The Strange Gift of Suffering
Suffering is not an interruption to the Christian life. It is woven into it.
For the follower of Jesus, suffering is not simply pain, loss, or difficulty. It is the lived tension of trusting Christ in a world that is not yet healed, while being reshaped into His likeness along the way. That is why Christians should expect suffering, and why Scripture goes so far as to say there is reason for gratitude within it.
This does not mean suffering is good in itself. It means God meets His people there, forms them there, and refuses to waste what hurts.
Why Followers of Jesus Should Expect Suffering
Jesus never sold discipleship as a path to ease. He spoke plainly. Following Him meant taking up a cross, losing one’s life in order to find it, and being misunderstood by the world He came to save.
The New Testament assumes suffering as normal for believers. Not because God delights in pain, but because the kingdom of God collides with a broken world and reshapes broken people in the process.
Paul describes this tension as an inward groaning. “We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). This suffering is not persecution. It is the ache of living between promise and fulfillment.
Followers of Jesus suffer because redemption is real but incomplete.
Suffering Is More Than Persecution
Persecution matters. Around the world, believers are imprisoned, threatened, and killed for their faith. That suffering should never be minimized.
But Scripture paints a broader picture. Christian suffering includes persecution, yes, but also emotional wounds, spiritual dryness, sacrifice, obedience, and the ordinary griefs of life in a fallen world.
If suffering only counts when it comes from hostile outsiders, then much of the New Testament experience is left unexplained.
Suffering as the Way God Forms His People
One of the hardest truths of the Christian faith is that suffering is not only endured but used.
Tim Keller wrote:
“Suffering is at the very heart of the Christian faith. It is not only the way Christ became the Savior but it is one of the main ways we become like Him. Suffering is part of the process of sanctification.”
Suffering exposes what we trust. When comfort, control, or success are stripped away, what remains becomes clear. Keller argues that suffering has a way of forcing God from the margins of life into the center.
John Piper pushes the point further:
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, especially in our suffering. Joy in God in the midst of pain demonstrates that God Himself is our treasure.”
This is not persecution. It is refinement. It is the slow work of faith becoming rooted in God rather than outcomes.
Elisabeth Elliot, who lost her husband Jim Elliot to martyrdom, wrote:
“Suffering is never for nothing. We are not the ones in control. The deepest things I have learned in my life came through pain. Not one of them came through ease and comfort.”
Suffering is not good. But God is faithful within it.
The Suffering We Carry Inside
Much of modern suffering is invisible.
Trauma, anxiety, depression, betrayal, loneliness, family dysfunction, and unresolved grief can all become places where faith is tested and refined.
Henri Nouwen observed:
“Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, ‘How can we hide our wounds?’ but ‘How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?’”
Brennan Manning echoed the same truth:
“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive ourselves of a future. Grace tells us we are not defined by our worst moments. We are defined by the God who loves us in the midst of our brokenness.”
This kind of suffering is not caused by faith. But faith transforms how it is carried and what God does through it.
The Cost of Obedience
Sometimes suffering comes simply from obeying Jesus.
Choosing forgiveness when bitterness feels justified. Choosing integrity when compromise would be easier. Choosing generosity, faithfulness, purity, or truth when it costs something real.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it plainly:
“The cross is laid on every Christian. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Not all suffering is imposed from outside. Much of it is the internal cost of laying down self rather than enthroning it.
When God Feels Silent
Some suffering is not circumstantial at all. It is spiritual.
Throughout Christian history, believers have written about seasons when prayer feels empty, God feels distant, and faith is sustained by sheer trust rather than consolation.
John of the Cross called this “the dark night of the soul,” a season where faith becomes the only guide.
C. S. Lewis, grieving the loss of his wife, wrote:
“Where is God? When you are happy… you will be welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face.”
Even Mother Teresa confessed decades of interior darkness in private letters:
“The place of God in my soul is blank. I feel just no God. Yet still I love Him.”
This is not faithlessness. It is longing. It is trust without emotional reinforcement.
Sharing in the Life of Christ
The New Testament goes further than explaining suffering. It redefines it.
