God promises to give a blessing to those who reward evil with good. Although we cannot fully predict or describe that blessing, we know that it will include the power of genuine love. “ Finally, all of we, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this we were called so that we may inherit a blessing” (I Pet.3:8–9).
If we react to a person who offends we and become bitter toward him, we actually put ourselves in an emotional prison, stress, strain and bitterness. These things will slowly destroy us like cancer and thereby we will lose our freedom, time, our health etc. In order to be freed from this prison, we must forgive.
We have many examples of those who forgave offenders, including, Job, Stephen, James and Jesus Christ:
- Job’s companions were about to encounter God’s wrath, but Job prayed for them and God delivered Job: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends . . .”(Job 42:10).
- Stephen prayed for God to forgive his murderers, even as they were stoning him: “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59–60).
- The Lord Jesus said on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”(Lk.23:34).
Let’s take some examples from the Bible: Job:
Job was living a righteous life. He was offering sacrifices to God, even for the sake of his children perhaps they may sin in their youthfulness. But God allowed Satan to test him. He lost everything, his children, his prosperity.
Job was an extremely rich and successful man who lived in a land called Uz. By today’s standards, he could be compared to someone like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos of Amazon or Mark Zuckerberg (WhatsApp) who are unimaginably wealthy, greatly respected and admired in society for being a good men.
- Job had a large family; seven sons and three daughters and he owned extensive flocks of livestock.
- He was ‘blameless’ and ‘upright,’ always careful to avoid sinning.
- In just one day, Job received four messages, that all of his livestock, servants, and ten children had died due to invaders and natural disasters.
- Crushed by the news, Job tore his clothes and shaved his head in mourning, but still he honoured and blessed God in his prayers. (Job 1:21b) “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
- His three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar could not comfort him but tried to find faults in him.
- Finally only he and his wife were left. His body was infected with skin diseases.
- God was pleased with Job’s response, but was upset with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar for their poor reasoning and advice.
- Job stood up for his friends and God forgave them.
- God restored Job to good health, gave him twice as much property as before, new children and a very long life, he lived 140 more years and saw four generations of grandchildren.
Other Examples: Joseph, Daniel, David.
Now we will see some benefits when we experience trials and sufferings.
Benefits from the trials and tests in Believer’s life:
- To increase our surrender to God or dependability
- To insure our stability.
- To inspire others who struggling.
- To invoke or put to action our service.
- To introduce our specialty and talents.