Elisabeth Elliot: So I go back to this statement of George MacDonald?s. "Were it not for suffering, millions of human beings would never develop an atom of affection."

Lisa Barry: Does that ring true for you? I?m afraid it does for me. But I hate to admit that some of the most maturing work God has done in my life has been through some awful experience. I emerged from that suffering with a great deal more empathy for others. All this week on Gateway to Joy, Elisabeth Elliot has been speaking to a group at the Billy Graham Conference Center called "The Cove." She continues today by talking about our attitude toward inconvenience. I think we?ll all find something to apply. Let?s pick things up where we left off yesterday. Here is Elisabeth.

Elisabeth Elliot: In Romans 8:18-21, we have Paul?s words: "I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the splendor as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us." I better read that again. "I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the splendor as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us."

Right as I was finishing typing those words, my phone rang. It was my daughter. She called me to say that she was still hoping to come to the seminar here, but she had heard that there was a mix-up in some of the arrangements for the women who were coming with her. Then she told me something much worse, which was that her beloved oldest son, my precious, marvelous, 21-year-old grandson, had had his truck broken into. I don?t know if they smashed the windshield or one of the windows, but the truck was broken into. Everything that mattered to him was taken.

This is the third time that Walter has been robbed. A tough lesson for a 21-year-old. He had a quite new truck, not brand-new. But I guess every man, for some reason, seems to think he has got to have a pickup truck. So Walter got one. This is what happened.

I just died a thousand deaths when I heard that on the phone two or three days ago. I talked to Walter. I called him and tried to comfort him in some way and help him to see that this is not for nothing. Suffering is not for nothing. God saw those robbers, whoever they were?those thieves. God allowed it. We have no other explanation. God allowed it. Nothing can possibly happen without God?s permission.

So the Lord is constantly asking you and me, "Will you love Me? Will you trust Me? Will you praise Me?" The presence of God, I must say, has been very, very real to me in some of the darkest times in my life.

There came a time when, about a year after my first husband Jim died, that it looked to me as though God might be asking me to take my little daughter and go to live with the people who had killed my husband. You can imagine how the grandparents felt about my taking their little granddaughter into a place like that. A bunch of naked savages that had killed five missionaries?what mother in her right mind could possibly even consider anything of the kind? All I knew was God?s promise: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."

Of course, that was after many long weeks and some months of prayer as to whether or not God really could possibly be calling me to that. When I felt quite sure that He had said yes, then these wonderful words came: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."

I remembered that when I learned that my husband was missing, God brought to my mind Isaiah 43:2: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you, for I am the Lord your God."

I can testify that He fulfilled those promises. The deepest waters, the hottest fires?places where God reveals Himself to us with such unutterable love. I?m sure that if we had time to hear testimonies, there could be dozens of them here. You could tell us your stories.

"The sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the splendor as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us. For the created universe waits with eager expectation for God?s sons to be revealed. It was made the victim of frustration not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so. Yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendor of the children of God." That?s the rest of that passage from Romans 8:18-21.

George MacDonald, in his book WHAT?S MINE?S MINE, said, "Were it not for suffering, millions of human beings would never develop an atom of affection. It is 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."

You who are wise parents know that children need to be spanked, for example. We live in a country where we are addicted to fun and comfort. Everything has got to be fun, fun, fun. "Well, what?s that place, The Cove, like? Is it any fun? Have you been there before?" "Well, yeah, we?ve been there before. Yeah, it?s really fun." But God help us, it?s not only fun, is it?

But it really is pathetic that we are so addicted to comfort. The least little thing that is wrong, we get bent out of shape. So I go back to this statement of George MacDonald?s. "Were it not for suffering, millions of human beings would never develop an atom of affection." And millions of tiny little children would never develop any common sense, if you don?t do what Vance Havner said: "You apply to the posterior superior force."

"It is 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." I have no idea what your particular suffering may be tonight. If you can think?it?s very possible that you will think of some particular thing which is hard for you, something that perhaps you?ve been banging away at God?s door, asking Him to change it, do something about it. "He doesn?t seem to be answering my prayers."

I get so many desperate letters through my radio broadcast with the most appalling stories. Lars and I read these things. Sometimes we say, "Well, that?s the worst one we?ve ever heard." Then next week we get one that tops the other one. And on and on?it?s just a terrible world that we live in, and yet He has got the whole world where? In His hands. He?s got you and me, brother and sister, in His hands. He is not going to let us go.

When we want to say, "Why doesn?t God do something?" He is doing something. He is bringing those powers to birth. He is forming us in the image of His Son. Romans 8:28 is very familiar to all of us, I?m sure. "Everything that happens fits into a pattern for good, to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose." Sometimes we don?t read on to the next verse, which describes the purpose. "That we should be conformed to the image of His Son."

What does it take to make an image? Michelangelo made it sound very simple when he said, "You take a block of marble and you just knock off everything that doesn?t look like David." But you know that it takes hammers and chisels and files to make a sculpture, an image. That?s a very good metaphor of God?s treatment of you and me. There will be hammer blows. There have been hammer blows, for most of us. Some of them?not very many hammer blows, perhaps, but one or two.

Then there are the chippings of the chisel, which are not quite so painful. But then practically daily, there is the rasping of the file to get those sharp edges and those sharp corners filed down smooth. Maybe it?s the person at the office that you can hardly stand. You think, "Well, why in the world did I ever get this job?" Or that awful woman in the church who looks at you funny every once in a while. Little things that upset us.

Suffering is not for nothing. Jesus Christ was crowned because He suffered. Will you receive His treatment of you with thanksgiving? Will you see it as a gift? Will you remember that the presence of God goes with you? God bless you.

Lisa Barry: I?m not sure what kind of file treatment you?ve gotten lately, but rest assured, we?re all getting it, too. Isn?t it better if we just try to endure the chisel and the file, rather than trying to wiggle out of it somehow? If God is working on you right now, you might feel as if you need a little extra word of encouragement. Well, I know just the book to suggest. It?s written by Elisabeth and it?s called A PATH THROUGH SUFFERING. We also have it available in large print.

For more information on purchasing this book, you can call us here at 1-800-759-4JOY. Or write to Gateway to Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Have you found us online yet? You?ll find everything there is to know about Gateway to Joy on our Web site. That address again is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway to Joy is a listener-supported production of Back to the Bible.

There?s more to come tomorrow, so I hope you?ll join us then for another Gateway to Joy.