“Consider the matter of suffering. Why does a God of love allow us to go through suffering? That’s because suffering is a part of the syllabus in our spiritual education.”1 – Zac Poonen
“Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.”- Sam Storms
“God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them.”- James H. Aughey
“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” – Peter Marshall
“For the believer in Jesus, every trial of suffering is an opportunity to grow in the faith, to grow in our relationship with the Lord, and to see Him work in our lives in a uniquely personal way that demonstrates His compassion, His comfort, His tender mercies, His loving kindnesses, His grace, and His endless love. Only God knows what each of us needs to experience and learn in order to be ‘conformed to the image of his Son.’” – T.A. McMahon
“Whatever troubles are weighing you down are not chains. They are featherweight when compared to the glory yet to come. With a sweep of a prayer and the praise of a child’s heart, God can strip away any cobweb.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
“We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive his poured-out life and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others.” – Elisabeth Elliot
“God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child’s garments.” – William Gurnall
“If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.” – Adoniram Judson
“Jesus promised the disciples three things – that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.” – G.K. Chesterton
“Most of the verses written about praise in God’s Word were voiced by people faced with crushing heartaches, injustice, treachery, slander, and scores of other difficult situations.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
“We must never forget that Christ did not suffer just during His three years of public ministry or the last few days of His life when He was crucified. No, He suffered throughout His life on earth. He who was without sin lived daily with the corruption and sinfulness of lost humanity.” – A. B. Simpson
“Suffering is part of the divine idea.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a difficult time? One answer is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what enables us to grow. Remember, earth is not heaven!” – Rick Warren
“The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
“Our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered.” – Oswald Chambers
“On my door is a cartoon of two turtles. One says, ‘Sometimes I would like to ask why he allows poverty, famine and injustice when he could do something about it.’ The other turtle says ‘I am afraid that God might ask me the same question.’” – Peter Kreeft
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller
“The universe is a soul making machine, and part of that process is learning, maturing, and growing through difficult and challenging and painful experiences. The point of our lives in this world isn’t comfort, but training and preparation for eternity.” – Lee Strobel
“Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.” – Tim Keller
“While Western atheists turn from belief in God because a tsunami in another part of the world caused great suffering, many brokenhearted survivors of that same tsunami found faith in God. This is one of the great paradoxes of suffering. Those who don’t suffer much think suffering should keep people from God, while many who suffer a great deal turn to God, not from Him.” – Randy Alcorn
“We feel pain as an outrage; Jesus did too, which is why he performed miracles of healing. In Gethsemane, he did not pray, ‘Thank you for this opportunity to suffer,’ but rather pled desperately for an escape. And yet he was willing to undergo suffering in service of a higher goal. In the end he left the hard questions (‘if there be any other way . . .’) to the will of the Father, and trusted that God could use even the outrage of his death for good.” – Philip Yancey
1 All of these quotes are from the website below:
“Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.” – Tim Keller
I love this one!