Suffering as Followers of Christ

As followers of Christ we need a biblical worldview of suffering. We have and will continue to face difficulties throughout our lives and it is necessary that we ask the right questions and look for answers in the right places during times of suffering. How do you view suffering? When “bad things” happen to you or someone you love what directs your view of what is taking place? I want to offer four biblical reasons for suffering in the life of the Christian. My hope is that through God’s truth we can learn to face sufferings not as the world but as those who believe and live in the certainty that all things are from him and through him and to him for his glory forever (Romans 11:36).

View #1: Suffering in this fallen world is universal to all. The creation after the fall was subjected to futility (Rom.8:20) and is groaning under the curse of sin (Rom.8:22). Therefore, as Job said in his suffering, man is born to trouble as the sparks upward (Job 5:7). Everyman is destined to die once and we all as we grow older are wasting away day by day. Suffering in this fallen world is common to all. This view is contrary to our rejuvenating culture. Man is always searching for a quick fix to the problems of everyday life, a cure and a way to take the inevitability of suffering away forever. In our home we seek to eat right, get enough rest and exercise, but we will all at some time see our health decline.

View #2: Suffering in this fallen world is sometimes for correction. When I was a child I lived with my father and mother who loved me. The expression of their love sometimes came in the form of corrective discipline that caused me to suffer in some way. On one occasion I “took the Lord’s name in vain”. I did not know what that phrase uttered by my mother meant, but after she shoved a bar of soap in my mouth I knew that the way I spoke of God was not correct. My suffering was not great, only a bad taste in my mouth for a good part of the day, but her discipline corrected me. In the same way God disciplines those he loves. He uses discipline to bring about our training and makes known to us through this discipline that we are truly his children. This kind of corrective discipline from the Lord results in our own suffering and difficulty, but it is for our good to bring us the fruits of righteousness and peace in the Lord (Hebrews 12:5-11). Elizabeth Prentiss in her hymn entitled “More Love to Thee, O Christ” leads us to pray to the Lord for this kind of corrective suffering when we sing,
Let sorrow do its work,
Send grief and pain;
Sweet are thy messengers,
Sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me,
More love O Christ, to thee.
When we find ourselves enduring a particular suffering we must go to the Lord in prayer and his Word asking him to reveal to us where we may be traversing outside of his will. He may show us clearly as we examine our relationships, circumstances, or particular attitudes and actions in the light of his revealed will. However, there may not always be anything in particular that is revealed.

View #3: Suffering in this fallen world is for the certainty of hope. The apostle Paul, Peter and James, the half brother of Jesus, make this clear. Paul says in Romans 5:3-4, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Paul looks at the sufferings Christians face for the purpose of bringing us to all that God is for us in Christ through the instrument of hope. When Christians suffer they are given grace by God to endure suffering so that in that weakness they see more of the grace of God for them in Christ. These times of testing produce a life of faith, hope and love. This is why Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you,...but rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (1Peter 4:12-13) When the Christian suffers he suffers in Christ sharing in his sufferings. But he does this in hope that just as Christ suffered and was raised up to glory so to all who suffer in Christ will be raised up in glory with him. And this hope is strengthened in suffering. This is why James tells us, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). God is bringing his children to completion in Christ through suffering, and it is the hope that is forged on the anvil of suffering that leads his children to glory where they lack nothing.

View #4: Suffering in this fallen world is for the glory of God. When we see suffering we will sometimes assume that the reason is because of particular sins. Jesus’ disciples made this assumption with a man born blind. When they saw him they asked Jesus if he was suffering from blindness because of his own sins or the sins of his parents (John 9:1-2). Jesus declared that it was not because of sin that this man suffered but so that the works of God might be displayed in him (John 9:3). This view must penetrate the mind and heart of the Christian so that he does not live a fatalistic life. We must ask, “Were those years of suffering worth the glory of God being revealed in Christ who gave him sight and life?” The praises around the throne of God resound with a clear, “Yes!” Job suffered for the glory of God refusing his wife’s instruction to “curse God and die” and when he endured such unexplainable suffering he was able to say, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” (Job 42:5) God is glorified when he is known and enjoyed by his own and it is through suffering that his children will see his glory revealed. The way to the glory of the Son was the way of the cross, and the way to God being glorified in his sons and daughters in Christ is to follow in the road that Jesus walked.