"Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul" (Psalm 66:16).
We all know that the world is hard. Difficult things happen, sometimes terrible things, and all we can do is struggle through them. As believers, we know that God is with us and will never leave us alone in our troubles, but that doesn't make the pain any less pressing. We suffer. That's part of living.
But as believers, we have hope. We know that there is an end to suffering. Even if we don't see it in this world, we have confidence in heaven, in the new earth that God will create where suffering will never exist again.
That doesn't always feel the most helpful in the moment, though. We want relief from our pain now. And God in His mercy so often grants us that. Psalm 66 details a series of agonizing events, described as going through fire and water, carrying a crushing burden, falling into traps, and being ridden over by one's enemies. But at the end, God overcomes all the evil, and He brings His faithful follower into a place of abundance.
What can we do in that moment but rejoice? God has brought us out of our difficulties. He has led us through them and brought us safely out on the other side. What we gain from our suffering is far greater than what we had before.
Such is the beauty of God. He makes even the worst of situations come out for good for those who love Him. And from that, we can proclaim to others how great He is. Our hardships become a conduit for His grace to flow into others. Nothing is wasted--even suffering has its place in God's magnificent plan.
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