Bible Verses About Suffering

“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me?”

The psalmist asks how long God will seem to forget him. The Bible gives us permission to bring our sense of abandonment straight to God.

“O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You. May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.”

This psalm ends in darkness with no resolution, yet it is still addressed to God. It shows that faith can sound like persistent, unresolved prayer.

“Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.”

After devastating loss, Job mourns openly and worships. Grief and trust can sit in the same person at the same time.

“Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.””

In the middle of a poem of grief, the writer remembers that God's faithful love has not run out. Hope comes back slowly, by remembering.

“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.”

The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and stays close to the brokenhearted. God's nearness is promised even when circumstances do not change at once.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Even in the darkest valley, the shepherd is present with rod and staff. The promise is company in the valley, not a shortcut around it.

“But now, this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.”

God tells his people not to fear when they pass through waters and fire, because he is with them. He does not promise they will avoid the flood, only that they will not go through it alone.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

Paul calls God the Father of mercies and source of all comfort, who comforts us so that we can comfort others. Our pain can become a way to care for someone else.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Isaiah describes a servant who is despised, familiar with sorrow and wounded for others. Christians read this as a picture of Jesus, who knows pain from the inside.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Jesus is not distant from our weakness, because he has been tested as we are. We are invited to come to his throne with confidence and receive mercy.

“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered. Jesus wept.”

Standing at the tomb of his friend, Jesus is deeply moved and weeps. Even when he knows what he is about to do, he takes grief seriously.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.”

Peter tells believers not to be shocked by painful trials as if something strange were happening. Suffering is linked to sharing in the path of Christ.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.”

Paul says present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory to come, and that all creation waits with us for renewal. Hope is patient because it looks toward something not yet seen.

“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”

Paul says God works in all things for the good of those who love him. Christians disagree about how to explain this, but most agree it does not call every event good.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Paul admits that outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day. He fixes his gaze on what is unseen and lasting.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.””

The final vision promises that God will live with his people and wipe away every tear. Death, mourning and pain are named as things that will end.