6 Powerful Bible Verses About Hope in Suffering
Pale winter sunlight slips through the curtain, and splashes of cobalt rupture heaven’s veil. Winter feels long in these parts. Hard circumstances are unfolding in the world around us, and I open the crinkled pages in search of a few Bible verses about hope in suffering.
Our family isn’t suffering hard this winter, but we know what it is to suffer.
I imagine you know a thing or two about suffering as well.
No two kinds of suffering are exactly the same. I can’t pretend to know what yours looks like on this day. It might be as simple as achy joints that hurt when the rain comes, or it might be as heavy as a cloud of grief that won’t relent.
Powerful Bible Verses About Hope in Suffering
I think back to the hard winters we’ve faced, and sunbeams dance on wrinkled pages. I read these words: “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now” (Exodus 33:15 MSG).
Moses is talking with God about God’s promise to deliver his people, and I can relate with Moses. How many times I have spoken these words to God: “God, if you don’t go with me, I don’t wanna go.”
These are the words I want to speak when it comes to walking through a hard stretch of suffering. I want to look to the One who knit me together in my mother’s womb and ask him to go with me.
I think of this as I remember the last words Jesus spoke before ascending into heaven: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
4 Words That Change Everything
And right here, in this single statement, it falls on me like gentle February snowfall: If I can just remember Jesus goes with me, I can make it through any hard season. Jesus-with-me is my hope in times of suffering.
If I can just remember Jesus goes with me, I can make it through any hard season, and this is my hope in the midst of suffering. #suffering #HopeinJesus Click To Tweet
Jesus speaks these four words to remind us where we find our hope: “I’m going with you.”
I can’t help but think this is what he’s really saying:
I’m going with you to the ER,
to the cemetery,
through the breakup,
to the new job that feels scary,
into the pain of the failed marriage,
through the dark valley of grief,
as you endure the sickness,
through this loss that feels like a punch to the gut.
“I’m going with you.”
6 Comforting Bible Verses About Hope in Suffering
Friend, do you feel like you’re alone in your suffering?
Despite your feelings, you are not alone. Cling to these words about the One who will never leave you to suffer alone:
1. God gives us all we need to be strong, courageous, and unafraid:
Let’s cling to this promise today: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 ESV
2. We are upheld by the right hand of God:
Here is our promise: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
3. God is in our midst, and he is singing over us:
Here is a beautiful truth for hope in the midst of suffering: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save . . . he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
Powerful Bible Verses About the One Who Stays With You in Suffering:
4. Nothing can separate us from God’s love:
Let’s remind ourselves of these words when we are suffering in life: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
5. God is not just with you, he is in you:
Cling to these powerful words about the indwelling of God’s power within you: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
6. God has already prepared the path where your feet now tread:
May we find comfort and hope in the midst of suffering as we hold onto this promise about God’s presence: “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
Hold Onto Hope in the Midst of Suffering
I don’t know what lies ahead for our family or for your family in the months to come. What I do know is that for those who have called upon Christ for salvation, he goes with us, and this is our hope in times of suffering.
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