Suffering is ugly. It rears its ugly head and comes in many hideous forms. But why do we suffer? Frankly, I think most of us don’t understand the greatest of sufferings, but can we ever understand it? Viktor Frankl explores this in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning:
“The question was whether an ape which was being used to develop poliomyelitis serum, and for this reason punctured again and again, would ever be able to grasp the meaning of its suffering…Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension, another world beyond man’s world; a world in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?”
What a profound lesson. We aren’t to rely on our own understanding, but instead we are to trust in God. Who’s to say that we understand our suffering; do we not know that there may be a greater purpose for it than we can ever comprehend?
We ask God a lot, “Why?”
Why did this happen…why didn’t you stop _____…why did you ____…
The list goes on. We barrage God with questions he never intends to answer. Maybe because we wouldn’t understand even if He did. How could we, who are so carnal and so of-the-world, ever comprehend something that is so large, cosmic, and majestic? How could our puny brains ever understand?
This isn’t some limp attempt to justify pain and suffering or injustice—just a recognition that if we suppose there to be a God then surely there must be plans that are beyond of capacity of understanding.
So, then, the question begs: how are we to take this suffering? Romans 5:3-5 admonishes us:
More than that, 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.
Rejoice in our sufferings. How are we supposed to do that, God? Don’t You know it hurts? Don’t you know we feel like we’re dying inside?
Of course He does. But there is a purpose. And in recognizing that purpose, that suffering is now accompanied by something that makes the load not quite as heavy, something making it just a little easier to carry: purpose.
They say pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. I understand what they mean, but I don’t believe that there will never be a time in someone’s life when the pain is unbearable. I firmly believe that we will all suffer at some point in our lives (I actually believe it’s necessary, to an extent). But what matters most is how we look at that pain and suffering.
Frankl talks about how meaning comes once we acknowledge it. The potential for meaning is always there; we simply don’t look at it properly. In the case of one man, he couldn’t reconcile his suffering that came from his wife dying. Once Frankl turned it around and showed the man that one of the two would have died first, regardless, and that by him being the one to outlive the other he effectively saved her from suffering as he is, and in this the man found meaning.
So why do we suffer? I don’t know. But I do know that God loves us too much to permit pointless suffering. Rejoice in the suffering; bear it with a joyful heart. For even devoid of understanding, we can rest in peace knowing that all is working for His good, and ultimately ours.
*For the most profound example I’ve read on suffering, read the book of Job.
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