The Bible is wrought with examples of God doing things for His own glory. Refining our hearts is no exception: “I have refined you in the furnace of suffering, . . . yes, for My own sake!” (Isa. 48:10-11). He goes on to say that He doesn’t want His reputation tarnished by idols; He refuses to let the recognition due to Him to go to them. It was true in how He dealt with Israel, and it is true in how He deals with us. God more often allows us to suffer to refine our own hearts and purge us from idols than to prepare us for “greatness.”
–Anonymous, from Embracing Obscurity
So often we are hoping that we will achieve greatness. We want to be put on the pedestal. We look at God’s Word and read about His plans for us with the hope that He plans that we will have fame, fortune, and glory. But God is most concerned about His glory. He wants others to see His greatness, because only He can provide them salvation and abundant life. And so when we suffer, it might not be because He is soon going to take us to greatness. It might simply be for us to realize His greatness. Let us continue to consider how great He is, instead of focusing on how great we hope we will become.