As you turn through the pages of your Bible, you may be surprised by how little God seems to care for the ease and comfort of His saints.

Take those heroic characters of the Old Testament who faced danger and risked death rather than be disloyal to Him. Did God coddle them? Did He protect them from the rude winds of life? The writer to the Hebrews gives us the answer: "They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented" (Heb. 11:37). So much for comfort!

In the New Testament too, there seems to be this strange unconcern for our comfort. When Jesus prayed for His followers just before His execution, He didn't plead that the Father would shelter and protect them. Instead He said, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one" (Jn. 17:15). Our Lord Jesus was concerned not for their comfort but for their character.

Don't think that God is unconcerned about what happens to you. He cares more about what happens in you so He can accomplish His purposes through you.  — Haddon W. Robinson