Is my suffering meaningless? Whether you’re a missionary or not, you’ve likely asked this question because it is difficult to ignore. Our world is filled with suffering.
In 2023, we watched the news as catastrophic flooding devastated Libyan communities and war continued to unfold in Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel. Even in your community, you’ve likely experienced the loss of loved ones and watched marriages fall apart.
This suffering is only amplified when you’re serving on the mission field, when you’re far from home, speaking a new language, and doing difficult missionary work. All of this suffering leaves us asking the question: Where is God? Has he forgotten me?
A few years ago, I talked to a missionary serving among an unreached people group in Papua New Guinea who opened up to me about the suffering he was facing on the mission field. After a few years, his wife and child were struggling with sickness, his days were filled with long hours of Bible translation, and he was facing great discouragement. In those dark days, he was facing not only physical affliction but spiritual warfare and oppression, too. He was suffering for the sake of the gospel.
What if Suffering is Hard?
Today, we live in a culture that avoids suffering at all costs, because we think that it is meaningless. The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche expressed this sentiment when he said, “Man, the bravest of animals and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering. The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far.”
Today, we live in a culture that avoids suffering at all costs, because we think that it is meaningless.
But like this missionary, many men and women around the world suffer for the sake of the gospel. They join with the apostle Paul and the apostles rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41).
That’s why they spent years training, preparing, and studying. They left their homes, packed their bags, and moved off to a foreign land because they recognized the value in suffering for the kingdom of God. But here they are, like this missionary, facing immense suffering and hardship, and they’re discouraged and doubting.
What if Suffering Isn’t the End?
In the Bible, God lovingly speaks to this suffering. In the book of James, the author writes to people who have been removed from their homeland and are dispersed throughout an empire. These are the children of refugees and migrants who are far from the land that God promised to them in the Old Testament.
In other words, these are people who are suffering and feel forgotten. They very well may find themselves asking the same question that many of us are asking, “Where is God? Has he forgotten us?” In their pain and sorrow, the Lord is near to them.
The book of James doesn’t promise a life apart from suffering. The Bible doesn’t promise that becoming a Christian or moving to the mission field will remove pain from your life. Instead, the Bible tells us that the Christian faith helps us to make sense of suffering.
Suffering is a reality that all people must deal with during their time on earth. But the Christian story gives us hope in suffering. Suffering is not the end of the story.
Missionary, you can have hope that suffering has been and will be defeated.
In the most climactic and meaningful event in human history, Jesus Christ suffered for sinners. And while we can’t explain every reason why we face suffering in this life, we can point to the cross and see that suffering is not the end of the story.
The Son of God may have suffered and died on Friday, but he was raised from the dead to the newness of life on Sunday. The Christian story is not one of defeat but of hope. Missionary, you can have hope that suffering has been and will be defeated.
What if Suffering is Meaningful?
What if the suffering that you’re facing is purposeful? What if the hardships of your life are like a mighty storm that carries a ship across the sea to its destination?
What if God is using suffering as a way to force you out of your wisdom, your power, and your strength to rest in his strength? What if the Lord is shaking up your life to lead you to depend upon him? What if suffering is ultimately God’s plan for your good?
If you’re in the middle of suffering, God has not forgotten you. He has made a way for you to experience true joy and peace from all suffering. He promises that, if you are in Christ, there will be a day when he will wipe away every tear from your eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. No one delivers on their promises like our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you’re in the midst of pain and suffering, call upon him because he cares for you. Look to him for he is the one who will wipe away our tears and bring us true relief from our suffering. Apart from Christ, we can have no hope that this suffering will come to an end, but in Christ, we can have confidence that he will make all things new.
Cole Shiflet is the content manager at Radical. He and his wife Courtney are members of Redeemer Community Church and he is an M.Div. student at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.
