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None of us likes to suffer. We avoid it whenever we can, and we go to great lengths to diminish whatever suffering we have to endure.
If we are honest with ourselves, though, we must acknowledge that times of suffering contribute to our growth. In school, the challenging classes teach us the most; rigorous training makes for better athletic performance; and the most elite soldiers are the ones whose training is the most demanding. We insist that our doctors, soldiers, and teachers have the most challenging training because we know that the suffering they endure will prepare them well for whatever work they are later called on to do.
It should not surprise us that the Bible has much to say about the value of suffering. Suffering is a part of the human experience. Suffering as a Christian shows the reality of our faith and displays God’s power in us (2 Cor. 12:9–10; 1 Peter 1:6–7). It is an incredible testimony of the gospel’s power when Christians persevere in faith despite immense trials. God is with us as we endure (Ps. 34:19; Isa. 43:2).
When it comes to unjust persecution, we can also be confident. Persecution is something that Christians should expect (1 Peter 4:12–13). Paul says that it will happen to “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:12).
Struggles and trials—whether through persecution or through the normal struggles of living in a fallen world—can even be a cause for rejoicing. They produce steadfastness and hope (James 1:2–4). The Apostle Paul spoke to this in Romans 5, writing:
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (vv. 3–5)
Suffering is indeed a mysterious part of our experience as human beings. We cannot know why God, in His wisdom, chooses some to endure great hardship. But there is an even greater mystery. Not only is suffering the means that God uses to change us and cause us to grow by His Spirit, but the suffering of Jesus Christ on our behalf is also the mysterious way that God deals with our sin and reconciles us to Himself. Our suffering points us to His suffering. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
None of us wants to suffer. But it is through suffering and struggle that we grow. God is with us as we suffer. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accomplished our redemption through enduring suffering on our behalf, so that we can look forward to the day on which all our tears will be wiped away by Him.