7 Bells Refuge

11/08/2026

Why God Allows His Closest Servants to Suffer

One of the most honest and difficult questions believers wrestle with is this: why do some of God’s most faithful servants seem to suffer the most? When we read Scripture carefully, we quickly realize that deep suffering is not a sign of God’s absence. Very often, it is evidence of His closeness.

Take Paul the Apostle. Few people in history have been more committed to advancing the gospel. He planted churches, raised leaders, endured beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, betrayal, and constant danger. If faithfulness alone guaranteed comfort, Paul’s life should have been easy. Instead, his life was marked by hardship from start to finish. Yet Paul never interpreted his suffering as failure. He saw it as fellowship with Christ and participation in something eternal.

Scripture shows us this pattern again and again. God entrusts greater weight to those He knows can carry it. Suffering is not randomly assigned. It is often permitted where the anointing is greatest and the calling is most consequential. God does not place His heaviest assignments on shallow roots. He strengthens His servants through trials because what He is producing in them must outlast the moment.

The apostles understood this. Many of them were beaten, imprisoned, rejected by their own people, and ultimately martyred. Peter the Apostle was bold, passionate, and deeply devoted, yet his faith journey included fear, failure, persecution, and death. God was not punishing these men. He was shaping them. The suffering refined their faith, stripped away self reliance, and anchored them in eternal truth.

Suffering also gives credibility to the message. The gospel is not merely a philosophy to be debated. It is a truth that must be lived, proven, and sometimes bled for. When God’s servants endure pain with unwavering trust, the world witnesses a faith that cannot be manufactured. There is a depth and authority that only comes through perseverance under pressure.

Most importantly, suffering aligns the servant with the Master. Jesus Christ Himself was perfect, sinless, obedient, and fully surrendered to the Father, yet He was rejected, mocked, beaten, and crucified. If suffering were a sign of divine disfavor, the cross would make no sense. Instead, the cross reveals the heart of God. Redemption often flows through pain before it releases resurrection.

God also uses suffering to detach His servants from this world. Those who walk closely with Him learn not to anchor their hope in comfort, applause, or earthly reward. Their eyes are fixed on eternity. Paul said his momentary afflictions were producing an eternal weight of glory. What looks unbearable in the natural is often accomplishing something immeasurable in the spirit.

But God never wastes suffering. He redeems it. Every tear, every sleepless night, every unanswered question becomes part of a testimony that strengthens others. Those who have walked through the fire carry compassion, wisdom, and authority that cannot be learned in ease. Their scars become signposts pointing others to hope.

Here is the redeeming truth. God’s closest servants may suffer deeply, but they are never abandoned. Their suffering is not the end of the story. It is the process through which God releases greater glory, deeper intimacy, and lasting fruit. What the enemy intends to destroy, God uses to refine. What feels like loss becomes legacy.

If you are walking through a season of suffering while faithfully serving God, take heart. You are not forgotten. You are being entrusted. The same God who allowed the trial is writing a redemptive ending that will echo far beyond what you can see right now.

Todd Coconato

11/08/2026

11/08/2026

What really matters to God today:

Just about every church in America has a Cross, either on the roof as part of a steeple, in the front lawn, on its doors, in the main foyer, and in stained glass windows. And just about every one of these Crosses is so beautifully designed; straight lines, polished until it glistens, cared for and dusted off on a regular basis, encased with thick lacquer protecting the wood from the elements.

That old, beautiful hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross” describes nothing like a beautiful, shiny, perfect cross…

One a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross; the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best; for a world of lost sinners was slain.
To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true; its shame and reproach gladly bear. Then, He’ll call me one day, to my Home far away; where His glory forever I’ll share.

Chorus: And I’ll cherish the old rugged cross; till my trophies at last I lay down. And I will cling to the old rugged cross; and exchange it some day for a Crown.

Crucifixion was a common use of sentencing criminals in Roman times. And, I can’t help but believe that the crosses used were reused time and time again. I also have no doubt that any of these crosses were ever cleaned after the last criminal had been taken down after he died.

This song paints an entirely different picture than the ones we see in paintings and in our churches. Isaiah 52:14 describes Jesus on the Cross, “Many who saw Him were amazed - beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know He was a person.”

The violence. The hate. The sin that Jesus bore for each one of us…hung on that cross. Yet, the Cross displays the glory of God! 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but for those of us who are saved, it is the power of God.” “The power of God.” The Greek word for “power’ is “dunamis,” where we get our English word, “dynamite.” It is also the Greek word for “miracle.” Simply put, the message of the Cross is as powerful as dynamite, yet is it also the greatest of miracles because on that old rugged Cross, Jesus Christ was the only One who has ever defeated the most powerful and the most unavoidable force on earth…death.

On that Cross, the beginning of the most powerful event in history took place. On that Cross, Jesus died. Yet, three days later, Jesus arose in complete victory over death, hell and the grave. His resurrection proved that the message of the Cross is the power of God.

On that cross, the full glory and beauty of God and His love for us is revealed as His Son hung and died…just for you. On the Cross, we see God’s eternal love for us; His mercy for us; His grace for us; His kindness for us; His salvation for us! On the Cross, we see God’s justice; His holiness; His righteousness; His wisdom; His sovereignty! The Cross displays the glory of God!

Maybe we need to better understand what the Cross truly means. The symbol of the Cross is the horizontal beam of obedience, intersecting the vertical ray of love. The Cross of Christ is so much more than a polished piece of jewelry. It’s rugged, blood-stained, yet so very precious.

That is what our hope should be in-that is what our thoughts should be centered on.

11/08/2026

In regards to God’s “calling” on the life of believers, throughout the entire Bible, people are called to one and only one thing: a relationship with God.

The truth is that we as believers have become misdirected from our calling and focus on what we have been sent to do.

Because we are constantly told that our calling is our ministry, we begin to draw near to our ministry, instead of drawing near to our God. We see what happens to those who forget that their ministry is not their calling every time we see someone in ministry fall because of pride and arrogance.

When we falsely believe that our calling is our ministry, then our ministry becomes about us. When we remember that our only calling is to draw near to God, then we will always remember that even while we are doing what He sent us to do, everything we are doing while we are sent has to be focused and purposed to help us draw near to Him.

Eric Tokajer