Suffering: God Gives Grace

“I don’t want to die!”⁵ 

In his short life, Wilbur experiences great sorrow, uncertainty, and anxiety. In his intense fearfulness at his bad news (his sure demise unless someone intervenes), in his extreme loneliness, and in his eventual severe grief at the death of Charlotte and then the loss of her children, Wilbur suffers acutely. 

In this life, suffering is inevitable. As Spurgeon put it, “Then little wonder is it if I also have changes in my circumstances from the sunshine of prosperity to the midnight of adversity. It will not always be the blaze of noon.”⁶ Jesus, God’s own son was born to suffer, and suffering makes Him one with our humanity. He bore all the darkness of the world in His crucified body. 

For Wilbur, ultimately the path of suffering leads to peace and a glorious life. For Christians, suffering is expected. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Suffering can be the path to knowing God and finding lasting peace. We do know our sufferings will endure only for a time, and then there will be victory. Even Jesus “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). 

The suffering of the man born blind became the key to his salvation. David Brooks quotes theologian Paul Tillich who explains that suffering interrupts life and creates a cavity into the deeper self: “Suffering takes people beneath the busyness of life and reminds them that they are not who they thought they were.”⁷ Suffering unlocks the unknown lake inside us, the deep-down self that Christ intimately knows and loves. 

God’s grace carries us closer to Him. As Stephen Davey wisely said, “Don’t waste suffering. Make the most of what we are facing.”⁸ 

Prayer: God, You alone know my lake of pain. Embrace me as I remember that “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17).