The topic of suffering is not one that we talk about often in the church. Part of the reason for this might be because there are some assumptions that the more pious or righteous we are, the less we suffer. This simply isn’t true!
The story of Job illustrates this well. Job is a righteous man (Job 1:1) who goes through some tremendous suffering. He loses all his wealth, children, and health in a short time, and is so broken he finds himself sitting on a pile of ashes tending to his wounds (2:8).
Job gets into a dialogue with three of his friends about what’s happening to him. He has some real questions for God–why am I righteous, but suffering? Why do evil people seem to prosper, and I’ve lost everything? Near the end of the book (chapters 38-42) God responds to Job. However, it’s not in the way Job wants–God doesn’t answer any of Job’s questions. God shows Job how little Job knows about God’s creation, and how much greater the power and wisdom of God is. Job finally acknowledges God’s power and his own limitations, admitting that he doesn’t understand what’s going on.
There’s a few things we can learn from this story. First, we all face trials and hard times in life, no matter who we are. Just because we’re going through hard times doesn’t mean that God is punishing us or that we’ve done something wrong. Becoming Christian doesn’t mean all our problems disappear!
Second, there aren’t always easy answers to why difficult things happen in our lives. We won’t always know why we go through the things we do. Job didn’t get an answer about why he was suffering so badly. There are simply some questions we won’t get clear answers to, as much as we’d like to have them.
Third, how are we supposed to respond to hard times if we can’t get clear answers? Sometimes all we can do is hold on to hope in God. Difficult as it might be, we hold on to the hope that God is still good, he will still be faithful to us, and he cares for us dearly in our suffering. This may be really hard especially when God doesn’t respond to us in the way we expect or want.
To be able to hold on to hope like that really requires that we’re mature people! And maturity is something that we need to grow in to. To grow in that kind of maturity, we need to learn to turn to God in our trials, not away from him. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we stop treating our sicknesses when we’re sick. We still need to see the doctor and seek professional help when we’re unwell. But in all this we cling to God in our trials, and as we do the hope in us grows, our faith in God grows, and we grow as people.
We can always find hope in God during hard times, but sometimes we have to search for that hope. But as we continue to seek God, we grow in hope, faith, and love, and these things never fail (1 Corinthians 13:13).