Suffering Well…
The fall was the beginning of suffering.
Genesis 3:10
“… I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Adam, oh Adam. This is the first instance in scripture where we see man separating himself from God. The Lord God Almighty. Fear consumed him, “I was afraid”… In his fear, he hid, and in doing so, distanced himself from God.
Genesis 3:13
”What is this you have done?” Have you ever considered the heart of God in the weight of what this question meant? The depth of the question, knowing Eve nor Adam, in fact, does not know what they have just done.
In God’s judgment of the serpent, He makes it clear: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” As Christ (the seed of the woman) hung on the cross, the culmination of God’s decree was fulfilled, 2 nails through the wrists, and one through the front of the feet and out through his heel into the cross. The suffering the Lord endured for us.
Genesis 3:16
”To the woman, he said, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children.
Genesis 3:17-19
”To Adam he said, Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life… by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground…”
The fall was the beginning of suffering. All of what we experience today in 2026 is because of this event; however, we have a mighty God, who has planned for us since the foundation of the Earth, a way to be reconciled to Him.
Romans 8 unpacks this SO well! Open it up, open it up.
Romans 8:17-18
“… if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Sit with that for a moment.
Romans 8:32-36
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
‘For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
Written in Psalms 44:22
For your sake… For the sake of the One who lay down His life for us. Did Jesus not say:
20 Remember what I told you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
John 15:20
So why do we whince when we suffer, for we know that when we endure a suffering. God is preparing to promote us into a deeper intimacy, strengthening our faith. A reminder that the flesh and all its inherent struggles are only temporary.
Romans 8:19-21
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
If this doesn’t fill your spirit with joy, I don’t know what will. We have a hope, not just any hope, the ultimate hope; that we are to be restored to not just the state God created Adam in, in the beginning, but that we will be made free from sin, and share in glory with Jesus Christ, graciously giving us all things in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:3
“Ok David, we get it, we get it, but where can we see this happening in history, when has God revealed Himself to His loved ones in times of suffering?”
Come with me to Genesis 16.
Hagar.
Hagar ran from Sarai. Sarai blamed Abram for her suffering, that she put Hagar into Abram’s hands to impregnate, now that she is withchild, she began to have a disdain for Sarai as she carried her Master Abrams child within her, but couldn’t reconcile still being a servant rather than being in Sarai’s position. In the circumstance before her, she fled; she ran because of the ill treatment Sarai began inflicting on her. