God's Working in Hard Seasons: Suffering

Experiencing God's Power in the Weakness of Suffering
There is a question many of us have wrestled with at some point, even if we have never voiced it out loud: what is the purpose of suffering in the Christian life?

Suffering is universal. No one is exempt. Regardless of background, personality, or level of faith, every person will encounter suffering in this life. While the experience of suffering is shared by all of humanity, the particular shape it takes in each individual life is unique. It arrives unannounced. It does not wait for a convenient moment. It does not limit itself to seasons when we are spiritually unprepared. In fact, suffering often shows up precisely when we are trying our hardest to honor God, to be obedient, and to live sacrificially.
This reality can be deeply disorienting. God’s Word, though, offers something far more substantial than a simple explanation. It offers a purpose.

Paul's Thorn and a Surprising Response
In 2 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul describes an extraordinary spiritual experience of being caught up to paradise, hearing inexpressible things, and witnessing what no human language could adequately convey. It was a moment of surpassing revelation. Nevertheless, immediately following this powerful experience, Paul was given what he describes as a thorn in the flesh: a persistent, painful affliction he calls a messenger of Satan sent to torment him.

Paul's response to this suffering is worth noting. He did not spiritualize it away. He did not pretend it was not painful. He pleaded with God three times to remove it. There is something deeply honest and deeply human about that response. He wanted the suffering gone.

The response Paul received from Jesus was this: His grace is sufficient, for divine power is made perfect in weakness. In other words, the thorn was not a mistake. It was not evidence of God's absence. It was, in fact, the very place where God's power would be most fully experienced and displayed.

The Unexpected Platform
This is where the message of 2 Corinthians 12 becomes genuinely challenging and genuinely beautiful. Paul does not merely accept this reality with gritted teeth. He says he delights in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. His reasoning is straightforward: when he is weak, then he is strong. Christ's power rests upon him.

The kind of weakness Paul is describing is not the productive discomfort of physical training, where pain leads to strength. He is talking about the weakness that comes from losing control, from facing limitations that will not yield, from suffering that does not let up. This kind of weakness, the kind that strips away self-sufficiency and exposes our inability to manage our own lives, is precisely the kind that becomes the dwelling place of Christ's power.

This reframes everything. Suffering is not merely something to be endured until life gets better. For the Christian, suffering can be the way we experience and display God’s power.
Therefore, remember this: I will experience and display Christ’s power when I am weak through suffering.

1.)    This is a grace to be received and not an achievement to be earned: It would be easy to read a passage like this and immediately turn it into a performance standard… a new way to measure how well you are handling your suffering… a new reason to feel like you are failing the Christian life.

2.)    Remember God’s purpose in your life: One of the most important anchors for navigating suffering is a clear sense of purpose. The Christian life is oriented around something greater than personal comfort or convenience. Scripture is consistent in its testimony that human beings are created to know God, love God, and glorify God. When that purpose is the foundation of a life, suffering does not become meaningless. It becomes, however painfully, part of a larger story and purpose.  Purposeless suffering leads to despair, but suffering that can be situated within the context of knowing and glorifying God carries meaning, even when it is not fully understood. It does not make the pain disappear. It does not answer every question. It does mean that even in the hardest seasons, life is not simply falling apart. Something is happening. Christ's power is being made perfect in weakness.

3.)    Stay rooted and grow in your relationship with Jesus:  This is not a principle disconnected from the person of Jesus. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:4, Jesus himself was crucified in weakness, but he lives by God's power. The pattern of weakness giving way to divine power is not abstract theology. It is the story of the Cross and the Resurrection. It is the story of the Son of God entering into the deepest human suffering so that suffering itself might be redeemed.Therefore, the call for those walking through seasons of difficulty is not to think more positively or to minimize the weight of what they are carrying. It is to turn toward Jesus, to receive his grace, and to trust that the same power that raised him from the dead is at work in the weakness of every person who belongs to him.  Suffering does not have to be the end of the story. In the hands of a sovereign and gracious God, it can be the very place where his power is most clearly experienced and displayed.  (This is an AI generated devotional of Pastor Ross’ sermon from November 1, 2026. He has reviewed it and made edits.)