Job is the eighteenth book in the Old Testament. Job was a servant of God who suffered greatly. It can be a difficult read for Christians, because Job suffered as a direct result of God pointing him out to Satan, saying, “Consider my servant Job.” If He hadn’t done that, Job could have escaped so much grief and anguish. But God had a plan in Job’s suffering. He had a plan when Jacob’s descendants were subjected to 400 years of slavery in Egypt. And He has a plan when we suffer today.
Suffering is Christ-like
It’s an unfortunate fact of life that some suffering is inescapable. We get sick, we face financial hardships, we lose friends and family—life can be very painful. But this is something that Jesus knows well. Jesus suffered greatly in his time on Earth: He was reviled, His friends died, He went hungry and thirsty, and He was crucified, a fate so painful that He pleaded with God to take that cup from Him. But Jesus submitted to suffering, and if He was willing to face pain and loss, it’s only right for us to participate in it as well. After all, how can we become more like Jesus if we aren’t willing to face some of the sorrows he also experienced? “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have” (Philippians 1:29-30). And 1 Peter 2:18-21: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”
Paul told the church in Philippi that they needed to suffer for Christ’s sake—and that Paul himself was engaged in this same suffering. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:7-11).
Sometimes we suffer as a consequence of our actions. Sometimes it’s our fault that we’re hurting. But Paul and Peter said that there is value in suffering, and in suffering for a righteous cause. When we suffer for the sake of Jesus, are we angry? Do we shake our fists at God and ask how He could allow it? Or do we say, as the apostle Paul did, that we “count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ” as our Lord?
Suffering is a test
Suffering tests us. Are we genuine? Are we worthy? Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, “Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
No matter how faithfully we live, we can never be truly worthy of God’s love and mercy for us and of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. But we can be willing to suffer for Him, and for the reward awaiting us in Heaven: “According to [God’s] great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3-7).
The sorrows of this world will not follow us into the next, which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Passing through these tests of suffering will not earn us salvation—which is only granted by God’s great mercy—but shows our appreciation and love for Him and the salvation He grants.“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Suffering is joy
Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus knew the road that lay before Him, from the cross to the resurrection, and He knew there was joy in it alongside the suffering. Jesus’ suffering made Him the perfect savior and brought him to the Father’s side in Heaven, and His suffering brought us to salvation. He saw that the ultimate reward greatly surpassed the perishable, defiled, and fading pain. And since we want to be like Christ, we ought to also see that our brief suffering on Earth will bring all-encompassing joy in Heaven. Faithfulness in sorrow will bring us eternity.
“But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:9-10).
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