Peter writes, “Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13). Paul says his desire is “that I may know Him… and share His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10).
Suffering, in this sense, is participation.
N. T. Wright explains:
“Followers of Jesus are called to suffer because the world is still waiting to be put right. We are caught up in the work God has begun, the work of new creation, and that work is costly.”
This includes caregiving, forgiveness, intercession, advocacy, patience, and staying present with others in their pain.
It is Christlike suffering. Not just hardship, but love that costs.
Why Gratitude Is Possible
Christians are not called to be grateful for pain itself.
They are invited to be grateful that suffering is not meaningless, not wasted, and not endured alone.
Suffering reminds believers that this world is not the final word. It loosens our grip on false securities. It deepens compassion. It conforms us to Christ. It keeps hope aimed toward resurrection rather than comfort.
The follower of Jesus does not seek suffering. But when it comes, they meet God there.
And that is why Christians can expect suffering, walk through it honestly, and even give thanks in the midst of it.
Reflection Song
Reflection Questions
- Where in your life are you currently experiencing suffering that feels unfinished or unresolved?
- How have you tended to interpret suffering in the past as failure, punishment, or interruption rather than formation?
- What comforts, identities, or expectations might God be loosening your grip on through difficulty?
- In what ways might your present suffering be inviting you to deeper trust rather than quicker relief?
A Guided Prayer
God of mercy and truth,
You see the suffering I carry, both the parts I can name and the parts I avoid.
I confess my desire to escape pain quickly rather than meet You within it.
Teach me to trust You where answers are slow and comfort is thin.
Where I feel weak, form me.
Where I feel stripped, anchor me.
Where I feel unseen, remind me that You are near.
I do not ask to suffer, but I ask that none of it be wasted.
Conform me to Christ.
Give me patience to endure, courage to obey, and hope that reaches beyond this moment.
I place my life again in Your hands.
Amen.
Bible Study: Suffering, Hope, and Formation
Passage 1: Romans 8:18–25 (ESV)
Context:
Romans 8 sits at the center of Paul’s theology of life in the Spirit. These verses address the tension between present suffering and future glory, not by minimizing pain but by placing it within the larger story of redemption that is still unfolding.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us…
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Study Questions:
- What kinds of suffering does Paul assume believers will experience in “this present time”?
- How does Paul describe both creation and believers responding to the unfinished nature of redemption?
- Why does Paul connect suffering with hope rather than with explanation or resolution?
- What does it mean to wait with patience rather than urgency or resignation?
- Where are you being invited to practice patient hope right now rather than demanding immediate resolution or relief?
Passage 2: 1 Peter 4:12–16 (ESV)
Context:
Peter writes to believers experiencing social pressure, marginalization, and loss because of their allegiance to Christ. He reframes suffering not as something strange or shameful, but as participation in the life of Jesus.
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you…
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings…
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”
Study Questions:
- Why does Peter say suffering should not surprise believers?
- What does it mean to share in Christ’s sufferings rather than merely endure hardship?
- How does Peter distinguish between suffering for wrongdoing and suffering as a Christian?
- What might it look like to glorify God in suffering without denying its difficulty?
- What might it look like for you to remain faithful and unashamed of Christ in the middle of your current difficulty, even if nothing about the situation changes?
Further Reading
- Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
Timothy Keller, 2013
A thoughtful and pastoral exploration of suffering that combines biblical theology, philosophy, and lived experience. Keller avoids platitudes and treats pain with honesty while pointing to God’s redemptive purposes. - A Grief Observed
C. S. Lewis, 1961
Written in the aftermath of his wife’s death, this short work offers an unfiltered look at grief, doubt, anger, and faith. It captures what it feels like to trust God when emotional certainty disappears. - The Cross of Christ
John Stott, 1986
A theological classic that centers suffering within the cross itself. Stott carefully shows how Christian suffering only makes sense in light of Christ’s self-giving love and the hope of redemption. - Dark Night of the Soul
St John of the Cross, ~1578 (look for modern translation)
Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite friar and mystic, wrote the work out of lived suffering rather than abstract theology. That context matters. The “dark night” was not a concept to him. It was something he endured before he ever tried to explain it.