Courageous Joy in the Face of Suffering

In March of this year, my family went through one of the hardest trials we have ever faced. Already parents of two beautiful girls, we were expecting our first son. We were so excited and already making plans for the future. But something that was once a distant fear became a reality. What should have been a routine ultrasound became a moment I will never forget. Instead of a heartbeat, there was silence. I wept like never before. Each morning as I woke, I immediately thought, “That wasn’t a dream. He’s really gone.” Yet, in the midst of sorrow, I was surprised by joy. I found a deeper joy than I have ever known, even while facing the greatest sorrow I had ever known. As I searched the Scriptures, I found hope and comfort. One promise stood out to me:

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

When Jesus spoke these words, He knew what His disciples were about to face. The time of His crucifixion drew near. The disciples would be tempted to lose hope. But Jesus spoke these words of comfort that He knew would carry them through.

Every person who reads this article, in one way or another, is suffering. Whether you realize it or not, you are suffering. You may be facing one of those obvious “big” trials – a terminal illness, chronic pain, the death of loved one. Or your suffering may take a less noticeable form – sick children, daily stress, the general effects of sin in this world. Even temptations and the consequences of our own sins are forms of suffering. No matter the shape your pain takes, let these three truths from the words of Jesus speak comfort to you as they have to me.

1. You already have Jesus’s peace.

Previously, Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you (John 14:27). The peace Jesus promised was His own peace. And it’s not a far-off, future peace. He left it with us. That means right now, if you belong to Him, you already have Jesus’ own peace.

But the reality is, we don’t always feel peaceful. So how can we experience His peace in any meaningful way? If He promised it, there must be a way to actually experience it. Notice again what Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken unto you, that ye might have peace.”

We could say it this way: “You can have my peace, because of the things I’ve said.” We experience His peace through His Word – hearing, believing, and meditating on what He says. But we need more than a head knowledge of what He says. We need His Word to affect our hearts. And thankfully, Jesus told us He’s provided the way to do just that.

“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Jesus has given us His own Spirit to help us remember His Word. The Spirit takes the Word of Christ and applies it to our hearts at the moment we need it most. This is especially true in moments of suffering. We see this clearly in Romans 5:3-5.

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

We can rejoice even in our tribulations, because that is when the Spirit pours out God’s love into our hearts. Whatever form of suffering you face, know that Jesus has already given you His peace, and you can experience it through His Word. Rather than worry about what may come, just keep walking with Him and meditating on His Words to you. At the moment you need it most, the Spirit can take it and apply it to your heart, assuring you of His joy and peace and love.

2. You will face suffering.

His peace does not mean the absence of pain. No, Jesus assures us we will suffer.

“In the world ye shall have tribulation”

We can’t escape it. But we can experience His peace most in the midst of suffering. This is truly one of the greatest paradoxes of the believer’s experience ­– we can have real joy even while we suffer. We can truly lament the effects of sin in this world. Yet we can simultaneously rejoice in the hope Christ gives. In one sense, this means it’s good to sorrow. It’s good to grieve. It’s good to acknowledge how hard this life can be, or how difficult your fight with sin can be. Jesus has assured us that life really is hard. He knows more than anyone!

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

He knows what it means to suffer temptations and trials, even death. Jesus thoroughly knows your weakness and depravity. He knows from experience what suffering is like. And he tells us, “Expect it to come.”

Suffering is a normal part of this life. As much as you and I want to avoid it, we can’t. To think we can is actually a form of idolatry – the idolatry of comfort. We cannot live thinking suffering is a stranger we’ll never meet. If that’s what we believe, then we’ve made comfort our god. And comfort is a terrible master. Unlike the true God, comfort can never deliver on its promises. It will fail you. But while the idol of comfort can never keep its promises, we have a God who does. And He promises us, He will bring an end to all suffering, once and for all.

3. You can find comfort in His victory.

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

“Even though you will suffer,” Jesus continues, “you can find comfort in my victory.” While we must not idolize comfort, our yearning for it grows out of a good desire. In one sense, suffering is normal. But in other ways, it’s not. It’s not the way things are supposed to be. We aren’t supposed to get sick with cancer. We aren’t supposed to live with the pain of others’ sins against us. We aren’t supposed to miscarry or face the grief of losing a child. God never intended for us to know sin and pain and death. We desire for things to be right because God created all things to be right. But rather than manufacture our own comfort, we must wait on Him to make things right. That’s the only way we can honestly “be of good cheer” now. We can take heart and courageously face the suffering because we trust that He has already overcome it.

Christ defeated the curse which holds over all creation by plunging head-on into the suffering of this world. He endured the cross and despised its shame. He took on Himself the greatest form of suffering a person can face – not just the physical pain, excruciating as it was. He suffered what none of us who have trusted in Him will ever come close to tasting – the very wrath of God toward the sins of all mankind.

But after He descended to the grave, when it looked as if Satan and this world had won – He rose. He “loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should [be held] by it” (Acts 2:24). Through His suffering, Jesus conquered our suffering once and for all. It will come to an end.

“Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” I Corinthians 15:57

When faced with suffering, find courage to endure because of Jesus’ promise. His victory is ours. The grief will end. Our tears will be wiped away. The temptations we’ve battled will cease. The cancer will be healed. The children we’ve lost will be risen from the dead. Every sad thing will come untrue.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:5

One of my favorite songs, written by Andrew Peterson, captures this well:

I’ve been waiting for some peace

To come raining down out of the heavens on these war-torn fields

All creation is aching for the sons of God to be revealed

Oh, I believe, I believe that the victory is sealed

The serpent struck, but it was crushed beneath His heel.

(Andrew Peterson, The Dark before the Dawn).

Jesus has given you His peace. Feast on His Word. Let His Spirit use it to comfort your heart. And when you suffer – because you will – you can face it with hope. He has entered your suffering before you, and He came through it in victory. Take heart. Courageously rejoice in the face of your pain. His victory is yours.