YOU ARE DESTINED FOR SUFFERING, BUT NOT FOR WRATH by Adriel Sanchez for Core Christianity
When Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, he was writing to a people acquainted with tribulation. The gospel came to them in “much affliction” (1 Thess. 1:6), and it seems as if the difficulty didn’t let up. The “storm” was so severe, Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonian church to make sure that the fire of their faith had not been extinguished by their circumstances. In his letter to the church, Paul encouraged them by reminding them of two things: first, God was sovereign over their suffering; and second, he was sovereign over their salvation. He wrote,
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. (1 Thessalonians 3:1–3)
What an important truth for believers to grasp in the present distress. Jesus told his disciples in the upper room discourse that they would experience affliction in the world (Jn. 16:33). Paul was no stranger to suffering (2 Cor. 11:23ff.), and he knew that following Jesus didn’t make us exempt from disease or disaster. The word Paul used for destined in this verse, keimai, is used throughout the gospels in the sense of “to recline at table.” It’s often translated as to “lay.” Here, Paul is using it figuratively. He’s saying, “God has placed you here, he has appointed you to this!”
This is no doubt a strange but comforting thing to say. Imagine the response of the Thessalonians: “You mean to tell me God has laid me down here?” One might be tempted to think of God as cruel, but the words of Paul are meant to anchor the faithful. God is not caught off guard by our sufferings, be they persecution or pestilence. The Lord is sovereign over all circumstances, and while they may be difficult, we know that he is good. The world around us may be shaken, but believers in Jesus don’t have to be moved (1 Thess. 3:2). We know that in this world we will face affliction, but we follow the one who has overcome the world (Jn. 16:33).
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Paul gives a further encouragement toward the end of his letter. Yes, God destined us for suffering, but he also destined us for salvation. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (1 Thess. 5:9–10).
Paul hinted at this glorious election to salvation earlier in his letter (1:4), and he returns to it at the end of his epistle as a kind of bookend. We may suffer many things as Christians, and those sufferings have been appointed by our gracious Father. We rest knowing, however, that one thing we will never suffer as God’s people is God’s wrath.
