5 Reasons Suffering Is Both Terrible and Meaningful
At my church, every counselor’s schedule is full. We have an incredible team of Pastors, Lay Pastors, and volunteer counselors, yet we still have way more people needing help than we have the resources and people to help them. Like most churches, companies, and communities, we’re just now starting to feel the long-term effects of a society grasping with the challenges and dramatic changes of COVID on just about every facet of life. We may be more than a year in, but it’s felt like a decade for most people. People aren’t just having problems. They aren’t just in pain. They’re suffering.
But suffering is unique in a sense. Somehow, it’s one of the most powerful ways God gets our attention. He may not cause suffering, but He absolutely doesn’t waste it either. He uses it to draw us closer to Him. No one prays for suffering, wants to go through suffering, or sees the point of suffering when they’re going through it — but everyone on the planet will suffer. Saint Augustine was right when he said:
“God had one Son on Earth without sin, but never one without suffering.”
You will suffer, I will suffer, we’ll all suffer at some point. You may be suffering right now. My encouragement is to help you see how God uses the uniqueness of suffering to show us that it’s not just terrible but meaningful.