God Knows Your Pain and Cares About Your Suffering
Several years ago, our family endured a painful series of events. I felt alone and forgotten by God when a friend gently said, “God knows your pain, and he hasn’t left your side.”
Her words carried me through that dark season.
Join me as I stroll down our country road, reflect on my journey, and explore God’s purpose for pain and suffering.
God Knows Your Pain
The forest shivers as the first signs of a cold front exhales over the rolling fields surrounding me. Above, a ragged edge of cirrus clouds warns us of what’s to come.
We’re in the thick of winter in this part of the world. I shiver at the thought and consider the long, dark days ahead.
My mind retraces the footsteps of past winters, and I recall the losses we’ve faced and the suffering we’ve endured. Painful seasons never feel pleasant while we are enduring them. Nevertheless, pain and suffering are God’s primary tools to help us grow in maturity.
Suffering as God’s Tool
Most likely, you know all of the clichés about hard times. You know today’s pain is preparing you for tomorrow’s journey. Pain shapes you and strengthens you. You know you can choose to stay soft and be molded to look more like Jesus, or you can grow hard and turn from God.
But here’s what you might have missed if you weren’t looking closely enough: God’s greatest gifts are often hidden in seasons of adversity.
God uses pain and suffering to mold us.
He uses pain and suffering to help us become more mature and compassionate.
Pain is always an invitation to soften our hard parts and sand off the rough edges.
Where is life painful for you these days?
Your invitation is simple: You can harden your heart, become bitter that you have to push through the pain, and keep a closed mind. Or you can let the pain soften you and deepen you. You can let it mold you to emerge looking a bit more like the person you want to be.
God Knows Your Pain and Cares About Your Suffering
Let’s explore some of God’s purposes for pain and suffering in life:
1. Pain teaches us to trust in God’s presence instead of trusting in pleasant circumstances.
When life is tough, God uses our pain to teach us to find our hope in him. Because he is always with us, we can have peace even when life is uncertain and difficult.
We find the promise of his presence here: “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. Suffering teaches us to find our strength in God and not in ourselves.
Have you ever faced a time of suffering and realized that you were incapable of escaping it through your own efforts?
In these times, pain and suffering remind us that our strength comes from God alone. Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, “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.”
3. Pain and suffering teach us to turn to God for comfort.
When nothing in this world can bring comfort, God wants to be our source of comfort.
On my darkest days, I have held onto these words: “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).
4. Suffering removes the impurities from our lives.
The Bible often speaks of the refining fire. Malachi wrote, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3, NIV).
God’s refining fires of pain and suffering remove the impurities from our lives. He uses these times to strip away the parts of our characters that need to be shaped and developed. This process is always painful, but it is for our good.
God wants to use your pain to shape your character to match your calling.
God wants to use your pain to shape your character to match your calling. #calling #faith #suffering #pain Share on X5. Suffering purifies our faith.
In the same way that pain and suffering shape our character, they also refine our faith: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
God knows your pain. He is also using it to make your faith stronger, which will result in praise, glory, and honor.
6. Pain and suffering help us become strong and steadfast.
Peter wrote, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).
God allows suffering as he helps us become stronger. He sees our pain, and he will not waste it.
7. Suffering leads to maturity.
James reminds us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
I generally try to avoid suffering. Yet when life is painful, I have learned that God is building my character and helping me mature. This is true for you, too. God cares about you. Because he cares about you, he will use whatever it takes to help you grow.
8. Suffering conforms us to the image of Christ.
Paul wrote the following words to the Roman church: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:28-29).
Romans 8:28 is often quoted in isolation when people are going through hard times. We say, “God knows your pain. He will use it for good.”
Let’s not leave off the second part of this passage. According to verse 29, God’s idea of what is good is that we are conformed to the image of his Son. This process often requires some degree of suffering and discomfort. For this reason, we can lean into pain and trust that God is using it for good.
God Knows Your Pain and Will Use It for Good
If you are suffering today, don’t lose hope. God is working in your life. He will use this time to help you grow, shape you to look more like Jesus, and strengthen you.
He loves you and hasn’t missed a moment of your suffering.
A Free Devotional to Help You EndureThis Difficult Time:
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