The Gift of Suffering: It's Grace

I had the opportunity to speak to the young adult ministry at my church recently, and from the moment I was asked to speak, I felt very strongly to speak on suffering. Based on the response of that night and subsequent weeks as well as general observation, I believe this topic requires a more thorough examination. In the end, my hope is that you will see suffering the way God intends and the Bible describes: as a gift.


Last week I made the assertion that suffering is promised to the Christian. It is imperative at this juncture to state that I  firmly believe in the innate and immutable goodness of God. My conviction that the Bible is true and accurate (or, for the theologians, that I believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of the inerrant Bible) brings me to this conclusion. If I believed otherwise, and if this promise were the only truth associated with suffering, then it would be easy to make the argument that God, therefore, cannot be either good or loving. After all, if suffering is promised to His people, then why would anyone was to be His?

However, because He is good and loving - He is in reality all good and total love - we must come to a different conclusion about the promise of suffering. Therefore, to build off of the statement that suffering is a promise, we must next understand that suffering is a means of grace for the Christian. First, I will define what I mean by 'grace', and then we will open the Bible and see how suffering and the notion of God's grace come together.

Grace is often, and most simply, defined as 'God's unmerited favor' toward people and the world. It should be understood that everyone that has ever lived on the earth has been in some way under God's grace. For those who would deny the hope of Christ, the grace they receive extends no further than what is called 'common grace'. Jesus preached, in Matthew 5:45, that, "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." In other words, sun and rain, food and shelter, clothing and possessions, even life and breath, are all forms of common grace.

Common grace is to be differentiated from 'saving grace', or the grace of God being extended through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate hearts, awaken faith, and bring about repentance and salvation through belief in Jesus as both Lord and Savior, the only way to God. Saving grace extends into many forms, such as justifying grace, sanctifying grace, persevering grace, and glorifying grace. For just about the best and most clear explanation of this whole concept of grace, both common and saving, watch, listen to, or read the sermon Pastor Mark Driscoll preached on this subject by clicking here.

Harper's Bible Dictionary states that grace is "the English translation of a Greek word meaning concretely ‘that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune (p.357).’" God has many ways that He bestows grace on His people. We most easily associate grace with pleasant occurrences, such as receiving an unexpected check in the mail, finding a good parking spot at the grocery store, or getting an encouraging phone call from a friend. We also see it in the bigger moments of life, like avoiding a terrible accident, recovering from a life-threatening illness, and, most importantly, being convicted of sin and turning to Jesus for salvation. We have a harder time seeing grace in the midst of difficult situations. And yet, biblically speaking, suffering is a means of God's grace in our lives. Given the definition of grace given at the beginning of this paragraph, let's look at a passage from 1 Peter to help us put it all together.

1 Peter 4:12-13, 19:

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed...Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."


I would be remiss if I didn't note that verse 12 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, solely for the wording. While I fully believe in the Holy Spirit's divine inspiration of the Scriptures, it is obvious that the authors' personalities were allowed to come through - they weren't simply robots the Holy Spirit manipulated into writing. Peter was known for being a big mouth (Mt.16:22-23, 17:4-5), and while the Lord sanctified and empowered that mouth for His purposes, he still called it like he saw it (the sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2, for instance). Verse 12 reveals his personality in the phrase 'as though something strange were happening to you.'  Maybe it's just the way I hear it in my head, but it seems as though you can't read that without hearing a tone of, "Come on guys, we talked about this."

In this verse, not only is the promise of suffering reiterated, but how we should view that promise begins to come to light. Verse 13 begins with the word but, and that is very important. That little word tells us that what comes after it is in contrast, or opposed, to what came before it. Peter was writing to people who were obviously very troubled that they were being persecuted. Perhaps they didn't think they should be suffering. Perhaps their faith was wavering due to the frustration of facing trials day in and day out. Peter tells them here that this is to be expected. Further, he instructs them to undergo a 180 in their perspective; rather than being dismayed at facing suffering, they should instead rejoice in it. And here we see how grace and suffering meet.

Peter wasn't merely suggesting that his readers rejoice. For the grammarians, the phrase translated 'But rejoice' is a present active imperative. For everyone else, that means Peter is commanding an on-going rejoicing in the present suffering his readers were enduring. Thus, a translation of 'keep on rejoicing' could be rendered.

The question then is 'Why continually rejoice?' The answer is given immediately and in two parts. First, we rejoice because we are joining Christ in His sufferings which He endured for us. When we are counted worthy to follow Christ in anything, we ought to rejoice in it, even though it means following in suffering. And Peter was not speaking theoretically. He had endured much suffering and persecution and had walked away rejoicing for the very same reasons about which he wrote (Acts 5:40-41).

Second, when we share in His sufferings here, we know and have the fixed hope in the fact that we will conversely share in His joy when He returns in glory. Our hope in future grace is cause to rejoice now no matter the circumstances of the present. Therefore, suffering is a means of God's grace in the life of the Christian because we have the privilege of sharing both in Jesus's suffering and His joy.

Verse 19 sets up what we will discuss next week. The key word of the verse for us is entrust. It means that we can place our trust in God when suffering comes our way because of His sovereignty, His control over all situations. In other words, we trust God not only because we know He is good but also because we know His plans are good.

Next week: The Gift of Suffering: It's Good