What Paul says next in Romans 5 might seem strange to you: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings” (5:3). Rejoice in suffering? You must be kidding! How on earth is it possible to be even remotely content in the midst of suffering? According to Paul it isn’t the suffering itself that causes joy, but what suffering can produce in us. Suffering, he says, produces hope. Hope looks ahead and longs for what God is bringing about. Hope has a view which transcends the present and recognises the transitory nature of what now is. It seems that this is what Paul is getting at. He says, “We rejoice in the hope of glory”. The notion that suffering can lead to joy is nevertheless a hard point to swallow. This may be because we have a lesser view of joy than what Paul had. Maybe there is a deeper joy being referred to here than what we have experienced. The Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran said: “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” One thing that suffering tends to do is tear down the walls of our self-sufficiency and pride that makes us keep God at bay. Suffering also has a way of toppling our delusions about the world and awakening us to reality. And this, of course, is where we find God. We are very broken people living in a very broken world. That’s reality. This situation grieves God and when we are grieved by this reality we share in his grief and we can draw closer to him as a result.
Reflect on your experiences of suffering. How did these experiences change you?
Read Romans 5:3-5 again
