Everyone Suffers

Suffering is a universal certainty. Every creature on the planet and even the planet will suffer (Genesis 3:14, 17; Romans 8:22-23). You and I are incapable of, truly, imagining a world where suffering does not exist. Because we live in a sin-cursed world, we live in a suffering-cursed world. Every graveyard, funeral home, and hospital is a stark reminder that suffering is real, painful, and indiscriminate. Suffering will continue its’ devastating effects until Jesus makes all things new. Despite the devastation, God has a redeeming purpose for suffering; He has a divine purpose for the pain.

Suffering has a holy purpose - Philippians 3:10

The holy purpose of suffering is that it makes us like Jesus. Biblically speaking, the terms holiness and Christlikeness are synonymous. Some believers mistakenly think of holiness in terms of a mantle to be displayed or a monument of self-effort that should be very impressive to all who see. Suffering and pain is the scalpel that God uses to extract the idol of self-effort.

So how does suffering make us like Jesus? When our family had the privilege of traveling in full-time evangelistic ministry, we often took advantage of our itinerary to visit historical and interesting places. One trip was near enough that we were able to visit Niagara Falls. Words fail to describe how powerful and awe inspiring the Falls truly are. The torrent is deafening. To watch the water race over those cliffs and then seemingly descend in slow motion to the rocks and river below is shockingly overwhelming. There are some places in the park where you can stand surprisingly (I thought dangerously) close to the raging water. I remember getting drenched just standing near the falls. The overspray is enough to leave you soaked to the skin.

The glory of Jesus is like that. Stand close to him and his glory soaks in (2 Corinthians 3:18). But standing close to Jesus is dangerous. Staying close to Jesus means that we will go to the place of suffering and sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that to be where Jesus is means that we will have to go with him outside the mainstream and bear his reproach (Hebrews 13:12-13). Jesus, himself, makes clear that suffering (his terminology is bearing our cross) is a mark of genuine salvation and true discipleship (Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). The audience of Jesus’ day would have clearly understood what Jesus meant when he used the term “cross.” Sadly, many of us have a very anemic concept of what he meant. The “American Dream” way of thinking has stripped away the brutality of the term to the point that for many it simply means achy arthritic joints or going without Wi-Fi. A cross is a place of unimaginable pain, and ultimately, a slow and agonizing death.

Suffering has a helping purpose - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Unquestionably and understandably, suffering produces questions. Why? What now? How long? Whose fault? In other words, suffering leads to uncertainty and most of us have difficulty living a life with any sense of uncertainty. “I don’t mind a life full of unanswered questions,” said no one ever! Some people may “deal with it” better than others do, but my guess is, no one is completely comfortable with it. We want concrete answers, and we want them now. We want to live our “ideal” life without the interference of unforeseen circumstances. When we go through suffering, we learn quickly that pain has a way of pulverizing the security of misplaced hope.

In going through the trial of losing my voice, one of my most significant “uncertainties” centered around the question of usefulness. Without a voice, how could I, as a preacher, be useful to God or anybody else? God has a very clear answer to that question.

2 Corinthians 1:4 — who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

God’s answer is that suffering allows those who suffer to have a unique ministry of being able to comfort other sufferers. Even without a voice, I can communicate grace. Do I always do that? What do you think? Of course, I don’t. I can, though, and I should. God help me!

Suffering has a higher purpose - Psalm 29:9

Years ago, I was having a conversation with a young man who was struggling with some questions about God. As is often the case, many of his questions focused on the subject of God and suffering. I remember the desperation in his voice when he exclaimed, “God would never want anyone to suffer!”Let’s be honest, many believers have the same philosophy. We may not say it the same way, but we live like it’s true.

Comfortable, western-world based Christianity has warped our thinking about suffering. A wrong view of suffering reveals a wrong view of God. Pain, suffering, and loss are divinely designed means developing in us a right view of God.

Like so many others, suffering has made me, rather, compelled me to rethink my thinking about God. I still have so much to learn, and heaven will not be long enough to learn everything there is to know about him but I am slowly learning one thing.

GOD, NOT ONLY HAS ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS, HE IS THE ANSWER.

He is the answer when nothing makes sense. He is the answer when human comprehension fails. He is the answer when platitudes ring hollow.

I have, for a few years now, been slowly and methodically working my way through the Psalms. I am intentionally looking for reasons to praise. Honestly, having a totally different, suffering-produced, perspective of life has allowed me to see God in the Psalms like never before. A vivid illustration of seeing what I have never seen before is in Psalm 29.

The psalm describes the awesome and destructive power of the God’s voice. A psalm about God’s voice got my attention. The way God is poetically pictured in these verses is counterintuitive to much of our thinking about him. Verse nine arrested my attention.

Psalm 29:9 — The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

The voice of God causes such fear that expecting does give premature birth to their fawns. His voice has power to do more damage than a raging forest fire! David describes scenes of pain and destruction and devastating loss. Yet, in the temple, the place of worship, there is a collective choir of voices singing, “Glory!” The singers could be the angels mentioned in the first verse. The voices could be those of choirs assembled by David. The song, though, is very similar to another that was sung by heavenly host on the night our Savior was born. “Glory to God in the highest…”

The lesson is powerful. David is saying that in our suffering and despite our tears we can sing, we can worship, and we can shout, “Glory to God!” Personally, I do sometimes shout while suffering, but most of the time it isn’t in praise. My spirit often shouts in anger and bitter complaining. Suffering will help us to see a higher purpose in our pain. Suffering and loss purge and purify us so that our lives will be a “sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Hebrews 13:15).

A reader might be thinking, “Easier said than done.” That can certainly be said of articles like this one. It is much easier to talk or write about the purging fires of suffering than it is to wade through them. Yet, we know that to be like Jesus requires suffering. Some sincere believers seem to think that Jesus is an easy way out for whatever is hurtful or harmful. We can almost hear them saying, “I didn’t sign up for Team Suffering; I signed up for Team Jesus.” How can we be like Jesus if we are unwilling to suffer like Jesus? We can’t!

This is an edited copy of an article that first appeared in Frontline Magazine. “Used by permission from FrontLine magazine. To subscribe to FrontLine, go to https://fbfi.org/frontline/”