dross as with lye and will remove all your alloy" (Isaiah 1:21-22, 25). By bringing Israel through a refining process, God would purify them of their sin.
 
Peter tells us that the one who has suffered in his body has ceased from sin (1 Peter 4:1). The process of suffering invokes a change in us that will not be accomplished through any other means. The silly things that tempted us to sin are no longer even on the radar screen when we are in pain. The unimportant details which would have distracted us in our walk with God seem trivial. In the midst of suffering, we see reality for what it really is. Life is nothing without Christ. When everything else is stripped away, He is all that matters.
 
Suffering increases our intimacy with God. We find ourselves at the end of our rope, out of resources and options. So we cling to Him. We discover on a deeper level than ever before what it means to depend fully on Him. It clears any idea of self-sufficiency right out of our heads. This is a good thing, according to Paul: "I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). God does His greatest work through us when we are weak and clinging to Him.

 

However, as we suffer, we can circumvent these great benefits by allowing our focus to continually dwell on ourselves. Rather than learning to lean upon the Savior and growing closer to Him through the process, in our self-absorption we become bitter about the pain. The psalmist catches Himself in this downward spiral: "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence" (Psalm 42:5). The key to benefiting from suffering is in fixing our gaze beyond ourselves on to the One who gives us hope.
 
My young friend in the hospital discovered these truths much earlier than most of us. Her parents and siblings were powerless to help her. The requirements doctors put upon her to facilitate healing seemed impossible. So she cried out to God to get her through the dark days. He proved Himself faithful, ministering to her in her agony. Her heart changed forever as she clearly saw Him at work within her. She learned in new ways to reach out to others around her and gladly share her love for God.

 

Scripture is clear: suffering is not random. It has its purpose. It is a means to an end. "Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison" (2 Cor 4:16-17).