Suffering Redeemed

Look around and you’ll quickly identify suffering, grief, and injustice. Maybe you’ve experienced injustice yourself. Maybe you’ve gone through difficult seasons. Or maybe you’ve experienced deep and profound grief due to loss. 

Suffering rarely makes sense. We rarely have all of our questions answered within these sorts of seasons. And the hard truth is: most of our questions regarding suffering will go unanswered.

However, Romans 8:18 provides us with a perspective that can help us in seasons of suffering:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

In this verse, Paul, the author of Romans, points us to the future. All throughout Scripture, God has been working within His people to bring redemption and make things new. 

We live in one reality, which includes suffering and grief. But one day, God will return and complete the work He has begun in Jesus. When God returns, Scripture says that all suffering will cease. There will be no more tears, pain, or sickness (Revelation 21:4). At that time, when we join God in heaven, we will be perfected and made whole.

Paul’s encouragement to us is this: persevere through your current season of suffering because what awaits you will be worth waiting for. When God returns and brings us into His presence, we will be perfect and made whole. At that time, we won’t think of the past suffering that we’ve endured. This is why Paul says that our present suffering cannot compare to what will be revealed in us in the future.

How often do you think about heaven? How often do you praise God for His continued work of redeeming us and making us new? Take some time to think about these things.

The more we consider the future and our union with God, the more this perspective will encourage us to endure difficult seasons of life.