Have you considered that suffering is a part of the human condition for good reason? Suffering is apparently part of God’s condition too.
We often think of the consequences of humanity’s fall as primarily affecting us and bringing death and suffering to mankind. This is true, yet Scripture also reveals a God who is not untouched by it. When humanity turned from Him, “…it grieved him to his heart” (Genesis 6:6). Speaking of Israel, Isaiah says, “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). God is not presented as distant from human suffering, but as one who feels it deeply.
The Clearest Expression Is His Son
The clearest expression of this is His Son: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Though he was God’s Son, “he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Rejection, betrayal, injustice, pain and death were not things he simply witnessed; they were things he endured.
None of This Makes Suffering Good
None of this makes suffering good. Death, grief and evil are enemies that God will ultimately remove. But Scripture repeatedly shows God bringing good from suffering. Joseph could say, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Paul writes that “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope…” (Romans 5:3–4).
Perhaps suffering is woven into reality because love is woven into reality. To truly love is to become vulnerable — to loss, sacrifice and grief. God’s love led Him to give His Son. The Son’s love led him to give his life. The story of Scripture suggests that suffering is not merely something God permits; it is something He understands.
Where We Meet Him
And maybe that’s why suffering can become one of the deepest points of connection between us and God. When everything is going well, it’s easy to keep God at a comfortable distance. But suffering has a way of stripping away pretence and self-reliance; it forces honesty and teaches dependence. Suffering drives us to seek God not simply for answers, but for Himself.
The God who is acquainted with grief invites us to bring our own grief to Him. (Just read the Psalms! The psalter understood this reality.)
Not because suffering is the goal, but because relationship is. In our suffering we often discover a depth of fellowship with God that comfort rarely produces — a closeness born not from understanding everything He is doing, but from knowing that He is with us in it.