Walking Through Suffering

I feel I need to start off with a warning: this post may be challenging for some as it may bring up the pain of the suffering you are currently walking through or have walked through previously. Nonetheless I encourage you to read to the end as there is hope. It is hope that we need to find and hold onto as that is when we find the Father is with us, even in our suffering and pain.

The dictionary helpfully defines suffering as "undergoing pain, distress or hardship" and I'm sure it's something that is familiar to all of us to some degree. 

Suffering is related to loss and its associated trauma. We lose a loved one, a job, a relationship maybe even our dreams or ambitions. These are all real and affect us deeply. Often these are one-off events that hit us hard - we go through suffering because of these losses. Then there are the ongoing sufferings that are often with us for a much longer period of time: health issues, finances, struggles at work, persecution, rejection, our families. All things that wear us down as they can drag on for long periods of time. 

What do we do with our suffering? Do we pretend it's not there, maybe we try to avoid it, often we sink under it or we might even feeling like giving up. 

Let's be honest, our sufferings are very real, they drain our energy and we feel like we are carrying a very heavy weight. 

In Romans 8:18 the apostle Paul makes a statement which we could see as being quite discouraging. "I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us". Really! In a way, though, that helps put them in perspective. It is possible to look beyond our suffering to the glory which will be revealed in us. Now, I don't pretend that is either easy or pain free. We can't pretend our suffering is not there, or that it doesn't exist as that would be unreality. What Paul encourages us to do is recognise and embrace our suffering but look beyond it with the eye of faith to see a better day. This is not blind optimism but an acknowledgment that we have a good Father who is always in control.

We have what I call the 'magnet of hope'. We read this in Romans 5.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not  disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

We do not place our hope in our own strength or ability. We do not place our hope in other people. We do not place our hope in wishful thinking. We place our hope in our Heavenly Father. Yes, our suffering will take perseverance, it will change our character but as we hold onto him we discover that hope will not disappoint because God is constantly pouring his love in our heart by the Holy Spirit. His love for us which is unchanging and unending is the only thing that will carry us through our season of suffering. That certainty is what enables us to look over and beyond the suffering we experience. This is the rock on which we may build our lives - he is always with us.

We can look at the life of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. He was not exempt from suffering and neither are we. Sadly, we live in a fallen, broken world where we experience the stuff of life. It exhausts us, it wears us out, it drains our energy but it does not need to overwhelm us. Let's seek the Godly perspective which looks beyond our trials and tribulations and relies on the never-ending love of the Father. 

At the end of Job's story we see that he has an encounter with God. His 'friends' try and tell him his suffering is a result of his sin. So, if he would simply repent all would be ok! That's not the point of the story, it wasn't Job's sin that robbed him of everything so precious to him. Through his suffering he has an encounter with God where he sees God's goodness and greatness. The circumstances didn't immediately change but Job knew and experienced that he was not alone in his sufferings. God was with him. 

For us, too, when we suffer we do not go through them on our own. Our Father is with us. In fact he wants to carry us through them, just as a father carries a child (Deut 1:31). He wants to be the weight bearer rather than us. 

We saw the definition of suffering earlier. What's the opposite? It's comfort which brings relief from pain, distress or hardship. Comfort strengthens us within and gives us a supernatural sense of well being or quiet enjoyment. In whatever suffering you are going through, ask the God of ALL comfort to comfort you in ALL your troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Suffering is real and affects us all. Let's put our hope in our Father and allow him to comfort us. Let's have a divine hope that enables us to see beyond the suffering we experience. Let us be assured of his constant love for us which is the only thing that sustains our hope. Let's know he is with us in the midst of our suffering. 

Let me end with the words of Jesus:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

He has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.