Our Response to Suffering Reflects the Condition of Our Hearts

Suffering can refer to any range of discomfort, loss, and pain. It may involve a deep wound from a once-trusted friend or the loss of someone very dear. Perhaps it’s more temporary but still draining, such as a troubling situation at work or a frustrating miscommunication.

We have all undergone some sort of suffering. It’s part of what makes us human.

The people in the book of Revelation undergo significant suffering, likely more severe than our worst nightmares.

There are two groups of people in Revelation: worshippers of God and worshippers of Satan.

Worshippers of God experience suffering at the hands of sinful, unrepentant people. They are persecuted, humiliated, and even killed for their faith. Yet even after death, they praise God and call out for His help.

Meanwhile, worshippers of Satan (who has many names in Revelation, such as the beast), undergo strong judgement from God. There are many plagues they experience, such as giant locusts who torture people, all water turning into blood, and killer hailstones.

Many people get caught up on whether or not Christians will also experience these plagues. But that’s not the point of today’s devotional.

The bottom line is this: we will experience suffering while we live in a broken world. So how will we respond to it?

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9-10, 14b (NIV)

Responding with praise and prayer to God doesn’t negate the pain of our suffering. In fact, it’s because Christians suffer that God must judge those who have caused this suffering. It would be unjust for Him to not punish those who have harmed the innocent and remain unrepentant.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

Revelation 6:9-11 (NIV)

Our response to pain doesn’t diminish the reality of our pain. It indicates what comes next.

Children of God are filled with hope because they know that suffering is temporary. Their faithfulness is rewarded when they are reunited with God in Heaven and spend their days praising Him forever.

Meanwhile, those who reject God respond to their suffering by blaming Him, blaspheming His name, and remaining stubborn in their sin.

 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

Revelation 16:8-9 (NIV)

It may seem impossible to praise God during your suffering.

And it is impossible.

But it’s not impossible with God’s help.

When we call out to God with our honest emotions and reflect on His character, He will give us the strength to praise Him through every storm.

Remember, when we praise God, we aren’t necessarily thanking Him for the painful situation. We’re praising Him because His holiness, power, and love remains the same even in the midst of our suffering.

Today, ask God to give you the strength to praise Him through hard times. Confess your deepest feelings to Him and trust that He cares for you. ❤

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)