When the disciples met a man who had been born blind in John 9, they asked Jesus who was to blame for his suffering. Jesus took a different approach: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:3-5). As we follow Jesus, this is an important shift in perspective we all need to learn.
Because we usually just want pain to go away. We want pandemics to end, debts to disappear, or our bodies to work like they used to. Yet, Jesus lovingly and graciously invites us to experience something more by finding purpose in pain. That’s what we see with the Apostle Paul’s “thorn…in the flesh, a messenger of Satan” given to harass him (2 Cor. 12:7). As he “pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave” him, Jesus replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). This closeness to Jesus is how Paul could say we should “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:3-5). When we suffer as Christians, we have an opportunity to “rely not on ourselves but on God” (2 Cor. 1:9). Our trials can draw us closer to God and lead us to love Jesus even more as He stays with us through them (cf. Jam. 1:2-4, 1 Pet. 1:6-9). Then we celebrate, not the suffering itself, but the opportunity to become more like Jesus and to be “blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests” upon us when we suffer for Him (1 Pet. 4:12-14).
The blessing is not just for our personal benefit, either. Paul said the “God of all comfort…comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). When we face illness or loss and receive comfort from God, it helps us know what to do when others face similar pain. When we with our own challenges still show compassion to others, “they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution to them and for all others” (2 Cor. 9:13, cf. 8:1-5).
This is our opportunity when we follow Jesus. Pain can draw us closer to God and help us grow. It can provide insight and compassion that helps us work with God to comfort others as they struggle. When that is true, our pain serves the same purpose as the rest of our lives: we use it all for God’s glory.
Even in dark times of great suffering, God is working things out for good. Join us for Esther’s Missing God: Seeing Him in Dark Times at https://www.georgetownchurchofchrist.com/esthers-missing-god.