Why Is There Suffering?

It’s a strange family we’re joining when we come to trust in Jesus. Our eldest Brother Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to bring us into the family—to set us free from evil and make us God’s children. And so we get baptized and put our trust in Christ.

But there’s one thing about this family that might disturb us—and that’s the fact that everyone in it goes through suffering. Paul says so when he says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness … that we are children of God … provided we suffer with [Jesus] in order that we may also be glorified with Him.”

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:14-17)

Look around and you’ll quickly identify suffering, grief, and injustice. Maybe you’ve experienced some of these things yourself—a difficult season, a profound injustice, or a deep grief.

What?! Why is suffering a mark of God’s family?

Suffering rarely makes sense. And the hard truth is: most of our questions regarding suffering will go unanswered at this time. 

I think it’s because anyone who joins God’s family has the Spirit of God living in them, making them like Jesus—and that automatically puts us crosswise to the way this world works. If the Spirit of Jesus is living in you, it won’t be long before you do something that makes someone else angry. It might happen when your supervisor asks you to do something shady to get the job done faster or cheaper. It might happen when your friends expect you to join in gossip or to spread rumors that damage someone else’s reputation—and if you refuse, you get the cold shoulder. Someone you love may ask you to lie for them to get them out of a tight spot. Your neighbors may get angry when you invite a refugee or homeless person to live with your family.

And so you say “no.” And that “no,” however gently you say it, results in suffering. There’s a family fight. You get a bad review at work and lose out on a raise and promotion. Your neighbors start a campaign of petty harassment. Your friends withdraw from you and joke about how “holy” you think you are.

None of that sounds very terrible, does it? And yet it hurts, even if it is much milder than the persecution that many other Christians around the world must face. Suffering is what comes if you walk with Jesus. His road led to the cross—and we, too, will not escape.

Romans 8:18 provides us with a perspective that can help us in seasons of suffering: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

In this verse, Paul, the author of Romans, points us to the future. All throughout Scripture, God has been working within His people to bring redemption and make things new. 

We live in one reality, which includes suffering and grief. But one day, God will return and complete the work He has begun in Jesus. When He returns, Scripture says that all suffering will cease. There will be no more tears, pain, or sickness (Revelation 21:4). At that time, when we join God in heaven, we will be perfected and made whole.

Paul’s encouragement to us is this: persevere through your current season of suffering because what awaits you will be worth waiting for. When God returns and brings us into His presence, we won’t think of the past suffering that we’ve endured. This is why Paul says that our present suffering cannot compare to what will be revealed in us in the future.

It is worth it in the end. For if we walk the way of the cross, we can also expect God to resurrect us. If we walk with Jesus, we have Jesus—right with us, to comfort and guide us. He knows suffering, He knows death, and He knows how to raise us from the dead. And He will. Because even now we are God’s much-loved children, and our suffering cannot compare with the glory God has in store for us.

John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God.