Christian, the compass of suffering points true north to God’s eternal dwelling place. Therefore, “build not your nest here,” but seek and “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).19 Your Lord will graciously sustain and bear you through your pain and suffering in this life, and in his timing, usher you into his presence, where there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4).

The English Puritans and their Scottish counterparts, the Covenanters, experienced intense suffering. Along with their contemporaries, they faced the normal hardships of the seventeenth-century world: plagues, illnesses, and the deaths of infants, children, and women in childbirth. In addition to these, however, many of the Puritans endured deep and persistent persecution.
The Stuart monarchs (1603–1685) — James I, Charles I, and Charles II — viewed the Puritans as threats to and seditious rebels of the English Commonwealth due to their refusal to conform to the Church of England and their attempts to bring “further reformation” to the Church. As a result, the magistrates fined, dismembered, and incarcerated Puritans for not adhering to the Book of Common Prayer and the various ceremonies of the Church of England. In spite of the cruel, abusive mistreatment that they received at the hand of their tormentors, these Puritans demonstrated courageous resolve and Christian perseverance as they remained steadfast in their devotion to their Lord Jesus Christ.
Though our own hardships may not be the same, we can learn and apply three valuable lessons about suffering from the Puritans’ thoroughly biblical reflections on the trials they endured. Applying these lessons to our own circumstances helps us to recognize them as purifying fires meant to prove the genuineness of our faith and increase our affection for Christ.
A More Precious Christ
The Puritans teach us, first, that suffering can be a catalyst to understanding and experiencing the inestimable value of Christ, which in turn leads to an active, perpetual treasuring of Christ above all else. In the midst of his suffering, the Covenanter Samuel Rutherford was able to see and embrace Christ as his “Pearl.” Christ was so precious to him that he refused to “exchange the joy of my bonds and imprisonment for Christ with all the joy of this dirty and foul-skinned world.”1
For the Puritans, suffering was a purifying agent to “aggravate sinne” so that “sinne bee the sowrest, and Christ the sweetest, of all things.”2 Richard Sibbes asserts that suffering yields a “bruising” that enables a Christian to “prize Christ above all.”3 When all is prosperous, it is more difficult to see the treasure that Christ is, but when trials come, “nothing comforts [the soul] like the riches of Christ. . . . Nothing makes a Christian sing care away, like the riches of Christ.”4 Even as suffering batters the body or the mind of Christ’s disciple, the soul can become more enamored with the beauty of Christ.
Severe Mercy
Second, the Puritans reinforce the truth that God is the divine Author over suffering. Nothing in this life, including suffering, eludes the sovereign will of God. Therefore, Christians are to “question not but there is a favourable design in [suffering] towards you.”5 God uses suffering for his divine purposes, which include the good and growth of his children, thus displaying at one and the same time his sovereignty and covenant love. In the Lord’s sovereign hands, suffering becomes a divine, gracious means of sanctification, by which “God is but killing your lusts.”6
God’s love permeates the suffering of his elect. Every trial that his elect encounter discloses the warmth, sweetness, and affection of the Father. He does not intend to hurt or destroy.
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According to Calvin, image-bearing is what leads God to love and it is also what should lead us to love. That has implications, and not only for dealing with garden-variety jerks. In our current climate where the church is facing so much hostility from the world, we need this teaching more than ever. If we would only look around us and see all other people as God’s image-bearers, we would find something to love.

It isn’t easy to love a jerk. Someone who’s quiet, meek, and kind—no problem.  But the person who annoys us, whether through habit or personality? The person who pushes all our buttons, perhaps even intentionally? The selfish and insensitive clod?
Yet the Lord commands us to love our neighbor as we do ourselves (Matt. 22:39). That Christian love is “not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13:5). Instead, it “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). This is the love that leads us to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).
But how do we do that with someone we might think to be unworthy of our love and good deeds? How do you love a jerk? You might say, “Take a look in the mirror.” Humbly realizing that we’re all unworthy jerks could indeed be a good place to start. However, in his epic Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin explored this practical issue in the Christian life from a different angle. His advice, drawn on sound biblical teaching, is worth a listen. If you want to look it up and read the whole section for yourself, it’s in Institutes 3.7.6. I’ll be quoting from the Lewis-Battles edition.
Calvin begins by acknowledging that most people would be unworthy of our love if they were judged according to merit.  But that isn’t how Christians are to think. Says Calvin,

But here Scripture helps in the best way when it teaches that we are not to consider that men merit of themselves but to look upon the image of God in all men, to which we owe all honor and love.

He goes on to affirm that with members of the household of faith this obligation is intensified by virtue of the fact that God’s image has been renewed and restored in them by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, what remains of the image of God after the fall into sin and before regeneration is itself reason enough to show love to all by doing good. Calvin concludes,

Therefore, whatever man you meet who needs your aid, you have no reason to refuse to help him.

Calvin then anticipates a series of objections. Someone might say, “But he’s a stranger!” to which Calvin would reply that this is irrelevant.  With the image of God, you have something in common that instantly binds you together. Or someone might say, “But he’s loathsome and a good-for-nothing!”  Calvin replies,

…but the Lord shows him to be one whom he has deigned to give the beauty of his image.

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In order for us to truly exercise wisdom, we must acknowledge God as God, and give Him the reverence, glory, and honor He rightfully deserves. It can be very easy to go about our everyday lives not acknowledging Him. And the fact that it’s so easy to do is frustrating. This is why it’s imperative to be intentional in our walk with the Lord. Are we acknowledging Him? Are we staying in communion which Him through prayer, reading, and fellowship? If not, wisdom will be hard to come by.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-6‬)
We all search for wisdom. It’s a universal pursuit and, in many cases, we look for it from the wrong source. As Christians, we’ve been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ—but how do we live wisely? What do we do in day-to-day situations as we seek to glorify God?
We should look no further than Proverbs 3:5-6. Proverbs is a treasure trove for wisdom. We have all this knowledge about God, His Word, and the rest—but how do we use this knowledge in our daily walk with Christ? That is wisdom. And Proverbs is full of it.
I think it’s important to go into detail on each statement in the above passage. First, because it’s used so superficially as a “coffee cup verse” that we forget it’s real meaning. Second, though, is because it’s the pathway to living a life to the glory of God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. If we are honest, we will admit to dramatically failing at this. Trusting in God—with all our heart, no less—is not a mere suggestion, but a command. It’s not “If you think of it,” but more like, “You must.” Thankfully, the strength of our trust is not the foundation of our salvation—whether it be justification, sanctification, etc.—Jesus is.
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