Suffer Well
Jesus Son of David, have mercy on our souls
Lead us through the valleys that circumstances hold
All the troubles of this life You said that we would see
If the cup was good enough for you, is it good enough for me?
There is great rejoicing in trials of many kinds
When I am given over to resurrection life
The glory that is coming is truly coming soon
Jesus what an honor to suffer, suffer well with you“Trials of Many Kinds” by Rita Springer & Brooke Ligertwood
In the summer of 2022, I had just come out of an intense season of depression. Just as I was finally able to breathe again, I found myself in a small group discussion on the beauty and necessity of suffering. I was met with the hard truth that my now “circumstance-free” life could not last if I wanted to continue to draw close to God. During this gathering, everyone was encouraged to pray for God to bring on the suffering if it meant we could be closer to Him. I was terrified. I couldn’t do it. Instead I prayed, “God, I think I’ve gone through enough. Please. No more.”
That night, I went to a trusted friend to process. I told him that I was so tired of crying all the time, and the thought of going through more, and potentially deeper, suffering felt like something I could not possibly survive. I was finally starting to experience joy again, and I had no desire to give that up. However, I could not deny that I felt closer to God in my suffering than in my fleeting happiness.
After letting me vent, my friend (hey, Aaron) boldly recited Philippians 1:29. “For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him…” Being willing to believe the gospel is where we start, but suffering for the sake of knowing God fully, and making Him known to others, is where we are live until He calls us home. With this truth in mind, Aaron prayed what I did not have the strength to pray. “God, we surrender our desires, our plans, and our comfort in joy all for Your glory, and Your glory alone.”
The boldest thing this song claims is that suffering with Jesus is “an honor” and worth “rejoicing” over. This declaration does not suggest that we ignore the pain of suffering, but encourages us to recognize the beauty of it. For it is through suffering that God has chosen deep intimacy with Him to be developed. As we are met with trial, we are able to experience God’s nearness the most, and our ability to see Him rightly is increased.
As necessary as it is, suffering is one of the hardest things to do well. No matter what kind of obstacle we are met with, the prideful belief that we are “undeserving” will always try to creep in. The hard truth of the matter, however, is that our sin makes suffering the only thing we deserve. It is out of God’s kindness that we can even grasp the goodness we wish to be experiencing instead. In His mercy, He has redeemed suffering into something that can be used for His glory and our good. As we endure, we must remember the fruit of suffering that we cannot obtain through any other means.
The first piece of fruit worth remembering is that God reveals Himself as Comforter through suffering. In a letter to the church of Corinth, we are told that God is “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Scripture does not say that the God comforts us if we have affliction. It says He comforts us in all our affliction. Suffering, affliction, trials — they’re all inevitable, but we must remember that there is a greater purpose behind it.
To be without suffering would be to miss out on an aspect of God’s character that we can only experience in grief. What is left for Him to console if there is no mourning? In this place of consolation, we embrace a growing willingness to depend on God. When comforted by the nearness of God, His realness is harder to deny, and we can experience firsthand that with great grief comes greater dependance.
Suffering also allows us to appreciate God’s sacrifice more fully. The only person who did not deserve to be met with any kind of hardship was Jesus Himself. Yet for our sakes, He became titled a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief (Isaiah 53:3). There is great peace in understanding that we will never face suffering that is deeper than the kind Jesus Himself endured on our behalf.
This act of remembrance brings us into greater awe of God. Our Savior underwent great hardship, and in order to be more like Him, we must go through the same. Empowered by this truth, we are then able to run to Him with full confidence in His ability to understand our turmoil and trust that it will not be in vain.
Finally, suffering brings us into a greater awareness of our citizenship in heaven. Hebrews 12 tells us that the joy set before Christ as He was nailed onto a cross was us. As we suffer, we must remember that the joy set before us is Him. And when we meet our Savior face to face, we will remember all we have fought through with open hands, and we will be all the more grateful that our home is with Him forever. Death will be no more. Pain will be no more. Grief will be no more. With the finish line in mind, we can rejoice in knowing that this is not our home.
Suffering is guaranteed. There is no way around it on this side of heaven, but there are two ways you can approach it. You can suffer alone, or you can suffer well. To suffer alone is to do so without the comfort and peace of Jesus. To suffer well is to cling to Him with everything you have, and remember that He is with you, always. He is with you til the very end of the age, and He is worth every tear that He’s promised to wipe away.
Jesus, what an honor it is to suffer well with You.
Listen to the Song!
Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/album/trials-of-many-kinds/1756804154?i=1756805223
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/5hYuDjuMy47jzht5ATyrBj?si=9boTVVVpQAOPGzwAN1DKvw
