Tuesday Read: The Test of Suffering

Job lost everything in a single day—his wealth, his children, his health. His wife told him to curse God and die. His friends insisted his suffering proved his sin. Yet Job's response revealed his heart: "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him" (Job 13:15). This wasn't blind optimism or naive faith—it was tested trust that refused to let circumstances define God's character. Job didn't understand why he was suffering, but he understood who God was, and that was enough.

Suffering is Christianity's litmus test, revealing whether our faith is genuine or merely transactional. When life is good, it's easy to praise God, easy to believe, easy to trust. But when tragedy strikes, when prayers go unanswered, when God seems silent—that's when we discover what we truly believe about him. Do we worship God for who he is, or only for what he gives?

The book of Hebrews describes faith as "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Then it catalogs heroes of faith—people who were tortured, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, and sawed in two. Some were delivered; many weren't. Yet all died in faith, "still believing what God had promised them" (Hebrews 11:13). Their faith wasn't validated by miraculous rescue but by enduring trust despite circumstances.

Paul understood suffering's purpose: "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3-4). Suffering isn't random chaos—it's purposeful refinement. God uses pain to develop qualities that can't be forged in comfort: dependence, humility, compassion, endurance. The question isn't whether we'll suffer but how we'll respond when we do.

Peter wrote to persecuted Christians: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 4:12-13). Suffering isn't evidence that God has abandoned us—it's often evidence that he's shaping us into the image of his Son, who "learned obedience from what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8).

The ultimate test isn't whether you have faith when life is easy but whether you keep faith when life is hard. Can you worship God when he doesn't answer prayers the way you want? Can you trust him when circumstances suggest he's absent? Can you believe he's good when life feels anything but? Suffering doesn't create faith or destroy it—it reveals what was there all along.