Fighting Through Suffering

Suffering has a way of forcing questions we never wanted to ask. Why did the relationship fall apart? Why did the doctor call with that diagnosis? Why can’t we have children? Why did I lose this job? Why now? Why me?

If you have walked through a season of suffering, you know how quickly the questions come. Often, the hardest part is not the pain itself but the uncertainty that comes with it. We can endure a great deal when we understand what is happening. What rattles us is when we don’t.

Jesus never promised His followers a life free from pain. He said plainly:

“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV)

Not might. Will. Suffering is part of life in a fallen world. Faith does not exempt us from hardship; it gives us somewhere to stand when hardship comes.

If we are going to fight through suffering, we have to face the question underneath so many others: Why does God allow it?

Two truths beneath the mystery

Christians have wrestled for generations with how suffering fits within the goodness and sovereignty of God. Scripture does not explain the reason for every painful event, but it gives us two truths that run beneath the mystery: God is at work for His glory, and He is refining the faith of His people.

God’s glory in the middle of pain

One of the most surprising truths in Scripture is that God’s glory often appears most clearly through suffering.

In John 9, Jesus meets a man who had been blind since birth. The disciples ask the question people still ask: Who is to blame? Jesus tells them that the man’s condition was not the result of his sin or his parents’ sin. His life would become a place where the works of God were displayed.

The same pattern appears in John 11. Jesus loved Lazarus deeply, yet He delayed coming when Lazarus became sick. Lazarus died, and still Jesus declared that the situation would result in the glory of God.

Sometimes God heals. Sometimes He delivers. Sometimes He does neither on this side of eternity. Yet He remains at work. Nothing touches a son or daughter of God without passing through His holy hands.

I do not pretend to understand all the ways God works through suffering. Scripture does teach us that His glory and our suffering are often connected. Look no further than the cross. God’s greatest glory came through Christ’s greatest suffering. Resurrection came through crucifixion, and life came through death.

The refining of faith

Suffering also tests and strengthens our faith. James tells us that trials produce steadfastness. Peter compares tested faith to gold refined by fire. We do not enjoy the fire, but we can see what God produces through it.

If you asked a group of believers when they felt closest to God, many would point to a crisis rather than a season of comfort: a diagnosis, a heartbreak, a loss, an unanswered prayer, or a moment when they had nowhere else to turn.

Suffering strips away self-sufficiency and teaches us to depend on God. It can refine, strengthen, and deepen us, not because pain is good, but because God is.

What suffering can produce

Power

The apostle Paul knew suffering. He was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and persecuted. Yet when he wrote about those experiences, he spent less time explaining why they happened and more time describing what God produced through them:

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8, ESV)

Maybe you know what it feels like to be pressed from every side. The pressure is real, and the pain is real. So is God’s power. Suffering often brings us to the end of ourselves, where we learn to rely on the strength of Christ. When we are weak, He is strong. When we are exhausted, He sustains us. When we feel down for the count, His power keeps us from being destroyed.

Purpose

Pain is never wasted in the hands of God. Paul writes that the life of Jesus is revealed through people who suffer faithfully. God can use our suffering to minister to others. The comfort we have received becomes comfort we can give. The lessons we learn become encouragement we can offer. Our wounds can become evidence of God’s sustaining grace.

Sometimes God allows us to walk through a fire because one day we will help someone else survive theirs.

Perspective

Suffering clarifies what matters most. Paul calls believers to focus on what is unseen and eternal. He is not dismissing present pain. He is placing it beside the far greater weight of eternity. Pain narrows our vision; faith lifts our eyes.

That is why Paul could say, “We do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Hold on to what you know

When suffering enters our lives, questions can consume us. What if? How long? Why did this happen? What happens next? We fixate on everything we do not know and forget what God has already made clear.

Romans 8 gives us four certainties that can anchor the soul.

God is not condemning you

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, ESV)

If you belong to Christ, your suffering is not proof that God has abandoned you or is punishing you. Christ bore your judgment. Your suffering may refine your faith, but it is not condemnation. Fight to believe that.

The Spirit intercedes for you

Romans 8 tells us that when we do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. When words fail, grief overwhelms, and all you can do is sit silently before God, the Spirit is praying on your behalf. You are never alone in your suffering. Rest in that.

God is working for your good

Romans 8:28 is not a cliché. It is a promise that God is working in ways we cannot always see. Joseph spent years wondering what God was doing, yet he could eventually say to the brothers who betrayed him:

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20, ESV)

The same God who worked then is working now. Trust Him even when you cannot trace what He is doing.

God loves you

Suffering can make us question God’s love, but Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). His answer is clear: nothing. Tribulation, distress, persecution, and suffering cannot separate God’s children from His love.

Keep fighting

Suffering will always contain mysteries we cannot explain. Some questions will remain unanswered, and there will be moments when God’s purposes feel hidden. When those moments come, do not trade what you know for what you do not know.

Hold tightly to what Scripture has made clear. God is not condemning you. The Spirit is interceding for you. God is working for your good. God loves you. Because those things are true, you can keep fighting. Suffering is hard, but God is faithful even here.

Adapted from a sermon by Jarrett Stephens.