Here’s something we can all agree on: nobody likes suffering. Whether we’re dealing with persecution, sickness, or family difficulties, nobody looks at their lives and says, “Wow, this suffering is fun.”
Suffering is also universal; we all go through it, which gives us the opportunity to empathize with and comfort each other. But what are we called to do with suffering as we go through it? Jesus’ brother James wrote about it.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness,” he wrote in James 2:2-4. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Wait, what? We’re supposed to be joyful in suffering?
“I don’t know about you, but rarely in any of my times of suffering or pain is my immediate thought one of joy or gratitude,” writes Lucy Kemp. “Often our first reaction to hardship is to push it away or rush through it, to get it over with and be done with it.”
“The Bible tells us differently though, and urges us to actually consider it a great joy,” she adds (emphasis in the original).
God’s Word has plenty to say about suffering. The Apostle Paul reminded the church in Rome about what suffering brings about in us: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5, ESV).
Related: Sunday Thoughts: The Encouragement of Future Hope
We also have reminders that suffering isn’t eternal or permanent. King David wrote in Psalm 30:5b, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” The Apostle Paul reminded the church in Corinth, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
God uses our suffering to achieve His purpose and glory. Kemp writes, “As believers, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose (Romans 8:28), so we know that whatever trials He places in our lives are for a reason. He does nothing without a plan and a purpose of glorifying His name.”
Another thing to think about in our suffering is that Jesus can identify with it. Shortly before He went to the cross, Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19, ESV)
The author of Hebrews expands on Jesus’ empathy with us in our struggles, writing, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16, ESV).
“Hardships are not for nothing, not if we allow them to bring us closer to God and see how He can use them in our lives,” Kemp concludes. “Count it all joy — He is good!”
Knowing that God uses our suffering to glorify Him and make us more like Him doesn’t make our struggles any easier, but we can thank God that He has a purpose and that He will see us through.
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