Father-Filtered: A Biblical Foundation of God’s Sovereignty and Limits (Part Two)

God does not author or cause suffering, but He is sovereignly able to weave both joyful and painful experiences together to conform a believer into the likeness of Christ. Scripture teaches that for the believer, suffering is not meaningless, but is used by God with a deliberate, redemptive purpose to bring about spiritual growth, godly character, and eternal glory (Romans 8:28-30). When understanding and embracing God’s sovereignty and limits believers find that every trial has an expiration date and a purpose designed to strengthen their faith rather than destroy them. In other words, your pain does not mean God has abandoned His post or lost control of the universe. The limits to these painful experiences—though invisible and painful to us—are precisely known and ordained by God (Job 1:12 and 2:6).

~Dr. Robert L. Taylor, Bible Expositor: Teaching with God’s grace & power