The Benefit of Suffering

By Carol Wollaston

We often hear folk say, ‘how does a God of love allow suffering?’  This is a hard question to answer with any integrity, especially if we are not the one suffering.  Glib responses are not at all helpful.  The fact is that God is not like a child’s image of Santa Clause!  He is Father.  He is also sovereign, and His ways are not our ways.

In Hebrews 12:5 we are reminded, ‘do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by Him.   For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He punishes every son He accepts.  What you endure is for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline?   Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not His sons.   Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who used to discipline us, and we respected them for it. We should even more submit to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we?   For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but He does it for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.   No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.   Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live.’

Clearly God’s discipline comes in the form of suffering that corrects and matures the sons and daughters He loves.  We know that an undisciplined child stays immature, self-involved and demanding if correction is not part of his or her way of life.

Something within all of us demands that life be ‘nice’.  But this is not reality.  The nightly news portrays the frailty of human existence and the intense suffering being born by many around the world.  In the ‘lucky country’ we are somewhat isolated from these things and can easily be caught up in our own little world of comfortable living.  In our expectations we can become like an undisciplined child – self-involved and demanding that our ‘nice’ easy life remain untouched by unpleasant occurrences.  Of course we are grateful that disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes are not usually part of our life here in Australia though we do have ‘droughts and flooding rains’ as the national song says.

Does God enjoy seeing people suffer?  I’m sure He does not!  Like discipline, however, there are lessons learned from suffering, especially from the disasters we create by our own foolish choices.  Sadly, we are not generally eager to hear correction and discipline from our natural fathers which could save us from learning lessons of life the hard way?   Likewise, we prefer to choose our own way over God’s.   As long as this is the case there will be suffering in the world.  Suffering that God allows is positive when it brings us to the end of ourselves so that we can hear His voice. 

As Jesus faced the trauma of the cross He drank deeply from the cup of suffering.  Now He calls us to share with Him only a small portion of His suffering.  All who come to Christ must participate in His suffering so that they may also share in His eternal life.  That is why Paul could say, ‘I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us….And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose…’ 

Let us have faith that all things, including suffering, work together for our good, and that anything that God calls ‘good’ will be good for us too.   In this faith we can bear our portion of suffering in hope and faith.