Kindness in Suffering: 12 Ways God Shows His Goodness Through Trials and Afflictionsናሙና

Suffering Displays God's Power and Glory

Many times it feels like we are suffering for no reason at all. There is no purpose, or so we think. When Jesus passed by a blind man in John 9, the disciples stopped and asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” This was a sound theological question, as it would have been natural to assume in their culture that physical sickness was the result of sinfulness. However, Jesus surprised them by answering, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (v. 3). Immediately, Jesus ministered to the man, applied mud to his eyes, and sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash himself. When the man returned, his eyes were healed!

Over and over again in Scripture, we see that even in adversity and affliction, God is glorified. When God took away the strength of Gideon’s army, dwindling it down to three hundred soldiers, He told Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me’” (Judg. 7:2). For Gideon, the shrinking of his army from thirty-two thousand down to three hundred posed a substantial threat to him. Humanly speaking, they surely would have died. But God used this trial of faith to glorify Himself so that, when the army was victorious, it would be unquestionable whose hand had delivered them.

When we suffer in our affliction and God sustains or delivers us, it serves to demonstrate to us and others that it is His power at work, and not ours. This is why Paul boasted in the Lord despite his own debilitating trials: “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9). Suffering puts the power and glory of God on display. This is why Peter declared that “if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name” (1 Peter 4:16). In God’s kindness, He permits us to behold His power and glory in the face of our afflictions.