The Glory of Suffering
I’m an American. Like everyone else, I’m a product of the culture I grew up in and live in. I’m shaped and molded by the world I live in. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that. But our culture shapes us in good and bad ways. Some things from our culture we should lean into and build on, some things we should refute and fight against in our own hearts.
It’s pretty inescapable that being an America I am “rich” — at least compared to most of the people who have ever lived. But I’m pretty close to the poverty line. I worry about every bill. I scrimp on groceries. I nudge the air conditioner higher than comfortable all summer cause that electric bill is a killer. Having two tires go bad and need to be replaced in one week was an existential crisis that threatened to ruin my life.
And every day I see cars drive by that cost more than my house and my car put together. I see the person in line in front of me spend more on groceries than I will spend this month. I’m amazed by how others seem to live in a completely different world than I do. Envy is a dirty sin. It sneaks in and makes itself at home even when you guard against it.
I know others who would gladly trade their financial situation with me if they could have the health I enjoy. They exist in a state of constant misery. Pain is their constant companion. They can afford to go to the doctor whenever they need to, but that’s little comfort as they endure yet another test, yet another disappointment that the latest treatment did little to ease their suffering.
Still others would trade their financial situation with me if they could have a home like mine. Constant anger and fighting give them nothing but misery at home. The tension and stress are so thick, every word and look laden with meanings intended to cut and hurt. Strife makes them feel they can barely breathe. Their suffering may not be physical, but they suffer deeply.
Seeking Escape
Suffering is not something any of us seek out willingly. Yet there is none of us that escapes it. We can ignore it for a short time. We may have days where little is wrong. Yet all of us suffer. Eventually, we will all know the deepest of hurts. A loved one will die, we will be betrayed by a friend, we will come down with some terrible illness which threatens our lives, we will be poor, or worse yet, rich! We seek escape in TV, movies, video games, hobbies, sex, anything, anything that will let us forget our suffering for just a moment. But it always returns for us.
The drug addict seeks escape in a substance that offers a few moments of ecstasy in exchange for greater misery afterward. Think of that, would you? The addict’s life is so miserable that he or she will trade a lifetime of worse suffering for a few minutes’ relief. The alcoholic makes the same trade. The porn addict trades the rapture of true intimacy with their spouse for a few minutes of fake fulfillment.
Rather than dwell on the pain, others of us will binge watch the latest mindless comedy on Netflix. We give up our evenings to watch shows that violate every belief and moral we hold dear. Just give me a half hour of forgetfulness. Others still throw themselves into hobbies so that they have no time to dwell on their own suffering and misery. Or they may commit to working ungodly hours to find fulfillment in a job that can never take away the pain of their lives. Or perhaps they commit to hours of volunteering at the church or charity of their choice.
Few of these things are bad in and of themselves. But our lives are a hell of torment that we seek escape from. It is but a shadow of the suffering to come for those who do not know Christ, but it is close enough that many choose death and an early entrance to that eternal torment rather than face another hour of the torment of their own lives.
Surely Life Is Not So Bad?
You may think I’m overstating the misery of this life. There is so much good in the smile of a child, in a morning sunrise, the cool breeze of a summer evening, or a cup of warm cocoa in the winter. Surely the misery I’m talking about is but a product of my own cynicism. Things best not dwelled upon too long lest I become the depressed and tormented soul I write about.
The author of Ecclesiastes was Solomon. He had everything anyone could ask for. Wealth, women, power, fame, wisdom. And not in any normal measure. He was so wealthy he made silver as common in his capital city as stones. He was famed around the whole world. He’s still famous for being the wisest to ever live. He was the absolute sovereign over a land. Whatever he said was law. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Can you even imagine such a thing? If you ever thought sex could bring fulfillment, this guy could make rock stars ashamed. Surely, if there was ever anyone who could escape the misery of life, THIS GUY could.
Yet Solomon warns that the days are drawing near for everyone in which they will say, “I have no pleasure in them”. He considered all of it, the wealth, the fame, the power, all of it, to be utterly and completely useless and pointless. Life was bitter and miserable and pointless. Solomon himself could not escape suffering and misery. If he was not immune, what hope is there for us?
Finding Glory in Suffering
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Light? Momentary? HA! Paul, you surely don’t know about MY suffering! But 2 Corinthians is likely written during Paul’s third missionary journey. He has been beaten and stoned and shipwrecked many times by this point. Can you imagine how scarred and warped his aging body must have been? Without the benefit of modern surgery or even such simple pain relievers as ibuprofen Paul must have lived in a constant state of pain. And every new beating would have hurt so much worse as it ravaged previously damaged flesh.
Yet Paul is able to encompass all of the pain and suffering of this life as simply light and momentary affliction. How can he do that? What is Paul doing that enables him to escape the torment of life long enough to write these words? Nothing. Paul is not escaping suffering, rather, he is embracing it. This is the secret to suffering in this life.
Rather than seeking to escape suffering, rather than pretending our suffering doesn’t exist or isn’t so bad, rather than trying to ignore the pain or dull our senses, we should instead embrace and welcome it. Suffering is inevitable, but it is not useless or pointless. Literally every moment of it is working for us. It is producing a weight of glory that is beyond comparing to the suffering that earned us such glory. Imagine stubbing your toe and being hailed as a national hero and showered with millions of dollars compensation. You would take that deal, right? All suffering in this life, when viewed in the perspective of eternity, when compared with the weight of glory we receive, will seem light and momentary.
So rather than shunning suffering, we should embrace it as our greatest friend. We should learn as Paul said in Romans 5:3 to glory in our tribulations. Those tribulations are working endurance in us. And it is only those who endure to the end that will receive the prize. Ultimately, the greatest prize will be beholding the glory of Christ. That will be a reward beyond all imagination! We will stand before God and hear, “Well done!” That will be enough. Enough to make cancer and poverty and betrayal and death worthwhile.
“[Him] I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:27 ESV)
