Humanity’s Common Denominator: Navigating Suffering and Loss

People everywhere grapple with suffering and loss, whether or not they have a relationship with God. Whether they ponder it as an abstract concept that affects those on the other side of the globe or become intimately acquainted with it in their personal experience, they all experience a measure of soul pain.

The questions surrounding the evils of the world can cause people to turn toward or away from God. Suffering will dangle a question mark over our thoughts, puzzling us about the why, who, how, and the how long. In whatever context we encounter it, suffering can vex and challenge us concerning God’s intention for the earth and humanity.

The suffering we observe and encounter in life finds its roots in Genesis 3. The first humans gave in to the enemy’s temptation, undermining the image of God. Adam and Eve bit the serpent’s bait. A momentary decision elicited a world of consequences that they didn’t anticipate. The result was the corruption of all of the human race and its history by sin.

The Scriptures reveal that God had a plan to redeem and restore all that had been lost and forfeited in the Garden. It eventually culminated in Jesus, the Son of God who paid the price for the sins of His people – past, present, and future – to bring them back to the Father.

That same Savior predestined us, His followers, to do good works, filling us with His Spirit to accomplish them. The Comforter has equipped us to extend the kingdom of God. With the Holy Spirit’s leadership and guidance, we have the privilege to serve God, to the end that the Father’s will be fully done on earth, even as it is in Heaven.

Suffering and Loss: Making Sense of the Senseless

Whether or not the hurt we experience in life results from someone else’s actions, our own decisions, or no foreseeable source at all, it can be difficult to immediately recognize God’s goodness in the midst of it. We don’t and won’t have an answer for everything, but we live in a fallen world filled with imperfect, sinful people.

We can gain practical insight for navigating seasons of suffering from Job. Though his livelihood, family, property, and health were decimated in rapid succession, Job maintained uprightness (Job 1:22).

Though challenged by his wife and chided by his friends, he remained generally faithful and poured his grief to the Lord. God knew Job and testified to his character not only when Satan requested to harm him, but also when Job’s friends insulted and derided him amid his suffering.

Comfort

Though we experience suffering, we also engage with the incomparable mercy of God. Scripture has outlined countless examples for us to embrace for our instruction and encouragement. God won’t fail, even when we feel stretched and tested by suffering and loss.

Trials and times may cause us to question everything we think we know, amidst conditions that have cataclysmically erupted around the globe. It seems that what was once familiar has altered its appearance in the way we interact with one another and our world.

Though suffering can lead to isolation and stir uncomfortable feelings, the Lord is always with us (Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 53:3). We may question whether or not God is present, and if so, we wonder if He is angry with us or punishing us for secret sin.

Yet, when we bring the full weight of our cares and burdens to Him in prayer, we release ourselves from the responsibility of manufacturing an answer to the suffering of the world. Instead, we allow the Holy Spirit to comfort us with His presence.

Confidence

Suffering is disturbing and disruptive; however, Jesus promised His peace amidst the tribulation. We were created to answer such conditions, not with self-reliance, but with confidence in God that thrives internally despite the external conditions.

Yet sometimes the degree of our suffering causes us to feel that not only the world, but even God, Himself, is against us (Job 13:15). Even when it seems that the world is against us, we still have a God who cares for us. God doesn’t want us to turn away from Him when circumstances overwhelm us.

The enemy might even suggest – whether through our thoughts, a friend, or a loved one – that we should “curse God and die” (as Job’s wife did). She was likely devastated by the loss of life and lifestyle as they knew it. Their children were gone, along with their livelihood, part of their property, and now, Job’s physical health waned under unexplained illness.

When people are hopeless and distressed beyond imagination, they don’t always know what to say. They may not have processed their own feelings toward the Lord or received the kind of counsel to engage others with compassion.

Yet, Job’s faith anchored his conviction and confidence in God’s goodness, despite the indescribable loss. His wife proposed that he reject God, though it seemed, according to the account of Job’s friends, that God had rejected him, too.

Despite the multiple voices, Job declared that God’s faithfulness was more influential than the presence of loss, pain, and suffering. God answered Job and his faith, being a witness and advocate, even though his family and friends judged and criticized him in a time of excruciating suffering.

Similarly, others around us may be experiencing suffering in shared circumstances or offering their perspective as we endure. However, we don’t have to take a negative worldview or dark counsel to determine how we will engage with a good God, even when bad things happen.

Holding to our conviction about who God is stabilizes us, and the Holy Spirit gives us strength to live the faith we profess. If we haven’t developed a sense of that yet, now is the time to embrace the solid, inerrant truth of Scripture while suffering and storms are swirling in our orbit.

Courage

We all experience some form of suffering within the course of our lives, whether it shows in our health, finance, or relationships. God works in and through our circumstances to cultivate our character and reveal another dimension of His own.

Undoubtedly, suffering and loss take us to the end of our ability and resolve. They may tempt us to abandon faith, but resilient hope is often forged in the absence of visible or tangible evidence. Instead, it is cultivated through holding onto God’s Word.

When it seems that God is absent or ignorant of our circumstances, clinging to Him invites His comfort, confidence, and courage. Even when we don’t necessarily feel Him, we have to trust that He is ever present, simply because He promised (Deuteronomy 31:8).

Loss may have resulted in suffering, but our faith emboldens us with a courage that makes us undefeatable. People may fail us, and we may even disappoint ourselves, but God’s character never changes (Hebrews 13:8).

Suffering and Loss: Next Steps

The Last Day will usher in a New Heaven and New Earth, all because of the sacrifice of Jesus who came to reunite us with our Father. Until then, we can embrace God’s grace to live well in this world without being enslaved to it. God gives us the strength to have not only a sense of resilience and recovery but also the strength to triumph over the assault of the enemy.

We may need some help with that in the form of supportive counselors who can equip us with tools and resources to supplement our path and steer our course. Reach out to a professional on this site, even as you seek peace to ease your suffering.