Seeing God Through Pain and Suffering: 5 Unexpected Things God Is Doing in the Dark
The maples tower grey and unclothed in the valley behind the house. This place looks nothing like the lush sanctuary that enveloped me in its arms two months ago. As I stare out the window, the austerity of the world matches the state of my soul. If I’m honest, I’ve been having trouble seeing God through pain and suffering lately.
Seeing God Through Pain and Suffering
This season has not come easily here. It has not met our expectations.
Some of our dreams have come to life, and some have fallen apart.
It’s not always easy to sense God’s presence when you are suffering. But faith isn’t about feeling; it’s about believing what we cannot see.
I wonder if you’ve walked through a similar season of your own. Maybe it was a long time ago, or you might be on the brink of a surprisingly long winter right now. Maybe this makes you think about a season when it seemed God went quiet. When you needed him more than ever, it felt like he had turned away.
I’ve walked through a few of these seasons as well. At times, the God who was supposed to be my Comforter felt more distant than ever.
5 Unexpected Things God Is Doing in Your Suffering
If this is you, hold onto hope. Choose to stand on the truth and not your feelings. God hasn’t left you.
He promised to be with you always (Deut. 31:6). He promised that nothing can ever take his love from you (Romans 8:38-39).
If you need some truth to hold onto this season, here are five things God is doing in your darkest hours:
1. When you are suffering, God is singing over you.
What is God doing when you lie awake on your sickbed? Where is he when you’re sitting in that cubicle wondering if you’re wasting your life? What’s he doing when the walls start closing in and you’re not sure you can take another day, when the baby cries for the 19th time of the night, or when life falls to pieces and you can’t even find the strength to gather it all up again?
Dear friend, hold onto this truth: God delights in you. He has not left you; he sings over you in your darkest hour (Zephaniah 3:17).
2. When you are suffering, God is tenderly pursuing you.
No passage of Scripture stirs my heart more than the words of Hosea 2:14.
After warning his people to turn away from their sins, God speaks these words through the prophet Hosea: “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.”
God is looking for a way to allure you and draw you to himself. The New Living Translation tells us he looks for ways to “woo us.” He pursues us.
You aren’t coincidentally reading these words today. You are reading these words because God is pursuing you.
The same God who allured his people thousands of years ago is alluring you through these words at this very moment.
Seeing God in Pain and Suffering: He Comforts You
3. God weeps with you when you suffer.
When Jesus died on the cross, he did more than take the punishment for our sins. He also carried our sorrows. He experienced the weight of the sorrows of the world. He not only counts our tears in a bottle, but he also weeps with us.
We see this compassionate spirit as Jesus weeps with Martha and Mary after the death of Lazarus in John 11. God’s compassion stirs his heart for you, and no tear goes unnoticed. Jesus is not far off in the midst of your pain; he weeps with those who mourn.
Jesus is not far off in the midst of your pain; he weeps with those who mourn. #suffering #Jesuswept #trials #struggles #encounteringGod Share on X4. God is providing for you.
Even if you cannot see it now, God is making provisions for you.
Our idea of provision does not always match God’s idea, but he promises to give us all we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
If you don’t feel or see his provision today, make the declaration, by faith, to believe God will withhold no good thing from you (see Psalm 84:11). God wants to use this difficult time to shape your heart, helping you look more like Christ. This shaping is never a painless process. Yet he promises to hold you close, never taking his eye off you.
5. God is filling your cup while you suffer.
I’ve always been intrigued by the second part of Psalm 23.
When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it’s hard to see how God is simultaneously preparing a table before us and filling us to overflowing. When the valley is dark and the wellspring seems dry, it doesn’t feel like anything in the world is overflowing.
Trust in the promise that God is transforming you into the image of Christ as you walk through this valley. He is filling you to overflowing because when you emerge from this fiery trial, you will look more like Jesus. Looking more like Jesus will change the world around you.
For the first time in my life, I cannot wait for the season to change to winter this year. God is doing a new thing, and it remains hidden for now, but when it springs up we’ll all say it was well worth the wait.
A Free Resource to Help You With Seeing God Through Pain and Suffering:
Today, I invite you to let Jesus hold you as he begins healing your heart in this difficult time. For a limited time, I’m offering a free chapter from my book, Lean Into Grace. You will learn how to stop rushing through your pain or trying to fix it and falling short. This chapter will help you process your emotions and bring your broken heart to God for healing. This chapter is yours for free right here today. 
Calling all moms and daughters!
Additionally, my teen daughter, Bekah, and I are passionate about helping moms and daughters grow closer while connecting with God. We have written two mother-daughter devotionals together. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section after each devotion.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, purity, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. We will help you!
Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by these books! You can buy them as paperbacks or get your free Kindle Unlimited eBooks on Amazon right here.
