Is suffering necessarily discipline, though? Paul argues that is the case. Paul says that more than anything, he wants to know Jesus. What is the most intimate way Paul can think of knowing Jesus? Knowing him in his suffering.

“Forgive me for all the times I needed to suffer and I ran from it, I numbed it.” The prayer caught me off guard. I looked up. Aspens bent in the wind outside the window. A small group of pastors gathered in the small community center in the tiny town of Summerhaven, located near the summit of Mount Lemmon, 5,000 feet above Tucson. 

Who hasn’t avoided suffering? I’ve avoided suffering in countless ways: I’ve dodged difficult conversations, evaded serving, neglected the spiritual disciplines of fasting and silence, overspent our budget, and skipped leg day. But how often have I prayed for forgiveness for shirking suffering?

The prayer turned over in my head all day. And then it became my prayer. “Forgive me for all the times I needed to suffer, and I ran from it.”

Have you ever sinned by eluding suffering? 

In Hebrews 12, the author echoes Proverbs 3 and urges us to view discipline not as punishment, but as an act of God’s love:

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

     nor be weary when reproved by him.

 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

     and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

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