What is the Purpose of Suffering in Life?

We may be hard pressed to understand what is the purpose of suffering in our lives…yet, we can trust there will be fruit shown in the outcome.

Where do I start with China… With this little girl who seems so far away? 

I felt a real grief in my heart over it yesterday. Tears in my struggling as I fought to trust Him in the midst of circumstance.

Fears reign easily in the heart when I consider timelines and What if‘s?

COVID19 has slowed things down, but that’s not the real issue for us…China changed it’s matching procedures at the end of last year and we’re now playing the waiting game with every single US and European agency adopting from China.

At this point, there are HUNDREDS of families in front of us and, with China releasing not even 20 files in a given month, the waiting time has now shot up to YEARS before we could be matched. This is quite the blow to us, having been told to expect matching in six to twelve months. 

my mama heart has been all up in arms about this, so much worrying and sadness

This particular path is not the only way to be matched… there is another route that is difficult, but not impossible. And certainly not impossible for God. But the pain is there as we regroup, as we wait longer.

Yesterday, as I sat with heart heavy and aching, I was reminded of the Israelites’ cry after fleeing the Egyptians… Did you lead us out here to kill us, to die?

That same stark sentiment echoing in my heart… did you lead us out here to crush a dream from years back?

A resounding “No“ responds in my spirit, yet it’s difficult to make sense of anything amidst worry and fear. A sleepless morning appointed me the divine opportunity of spending more time perusing the Word. My Bible podcast alighted upon the day’s reading of Exodus 13 and 14

the exact spot where the Israelites, approaching the Red Sea, turn to Moses and ask the same question flitting about my mind the day prior

Truly an encouragement to hear the story of God‘s power moving mightily through the Israelites’ situation…

First they feared

then they questioned Moses

then they received the answer to NOT fear –

 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent
-Exodus 14:14

What struck me the most, though was God’s explanation for the situation. Scripture reads, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” (Exodus 14:4)

God bringing the Israelites through trials to glorify his name, that those may know He is the LORD.

Such a revelation brings everything full circle to this China trial…and even so many times as I’ve looked at my past, being as the man born blind, given heartaches and suffering so that God’s name may be glorified. 

God glorifies His name through our waiting, wondering, sorrows…and agony

…through very difficult, seemingly impossible situations. Oh, the JOY of knowing his name IS and WILL BE glorified in this ♥️ such a sweet gift to the heart.

Though this is a grand reason and a holy one, as the only one Good glorifies His name in our moments, easy and troublesome…

The purpose of suffering in life is not limited to one thing. Rather, the reasonings are numerous as there are numerous situations in which we’re called to suffer.

Our times of greatest growth are our times of deepest struggle

…and the greatest One of all is glorified as we grow closer to Him in our tribulations.

A peek into the sacred reveals a timeline of history overflowing with examples of suffering “whys.” 

• Turn the pages to remember the stories of Sarah and Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Hannah, Esther and Mordecai, Elizabeth…all asked to wait and, as time elapsed, underwent anguish as their circumstances seemed to belie the goodness of God. Yet skip forward to the end of the story and we witness the hand of God in their prospects all along, bringing His plan, great and glorious, to fruition. 

• There were those entrenched in sin, found in desperate situations of being trapped in the belly of a beast or grieving the loss of a child, as goes the story of Jonah and of David, undergoing the correction of the Lord – difficult to endure, yet the kindness of His discipline as a father to son is restorative and merciful (Heb 12:6, 9; Rev. 3:19). 

• A poignant example of a life of suffering, Job spreads out for us a picture into the spiritual world – and that our suffering may not always be something related to the physical world in which we live. 

• Like the reason found in my own painful situation, the lives of every single person healed by Jesus in His day resulted in the trump card, glory to God above. Such was succinctly given in the story of the man born blind – “that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). And even at the end of life, the myriads of martyrs whose deaths were not in vain – Isaiah, Stephen, John the Baptist, Paul – displayed praise to Him through the greatest sacrifice. 

• Let your eyes rest upon the Savior himself, the one who was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities,” who has “borne our griefs” and “carried our sorrows.” It was “the will of the LORD to crush him” as Jesus obtained for us what could never be secured without the intense suffering and crushing of perfect sacrifice. A greater purpose, indeed!

Further, we see the inestimable fruit that suffering produces… 

• Those stories of the heroes of faith serve to strengthen and teach us as we read of failures, long journeys, perseverance in trials, and the Lords’ plan triumphant through it all. 

• The comfort we’ve received from Him as we struggled our path can serve as comfort we give to others on their own difficult road (2 Cor. 1:3-5).

• Our character grows as we traverse the dark valley (Rom 5:3-5).

• The suffering of saints kindled the writing of a multitude of psalms expressing the depths of human emotion and pain. These poetic cries contain a plenitude of illustrations on how to handle suffering. David, trapped in a cave, feels abandoned by God and stricken from man, yet he turns his eyes upon the Lord in the last verses of Psalm 13 – “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.” David finds his hope in a deep trust in the Lord.

• Always, God is glorified in the struggles of those faithful ones who trust in Him.

As we walk our own road of unknowns in the When and the How, I pray… I pray for the situation, that God would be mighty to part the seas, draw the waters back and enable the path from us to her…But I pray especially that I would keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, oh Greatest Joy, not making this an idol and holding fast in peace and trust in Him.

HE is the prize, more so than the thing that we want, lovely as it is…

HE is the ultimate prize

I don’t want to lose sight of that in my disappointment over the circumstances. 

Little one who’ll one day come
Glad entrance not a moment late
Until then, know and rejoice in God 
Who’s glorified amidst the wait.

No, God is not here to crush us. He’s here to weave the rich tapestry of our lives into something beautiful, to His ultimate praise.

Despite our best laid plans, His timing, His plans, His glory are always better ♥️