We can experience a range of discomfort from a broken fingernail or the inconvenience of a flat tire to bone cancer or starving to death as a POW. In addition to variability of discomfort, we also have a great variability in our individual ability to tolerate discomfort. As individuals we have differing biological sensitivities, a variety of developmental circumstances that influence our capacity for discomfort, current circumstances such as relationships with those whose love can help us endure suffering, and we can receive differing levels of grace from God to bear up under difficulty.
The whole subject of suffering stems from the fact that sin entered the world and we have to live with the consequences of that for the time being. The people who do not believe in sin often think that it is their social responsibility to alleviate suffering and fix the pain in the world. They begin with good intentions, but they usually cause more pain than they ease. People advocated governmental assistance to mothers whose husbands abandoned them. This resulted in breaking down families and manifestly more suffering than the original "problem". Communists wanted to cure the problem of poverty. Instead they institutionalized it and established cultures of dependency.
While those who reject God run in circles claiming they can fix the world, the rest of the world has to deal with the reality that suffering exists. We may not be able to measure or compare suffering, but we know when it occurs.
Some types of suffering
Suffering for our own sin
When we sin we can recognize it or not. The consequences can be immediate or delayed. We might suffer more or others might. The gradual isolation an alcoholic feels as family and friends begin to avoid him may never be recognized much less associated as consequential to his drinking. The Bible character David is an example of someone who recognized his sin (after God sent someone to make him see) and repented. However, He still had to suffer the consequences of his sin.
2 Samuel 12:9-14 'Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes, and give [them] to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. 'Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.' Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die."
The suffering of correction
Christians sometimes get on a wrong track. God sometimes allows suffering to get our attention. Just like a child that is punished, our correction is for the ultimate good.
Hebrews 12:5-7 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives. " It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father does not discipline?
Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Suffering to prevent pride
Sometimes the work that God has for us requires a special enablement. We can all too often mistake the Lord's blessings in our lives as a result of some intrinsic quality, talent, or skill that places us above others. Pride and vanity are such common traps for us, that God sometimes guides us around such dangerous pitfalls using the rod and staff of suffering. This is what happened to Paul.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me-- to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Suffering to build character
One of the most difficult aspects to understand about suffering is that it can be beneficial. We can accept suffering as punishment and even correction, yet it seems unjust that suffering can be applied even when we have no "fault". We have to understand that our own sin nature inclines us to selfishness and rebellion against God. Even if this is contained or limited we do not become by default "good" people. We are still inert and useless. Good character has to be developed. For example, the only way to develop perseverance is to have something through which we have to persevere.
Romans 5:3-5 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Suffering to glorify God
When the blindness of sin is removed and the light of truth shines, we can see God as He is and our hearts desire to give Him the glory that is rightfully His. All things exist to bring glory to God. Suffering can help us to see more clearly who God is and recognize our need to glorify and praise Him.
John 9:1-3 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" Jesus answered, "[It was] neither [that] this man sinned, nor his parents; but [it was] in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.
2 Corinthians 4:15-18 For all things [are] for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Suffering for others
When we die to ourselves, we replace thinking about ourselves with thinking about the Lord and others. This "other" orientation is a good measure of our progress in becoming more like Jesus. It is not always easy to accommodate others. We often want to correct, criticize, retaliate, or avoid other people. The exercise of endurance and patience even to the point of suffering, helps us die to selfishness. The discomfort we endure for others is an expression of the selflessness of love.
2 Corinthians 8:1-4 Now, brethren, we [wish to] make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability[ they gave] of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,
Suffering natural pain
Because of sin in the world we will all die and our bodies become less functional and more pain filled. We will experience the loss of loved ones, injury, illness, disappointment, and heartache. We need to understand that this system exists because of our sin. God has reached into our sinful world with His own Son to die in order that we could be saved. While we are in the world of sin and suffering, God provides strength, encouragement, and comfort.
Hebrews 2:17-18 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
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Suffering for righteousness
This can be the most difficult type of suffering to understand. As Christians we are called to show the love of Christ. Christ gave us an example of enduring unjust suffering in an expression of love. Loving our enemies and doing good to those who hate us might be considered the "final exam" in a "training program" of being like Jesus.
Suffering for righteousness is the acknowledgment that we can not change, manipulate or force anyone else to do what is good. We can only be an example of Christ's love and pray that God works in their heart to change them. Just as Jesus was abused and did not take revenge, we are called to endure the scorn of the world, even if it leads to our physical death.
Isaiah 53:3-11 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke [was due?] His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting [Him] to grief; If He would render Himself [as] a guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong [His] days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see [it] and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
1 Peter 2:21-25 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting [Himself] to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
The solution to suffering
The unsaved world presupposes that human comfort is the highest ideal. To them the existence of suffering is proof that there is no God. Their idea of God would be an entity that would grant every wish like some sort of magic genie. Contrary to this widespread view that comfort is the ideal state of mankind, we find an increasing amount of data that shows how prosperity, comfort, and ease corrupts character, weakens the spirit, and leads to dissipation and perversion.
It is not ease that is the solution to the problem of suffering. It is hope, love, joy, and the peace that passes all understanding. It is how Christians can sing hymns as they are being burned to death. God gives more grace to the humble and suffering can bring us to a humility that we might not otherwise entertain.
Suffering will end when this world of sin passes away. Until then, Christians can exhort, encourage, and comfort one another. We can draw near our Lord and receive His sustaining grace. We can offer this light of truth and love to the world that seeks to be free from the sufferings of life.