I woke up on a recent Saturday morning with an intense, though familiar, pain. My body was in the beginning stages of an abdominal seizure—the worst I’ve ever experienced. On the way to the hospital later in the day, barely conscious and in extreme pain, I recall telling my wife that I felt as if I might die. Thankfully, after receiving several powerful medications, my body started to return to its normal state.
Along with having seizures for the last 24 years, I’ve also struggled with Lyme disease and several parasitic, fungal, bacterial, and viral infections that have wreaked havoc on my body. Navigating chronic pain from such a young age has given me a lot of time to consider how to reconcile my faith in Christ with the suffering I see around me and experience in my own body.
I was reminded recently in reading Elisabeth Elliot’s book Suffering Is Never for Nothing that the best answer to the question “Why doesn’t God do something about suffering?” is “He has, he did, he is, and he will.” Here are three reasons I refuse to believe my suffering is for nothing. I pray they encourage you in your chronic pain.
1. Jesus Knows Our Suffering
It’s a deep consolation that when Jesus (who is fully God and fully man) walked on earth, he suffered as we now suffer. He was pierced for our transgressions and wounded for our iniquities (Isa. 53:5). He not only bore the wrath for our sins but also set an example for how we should respond when we encounter trials and sufferings.
I refuse to believe my suffering is for nothing.
We read in 1 Peter 3:18 that “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.” As followers of Christ, we should expect to suffer too. But because of his suffering, we don’t have to face it alone. Christ has brought us to God.
2. We Can Endure Suffering
Christ’s sufferings weren’t in vain, and if I’m in Christ, my sufferings aren’t in vain either. I can endure with the strength of his grace. Suffering is an opportunity to trust God and deepen our faith.
We say we want to know God and be known by him, but many times we’re not willing to suffer alongside him. I can’t think of anything ever produced that didn’t go through pressing, crushing, or purging. And so it is in our walk with Christ. As Romans 5:3 teaches, “Suffering produces endurance.”
3. We Have Hope in Suffering
Luke 8:43–48 describes the hemorrhaging woman who reached out to Jesus in faith and was healed. I hope and pray that God will also heal me. But even if he doesn’t, I’m not left to despair in my pain. In my worst times of physical suffering, God hasn’t only used my suffering to produce endurance—he has also given me hope (Rom. 5:3–5).
Christ’s sufferings weren’t in vain, and if I’m in Christ, my sufferings aren’t in vain either.
By God’s grace, I’ve surrendered my suffering to the Lord. I’d be a fool to trust in myself, full of sin and doubt, to get through chronic pain. Nothing else has come close to providing lasting comfort, peace, or healing, but God’s grace has been sufficient to give me hope amid sickness and suffering. I know my present pain isn’t worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in me when Christ returns and heals me once and for all (Rom. 8:18).
To those who struggle along with me: If the Lord chooses not to heal us in this lifetime, may we look to him to provide the faith and grace we couldn’t imagine having otherwise. Let’s hold fast to the hope of 1 Peter 5:10: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”