When we are suffering, God is right beside us. Nothing can separate us from His love. He wants to show us His love through His church, and give us a purpose through His Word!
Suffering as a Tool of Sanctification
Although suffering is alien to His goal for humanity, God uses it now as part of our development as people. Nothing forces a person to confront their true self like suffering. Suffering causes our focus to turn inward, to face those parts of ourselves we might otherwise ignore.
God uses our suffering for others.
In other words, suffering is a rhythm of the good life because we cannot fulfill the great commission to bring all people and places back under the lordship of Christ apart from suffering. Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.
He sees how we suffer, and He is near to us in our suffering. No tear that you have cried has gone unnoticed by your heavenly Father. John 11:35 says very succinctly that “Jesus wept.” He has entered into our suffering and the God-man has shed tears with those whom he loves. He has suffered with us.
In your pain, in the dark night of your soul, in your storm, in your confusion, in your sadness, wherever you are, He is. God is on the side of the sufferer. Scripture bears witness. Take a glance through the gospels and where do you find Jesus?
Psalm 34:18 says “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” And Jesus himself endured the ultimate pain for us so we can be assured that God never leaves us alone. As believers, we have this source of comfort in our pain: God is with us.
Seeing God in Our Pain
Instead of grumbling about our problems or blaming someone else, let's look to the Bible to see how God uses our trials to draw us closer to Him. Why? Seeing God in Our Pain shows the root causes of our pain and suffering and allows us to see Him more clearly as a God who really does care.
We need to have confidence and assurance as we reach out to God with our struggles, that whatever He decides to happen is for our own well-being. If our questions are not answered in the ways we hoped, instead of being quick to judgment and worry, we can rest in God by keeping our faith in His infinite grace.
The five Kleshas are Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism or I-am-ness), Raga (attachment), Dvesha (repulsion and aversion), and Abhinivesha (fear of death and the will to live).
Scripture reminds us that being burdened and despairing of life itself can strengthen our faith (2 Corinthians 1:8–9). This is because the deepest trials make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. The more we endure with Christ and find him sufficient, the stronger our faith becomes.
In his compassion he wills that those who suffer find relief. In what are called his Beatitudes, Jesus gives a heavenly per- spective to the merit of and reward for embracing human suffer- ing, even persecution at the hands of others for his sake.
In The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren reveals the meaning of life from a Christian perspective—five purposes that you were created by God to fulfill: worship, unselfish fellowship, spiritual maturity, your ministry, and your mission.
Qualifiers, such as physical, mental, emotional, and psychological, are often used to refer to certain types of pain or suffering. In particular, mental pain (or suffering) may be used in relationship with physical pain (or suffering) for distinguishing between two wide categories of pain or suffering.
God uses adversity to not only reveal Himself to us in new ways, but also to test our faith, develop Christ-like character in us, and bring glory to His Name. As recorded in the gospel of John, Jesus warned His disciples of the cost of following Him.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence . . . my hope is from him” (Psalm 62:1, 5). If we lean on him while we wait, God will give us the grace to wait and to listen carefully as we pray, go to trusted Christ-followers for encouragement, and keep opening his word and asking him to help us hear him.
In other words, your very present pain is seen by God; He is present with you and is grieved by a world that causes His children to suffer. He sees your pain, and like any good father, chooses to respond (Psalm 103:13).
God not only heals the souls of the broken; He also binds up our wounds. He takes the time to tenderly bandage the wounded places in our lives so we can be made whole. This level of tender care communicates several truths about God: God cares about those with broken hearts.
God Allows Suffering to Bring Us Closer to Him
And He often uses hard times to get our attention. When things are going great we are not so quick to turn to Him. But when trials come, they often drive us to our knees in search of answers and comfort.
He often uses family and friends to guide us, strengthen us, and encourage us. If you've had a family member or friend offer to help you out financially when you really needed it, taken care of you when you needed it, or given you food or clothing when you needed it, God was using that person to reach you.
God respects agency.
Other trials come from people making bad decisions. God respects the agency of each of His children. He (and we) can encourage, plead, warn, and teach—rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. But in the end, it would go against His nature and plan to force anyone to do anything.
He is able to help us when we are tempted to doubt God's existence or goodness in our suffering because He was tempted, yet without sin (Hebrews 2:18). He meets us in our suffering and walks with us through it. We do not need to face any suffering alone.