Suffering is a privilege

I just got a blast from the past today, a phone call from the man (he was practically a kid then) who led me to the Lord about four decades ago. I hadn't heard from him since 1978, except for a very brief meeting in 1990.

Bob, and no one else, was able to midwife me into the Kingdom back in the day because I saw the Holy Spirit in him in great measure-in his counsel, in his wisdom, in his incorruptibility, in his unwaveringness, his bigger-than-average faith. As he had been an addict and a small town criminal prior to conversion, the transformation was all the more convincing, and I put my faith in the Christ he believed in.

After we parted I fully expected that God would bless him richly in the rest of his life. I didn't necessarily think he would become something cool like a millionaire, or televangelist. But I imagined for him, for lack of a better word, a "happy life." What I learned was the contrary: He is experiencing so much suffering on so many fronts that I was drained after the hour conversation. It is evident that his faith has not diminished a whit; it's still the same Bob who gave me a hand out of darkness and into the light.

If this is the way God treats a godly man-one of his noblest specimens-then I am shaken. It means that God may reserve His greatest tests for His greatest saints. It means that if I ever become as faithful and obedient as Bob, I may have to expect an increase, not a decrease, in trials. After we said good-bye, I remembered what God told Ananias about a young man named Saul, a branch newly plucked from the burning:

"I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (Acts 9:16).

I guess God really has blessed Bob, after all. In the economy of the Kingdom of God, suffering is a privilege bequeathed to those most worthy to be entrusted with it.