Excerpt from Take Every Passage to Prayer, Volume 3, Acts Through Revelation. Page 519-520.

How did such a man get to the place of total surrender? He made the decision to believe that You are good throughout the man’s long season of suffering. It was a choice, “No matter how bad things get, I will continue to believe that God is good.” Such a man waits for the revelation of Your goodness in whatever trial he is experiencing. “I don’t see any relief on the horizon. But I know God is good. Relief will come! Praise God.” It is the perseverance in the belief that You are good that builds our character and transforms our hearts. We move closer to perfection each day that we hold on to our belief in Your goodness even when the skies are dark, and the winds rage against us.

Father, why should we rejoice in our time of suffering? We are to rejoice because You have something good You are accomplishing in our life. 

1. You use suffering to wake us up from the delusion that we can be our own god. This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
2. You use suffering to prevent us from making mistakes. Perhaps we would not have prospered in ministry had we married the man or woman we wanted to marry. This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
3. You use suffering to build our character, making us more loving, peaceful, joyful, kind, gentle, self-controlled, faithful, and patient because of the lessons hardship taught us. This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
4. You use suffering to create a stage upon which we can demonstrate to an audience of family, friends, and neighbors the good character You have created within us. How else would we recognize a man of peace unless that man is peaceful in the midst of conflict? This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
5. You use suffering to prepare us for ministry. A man who has overcome alcohol addiction has the unique opportunity to minister to other men who struggle with alcohol. This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
6. You use suffering to motivate us to run into Your arms. Sometimes You want some one-on-one time with us and it is suffering that causes us to return to a life of prayer. This is a good thing worth rejoicing about.
    
7. Sometimes suffering is inevitable when ministering to broken and needy people. A doctor flies overseas to volunteer to fight an epidemic in Africa and catches the disease himself. The doctor’s sacrificial love for people in need is a good thing, worth rejoicing about.   
    
8. You use suffering to create dependency upon You. A man who has been matured by suffering turns to You for every need in his life. Since You are the God of all resources, such a man truly lacks nothing.

A man of God can rejoice during hardship, knowing that You are doing something good to make us more into the image of Jesus Christ, a delightful and most rewarding experience to have.