Hazards to Spiritual Growth - Part 1

I'm reading a book by Michael Emlet, Descriptions and Prescriptions: A Biblical Perspective on Psychiatric Diagnoses & Medications. It is an excellent review of how Christians should think about psychiatric categories. He opens the book with the "Goldilocks Principle," which outlines the two ditches that Christians can fall into as they consider these categories: (1) Some Christians are "too cold" toward psychiatric diagnoses and are highly suspicious of using these labels, or (2) other Christians are "too warm" toward these diagnoses, embracing them as nearly all-encompassing explanations of a person's struggle. His book is about helping Christians through biblical wisdom find the path that is "just right." It's a short book - only 100 pages - and I think it's around $10. It's well worth the money.

There is much in the book that deserves comment, but one short chapter in particular caught my attention today. It is called "Hazards to Spiritual Growth." I would like to take the next couple of posts to share this chapter with you. It is not particularly focused on psychiatric diagnoses or medications (although it surely relates to them), but instead it focuses on the role of suffering in the spiritual growth of a person. I found it to be a profound read. Here is the first section:

Section 1
Main idea: Too much suffering can be "hazardous" to spiritual growth and too little suffering may be "hazardous" to spiritual growth.

What do I mean here? Simply this: It is hard to find the "sweet spot" for spiritual growth. In the midst of intense suffering, whether it stems from the body or from other sources (relational strife, difficult life circumstances), there often is a greater temptation to become fearful, angry, and embittered. This was true of the Israelites in the wilderness. They had experienced the redeeming power of God in bringing them out of captivity. But despite God's provision they succumbed to the temptation to doubt his goodness in the midst of wilderness hardships. Or consider the response of Job's wife to Job in the midst of their suffering, "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9). Extreme suffering provokes our hearts to fear and anger.

We'll continue with Emlet's analysis in the next post.