Sufferings refine our faith

Psalm 118:1 and 14-15ab, 16-21. April 15, 2023 - Saturday in the Octave of Easter

Psalm 118 springs from a dramatic experience of the psalmist and the nation that turned into a blessing. The psalmist speaks about being chastised by the Lord but not delivered to death (see Ps 118:18). The book of Proverbs has this advice given to its readers: “My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:11-12). This educational chastisement trains God’s people in a life of faith.

The letter to the Hebrews has one chapter dedicated to the heroes of faith (see Heb. 11). The longest part is about Abraham who according to the Jewish tradition was tested by God ten times. The first test was about leaving his homeland and going to the land of Canaan (Gen 12:1) and the last test was the offering of Isaac (Gen 22). All those tests were about trust and obedience. Would Abraham trust the Lord and obey his commands? At the end of that last test the angel of the Lord says: “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen 22:12). By passing those tests, Abraham is seen by Jewish and Christian tradition as a paragon of faith.

At the end of that chapter 11, the letter to the Hebrews speaks about those who suffered because of their faith. We hear about those who were humiliated, flogged, and imprisoned, those who were put to death, and those who left society and lived in deserts and mountains (see Heb. 11:36-38). We find another testimony of suffering for the sake of faith in Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. The proof of Paul’s faithful service to Christ was not his worldly success but great labours, many imprisonments, countless beatings, and many near-death experiences (see 2 Cor 11:21-33). It is through such experiences that the genuineness of our faith is tested (see 1 Peter 1:7). And although those are very painful experiences, the apostle testifies that God “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” ( 1 Cor 10:13).

The letter to the Hebrews says that “in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Heb. 5:7). And the author adds that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Influenced by our contemporary culture with its stress on ease, convenience, and comfort, we see sufferings as something negative. But the Bible and the Judea-Christian traditions view tests, trials, and sufferings as means for refining our faith in the same way that fire refines gold.