Friday Read: Suffering and Glory
Suffering is part of Christian life. This shouldn't surprise you, but it often does. You expect that following Jesus will make life easier, that faith will protect from hardship, that God will smooth your path. Then you experience betrayal, illness, loss, failure - and you wonder if you're doing something wrong. Maybe if your faith were stronger, if you prayed more, if you sinned less, the suffering would stop.
Scripture demolishes this thinking. Paul wrote: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). Notice he doesn't say "if you suffer" but assumes you will. He doesn't promise suffering will end if you're faithful enough; he promises it's temporary and worth what's coming. This is radically different from prosperity theology that treats suffering as evidence of insufficient faith.
Jesus was explicit: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Trouble is guaranteed. Victory is also guaranteed, but it comes through suffering, not around it. Following Jesus doesn't exempt you from pain; it gives you Someone who walks through pain with you and promises it won't be the final word.
Peter expanded on this: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed" (1 Peter 4:12-13). Suffering isn't strange or unusual for Christians - it's expected. And it connects you to Christ's sufferings in ways that will make his glory more joyful when it's revealed.
This doesn't mean all suffering is good or from God. Some suffering results from living in a broken world - disease, accidents, natural disasters. Some results from human evil - abuse, injustice, violence. Some results from your own foolish choices. God doesn't cause all suffering, but he can redeem all suffering, using even what evil intended for harm to accomplish his purposes (Genesis 50:20).
Paul discovered this personally. He had a "thorn in the flesh" - some physical ailment or limitation that tormented him. Three times he asked God to remove it. Three times God refused: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). God didn't remove the suffering because he was using it to display his power through Paul's weakness. Paul concluded: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
This creates tension. You're supposed to pray for healing, deliverance, relief - Scripture commands it. But you're also supposed to accept suffering as part of following Christ and trust that God is using it. How do you know when to keep asking for removal versus accepting God's "no"? There's no formula. You keep bringing the suffering to God, keep asking for relief if that seems right, but also keep trusting that if relief doesn't come, God has purposes you can't see.
The key is Paul's comparison: present sufferings versus future glory. Suffering is temporary; glory is eternal. Suffering is light compared to the weight of glory coming. This doesn't minimize present pain - Paul calls it suffering, not discomfort. But it provides perspective: what you're enduring now, as real and painful as it is, will seem insignificant compared to what's ahead.
He elaborates: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). The troubles aren't actually light or momentary while you're experiencing them - cancer, bankruptcy, divorce, death don't feel light. But compared to eternal glory, they are.
This requires fixing your eyes on what's unseen. You can't see the glory yet. You can only see the suffering. Faith means believing the unseen future is more real than the visible present, that glory is coming even though all you can see right now is pain. This doesn't come naturally. You need to deliberately redirect focus from circumstances to promises, from what's happening now to what's coming later.
When suffering feels overwhelming, remember: Jesus suffered too. He was "despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain" (Isaiah 53:3). He understands your pain from experience, not observation. When you cry out in anguish, he doesn't respond with platitudes about staying positive. He responds with compassion born from having walked this road himself.
And remember: suffering is temporary; glory is permanent. The pain you're experiencing now will end - if not in this life, then in the resurrection. But the glory coming will never end. It will make every moment of suffering seem worthwhile. You can't see that yet. But God sees it, and he promises it's coming. Trust him. What you're walking through now is temporary. What's ahead is eternal.
