“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior.”

Isaiah 43:1-3

The reason for suffering has always been a topic I’ve struggled with.  I think the topic of suffering is actually what held me back from having a relationship with God the first 18+ years of my life.  I was 8 years old when my dad passed away and I couldn’t understand why God would allow such a horrible thing.  I felt like I was a “good kid”, helped others and was kind to those I came into contact with, so why did I have to experience a loveless father, who then died at such a young age?  I struggled with believing God was good because of the pain and suffering I had experienced.  

So why does God allow us to go through pain and suffering?  I’ve been praying over this question for some time and haven’t been enlightened with a truly satisfactory answer.  I think the reason for that is simply because his ways are higher than our own.  There are some things in this world that we just can’t fully understand.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 Regardless of the answer I find for suffering, it’ll never fully satisfy us in why suffering happens, especially if you’re on the receiving end of it.  While I understand suffering produces fruit in us and glorifies God, it can still be difficult to wrap our heads around.  I felt this shift in the way God wanted me to look at the question.  Instead, I felt God telling me that it’s not why suffering happens, but who is with us when suffering does happen.

In the above verse in Isaiah, God reminds us when, not if hardship happens.  It’s not “if you walk through the waters”, but “when you walk through the waters”.  Immediately following God telling us “when you walk through the waters”, he reminds us “I will be with you”.  We are not guaranteed freedom from pain and suffering, but we are guaranteed a savior who walks with us through the pain and suffering.  Not if, but when.  It can be scary when you think about it like that, but remember the following line, “I will be with you”.  Although we may feel alone in our pain, suffering, depression, whatever it might be, He is with us.  Tim Keller reminds us in his book Walking with God through Pain and Suffering  that “knowing him personally while in our affliction is the key to becoming stronger rather than weaker in it.”  

Paul reminds us in Romans 6:19 that we have human limitations.  I think because of our human limitations, we’ll never fully grasp why pain and suffering happens.  We are limited in our understanding here on Earth, so it is not for us to fully understand the suffering and pain of this life, but it is for us to have full confidence in the one who is walking with us through it.  God wants us to come to him with it all, but more than that- he wants us to have full confidence in Him through it all.  It doesn’t have to make sense to us, but if we surrender to God in the suffering, I believe we’ll have the ability to experience Christ more, because suffering makes us more like Him and less of us.  

Suffering also makes us rely on Him and less on our own control.  Jesus suffered on our behalf, he carried our cross, our sins put the nails through his skin, he defeated death for our salvation.  Christ knew suffering because he became sin for my sins.  Jesus Christ was with you then and is walking with you now.  Jesus knows suffering.  “Because He himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”.  Hebrews 2:18  Not “if he was tempted”, but “when he was tempted”.  It’s not an “if”, but “when”.  “But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone”. Hebrews 2:9 In Hebrews 2:14, we are reminded that Jesus himself suffered, that he lowered himself to be flesh, to experience what we too experience in the flesh.  We can find comfort in the fact that we have a savior who knows and has also experienced pain and suffering.  Jesus not only understands the suffering, but he also experienced the suffering himself.  He walks with us in it, he bore our sin and walked our walk; both in the past and the present.  

Would having a direct answer to pain and suffering ease your hurt?  I’m not sure it would.  It’s okay to be mad, upset, confused, whatever it might be, but you can have full confidence that you are not walking in your pain and suffering alone.  Jesus is right alongside you, carrying your cross and weeping with you.  He is with you.  “I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself and they may proclaim my praise.” Isaiah 43:19-21  So when we walk through the waters, he will provide a way through the stream, you, his chosen one.  May Jesus’ presence and consistency in the way he shows up for us bring you comfort and peace in whatever situation you may experience.