Our Hope In Suffering

Hope In Suffering

      “Why would God let this happen?” “I had my hopes up that things would turn out for the better, but my prayers weren’t answered.” After spending over a year ministering to God’s people, questions like this have come up quite often. I’ve even found myself wondering these things from time to time. Suffering on the face of this earth is inevitable. Life seems to be a whole lot of getting knocked off your feet, only to get back up and be knocked back down again. We get up every morning with faith stronger than our cup of dark, French roast coffee, only for it to have weakened by noon. It’s one thing to constantly be faced with evil since Satan is always on our heels. But what on earth do we do when it seems like God isn’t even on our side? Let’s talk about this. 

      “Taylor, I prayed this would get better and the opposite happened.” “I wanted my loved one to be healed and they got worse.” “I needed a financial miracle and my credit card got hacked.” “I asked for a promotion, and I lost the job I loved.” It’s very easy to get discouraged when our prayers seem to fall by God’s wayside. As humans, we were created to have a limited perception of life. You and I, and everyone else for that matter, were designed to only see what is in front of us at any given time. We’re basically like those horses you see wearing the blinders on their faces during a horse race. These blinders eliminate their peripheral vision, only causing them to see what’s in front of them. For us, seeing only what’s in front of us can be frustrating. In my opinion, this is where we see our suffering as an absence of God instead of Him working behind the scenes. Instead of fixing our eyes forward on the Lord, we fix them on the affliction that stands in front of us. 

      The reason we wear these blinders is that our God is all-seeing, all-hearing, and all-knowing. Without the blinders, we would be like God. If we were like God, why would we need God? Do you see what I’m saying? No blinders mean no faith. God sees what we do not see. He hears what we do not hear. He knows what we do not know. These blinders are for our protection. He saw that the company you worked for was about to go under and that’s why you didn’t get the promotion. He’s got something better planned for you. He sees your financial struggle, but He’s got a lesson in budgeting He wants you to learn that will help you in the future. However, He promises to provide for your needs. Your sick loved one may have taken a turn for the worst, but God might be writing an amazing testimony story in that person’s life. So, when they are healed, they can tell of His healing power. 

      It’s human nature to get our hopes up for something we are wishing for. I’m sure we can all recall as children getting our hopes up that Santa would bring us everything we asked for, only to be disappointed that not every box on our wish list had been checked. This same nature follows us, not just into our adulthood, but into our relationship with Christ. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing to get your hopes up for what you’re praying for, but as Christians, we’re called to put our hopes in the one who died to give us hope. Bear with me on this one for just a moment. 

      If you open up your Bible and find the book of Jeremiah chapter twenty-nine, you’ll find a promise in verse two that reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This promise right here is something we can put our hopes in! Sometimes the answers to our prayers don’t always look like what we had hoped for. However, the scripture tells us that God has a plan, and His plan is always for our benefit. And though we are faced with suffering on earth, we can also put our hope in the promise of restoration through Christ (see 1 Peter 5:10). Thanks to Jesus, our suffering has been made temporary, and paradise will be made our eternal home.

-Taylor