God's Heart When We Suffer

Whenever a Christian experiences heartache or pain (physical or emotional), it becomes extremely vital to trust the character of God in those moments. As much as we’d like to know the why behind God’s actions, that’s often not made known to us (e.g., see the biblical character Job). But even so, we can know the who, and knowing the who (God’s character and goodness) is what enables us to entrust ourselves to him when we don’t comprehend the why (his sovereign purposes in our suffering). This is true regarding all suffering that we experience, but it is certainly true when it comes to chronic pain and illness.

When it comes to God as Emmanuel (God with us), I find that not only does doctrine help (i.e., knowing true things about God from Scripture that we might find laid out explicitly, say, in Paul’s epistles), but I believe narrative accounts of God’s dealings with his people help us as well (e.g., Old Testament historical accounts). They enliven our imaginations, not just our intellect. Below are two such examples.

• Consider the picture of the mysterious character walking and talking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they had been hurled into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnazzar (Daniel 3). Virtually all Christian theologians believe this fourth person to be the pre-incarnate second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ himself.  
  
  • This is an Old Testament example of Jesus being present with his people in their suffering. He didn’t just enter into the suffering of humanity in the abstract. He is with you in your suffering.
  • “The promise is not that he will remove us from the experience of suffering. No, the promise is that God will be with us, walking beside us in it.”
  • Believing that Jesus is with us in the heat of suffering is what gives us hope and prevents our hearts from being poisoned by a cynical spirit and despair.

• In the midst of suffering, God invites you into relationship. Consider the way God responds to Job after Job has essentially put God behind the dock, demanding that God give some account for his dealings with Job. God responds in Job 38 by asking a series of rhetorical “Where were you when ________?” questions.
  
  • In Job 38:1, God was firm with Job, but not in the way we often think:
    
    • He is described as LORD (Yahweh, the same personal/relating name given by God to Moses at the burning bush). Closeness, intimacy, and binding love (covenant) are all in view.
    • God “answered” Job “out of the storm” (Job 38:1)
      
      • “But in Hebrew idiom, to ‘speak to’ someone indicates a one-way communication of an authority to an inferior, while to ‘answer’ or ‘reply to’ expresses a dialogue between two parties. It is striking, then, that when God shows up, he enters into a dialogue—he does not come simply to denounce. In other words, God is inviting Job into a relationship

Even when we suffer tremendous pain, God is with us, and he beckons us to speak with him. He does not abandon or stiff-arm us, nor does he act as a dictator towards us. If you are ever tempted to think he has abandoned you, consider and chew on these two passages. In Christ, God has stepped into our furnaces, and he speaks to us as friends even when our pain prompts us to wrongly challenge him and his dealings.

This post is the second in a series deriving from the “Chronic Pain & Illness” seminar that took place at Rocky Creek in September 2025. If you’d like to receive the PDF note packet, you may email allen@rockycreek.church.