1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Here as Christmas draws close I do not find myself in a festive state of mind. It is difficult to focus on a season of celebration while a loved one suffer. Rather than looking to scriptures about joy, celebration and this advent we are about to remember, I find myself search for scriptures about suffering.

As I read about the sufferings of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Promise, I found his scripture of comfort. That was his place of comfort, not mine. Yet seeing that he could find comfort in this scripture when his affliction was so much more than my own gave me pause to ask why.

The keeping of his soul acknowledges that he was already in a good place that he was not willing to surrender to his circumstances. It is easy to get down and surrender to pain, whether physical or emotional. The soul, the mind, will and emotions, has no strength in itself to stand except the character upon which God has built up in you by experience. This commitment to God in these times is a test of character, not faith.

Suffering seems like a lonely place, but it is not. Letting go and surrendering to it is not a lack of faith but a lack of character. All we have to do to remember that is acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the faithful one and since He abides in me, the only thing that binds my actions to my faith in these times is my character.

Job 10:15-16 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.