Elisabeth Elliot: I love what George MacDonald said. "Were it not for suffering, millions of human beings would never develop an atom of affection. It's folly to conclude that a thing ought not to be done because it hurts. There are powers to be born, creations to be perfected, sinners to be redeemed-all through the ministry of pain."

Lisa Barry: There's a lot of truth in that statement, isn't there? How many of us have looked upon a suffering friend and thought, "Well, if only he would have done thus and so, he wouldn't be suffering"? Or we might have said, "I think she should just get over it and get on with her life." We think those thoughts, until tragedy comes knocking on our door. Then suddenly we have a whole new perspective on the depth of pain our friends have experienced.

Yes, it's true that sometimes the only way to develop compassion is to go through the furnace of affliction ourselves. Today on Gateway To Joy, Elisabeth Elliot talks more about what it takes to turn a tragedy into a pearl of great price that God Himself has spun. Here's Elisabeth.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, continuing my talks today on the subject of adversity or affliction.

Isaiah 48:10 says, "See, I have refined you, though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake I do this."

Maybe some of us can identify-some of us who are parents-can identify just a wee bit with what God means there when He says, "For My own sake I do this." We have to let our children suffer. There are times when we have to make our children suffer. It is a refining process. Of course, just plain ordinary discipline-punishment of whatever sort a child may happen to need at a given moment-for him, it's a real furnace of affliction. He finds it very hard to think that you love him. When a parent says to a child, "This hurts me worse than it hurts you," the child doesn't believe that for a minute. But as we grow up, we begin to understand.

The man who suffered the most in the Bible, besides the Lord Jesus Himself, was Job. The Book of Job is said to be the oldest book in the Bible. It starts with a very strange scenario, where Satan actually had the temerity to challenge God as to whether there was such a thing as a faithful man in the world. God actually calls his attention to Job. He says, "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" And He gives Satan permission to cause all kinds of suffering to Job, except to take his life. Satan is not given permission to do that.

You can imagine, even if you haven't read the Book of Job, how many times he must have said "why" that the Lord was allowing Him to go through this. But at the end of the book, He said, "I have heard You with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee." He understands that God is up to something infinitely more unfathomable than he can possibly imagine. But he is willing to trust Him.

He said while he was there on the ash heap, scraping away at his boils with a piece of a broken pot, he says, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." The Lord is saying, "I am the Lord." Quietly and insistently, He is reminding me that He does know what He is doing. He hasn't forgotten about you. He loves you with an everlasting love, and underneath are His everlasting arms.

Think of Joseph. All the terrible wrongs that were perpetrated against Jesus-and God appeared to be doing absolutely nothing. Joseph goes through all sorts of trials and tribulations. He is hated by his brothers. They had murder in their hearts, and then they discovered that they could sell him for some money. They had dropped him into a pit. Then they sold him to the Midianites. The Midianites took him into Egypt. He was in slavery. He was put in charge of Potiphar's house and was lied about by an adulterous scheming woman. Because of the lie that she told, he was put into prison where he stayed for-I don't know-something like 14 years or so.

His fellow prisoners promised that they would speak a good word for him when they got out, and they forgot all about it. So for years and years and years it appears that God is paying absolutely no attention to the sufferings of Joseph.

But in the end he becomes the Prime Minister of Egypt and is thus in a position to rescue his father and his brothers from famine. You remember the amazing story. When the brothers did not recognize him and had no idea that they were talking to their brother-but when they do find out who it is, they're terrified. Of course he has the power to put them to death for the wrong that they had done him. But he does nothing of the kind. He simply says, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."

Daniel was put into the lions' den by a wicked heathen king. Certainly he must have gone through hideous mental suffering between the time when he was reported to the king and the time that he was actually thrown into the den of hungry lions. Could he have imagined what would happen there? He was certainly imagining that he would be chomped and chewed and swallowed. Instead of that, there God was-waiting for Daniel to be thrown in. He shut the mouths of the lions.

Then there was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were going to be thrown into the fiery furnace because of their refusal to obey the king. They too must have gone through some mental agonies, little imagining that the three of them would find that there was a fourth in the furnace-Christ Himself walking with them and preserving them from the hideous death that they had anticipated.

But when we get into the New Testament-Joseph and Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego were rescued. But in the New Testament, what do we find? John the Baptist, because of his obedience to God, gets his head chopped off. Stephen, because he is preaching the Gospel, is stoned to death. Then there is our Savior Himself, who is captured and nailed to a cross.

Have you read the chapter in 1 Corinthians that talks about the horrible things people suffered, such as being sawn in two? That's rather incredible, isn't it? Can you imagine what it would be like to be sawn in two? There are these marvelous stories of Moses and Noah and Joshua and Abraham and so many of the great heroes of the faith, who performed miracles. Then it says, "And others were tortured." And others were tortured-that's the 11^th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Try to imagine what that was like.

So the Lord permits suffering. It's an irreplaceable medium, a revelation of the love of God. And may I also say, "A revelation of the God of love"-a strange and incomprehensible revelation, to begin with. The longer we walk with Him, the more deeply He reveals His purposes to us and the more we are enabled to accept.

One of Amy Carmichael's mottoes was "In acceptance lieth peace." I love what George MacDonald said. "Were it not for suffering, millions of human beings would never develop an atom of affection. It's folly to conclude that a thing ought not to be done because it hurts. There are powers to be born, creations to be perfected, sinners to be redeemed-all through the ministry of pain that could be born, perfected and redeemed in no other way."

Now I think here of what may sound to you like a very bizarre analogy. But think of boys who want to play football. We lived right across the street from a high school. In those horrible November days of sleet and snow and mud, there would be boys out there after school until dark, throwing themselves face down into the mud, slamming into each other, being screamed at by a man who is telling them what to do-a man who would probably be arrested for child abuse if it was not a voluntary thing that these kids were doing. They suffer, but they have a purpose in mind. They want to play football. If they're going to play football, they're going to have to suffer. .Doesn't that make some sense? Well, it may be a very crude analogy, but to me it makes sense.

Psalm 46 says, "Be still and know that I am God." May the Lord enable us to find in our furnace of affliction a gateway to joy.

Lisa Barry: I think one of my favorite analogies of the maturing power of suffering is the story of a refiner. It is his job to melt down raw gold and turn it into a marketable product. The refiner would endure severe heat as he would painstakingly stir the melted ore. Well, every so often he would scrape off a dirty-looking film that had collected at the top. Upon the removal of that film, a beautiful golden glow would appear, seemingly perfect. But the refiner was not satisfied. He turned up the heat and kept stirring and skimming, stirring and skimming. When asked by an impatient bystander when the gold would be refined enough, he said, "It will only be ready when I can see my face reflecting back in the gold. Then the work will be complete."

That's what God is trying to do in our lives-keeping us in the purifying fire until His own image is reflected back in our lives. Has God been turning up the heat in your life? Then you might benefit from the encouragement and challenge that Elisabeth offers in this series. The title is THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION, and it includes all the talks from this week and five more from next week. You may need it now, or you may want to tuck it away for safekeeping. Or why not share it with a friend who is going through the fiery furnace right now?

The cost is $13. You can send that, along with your request, to Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call toll-free: 1-800-759-4JOY. Today's program has been a production of Back to the Bible and is supported by friends like you.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks about some of the lessons learned through suffering. This is Lisa Barry, thanking you for listening. I hope you'll join us next time for another Gateway To Joy.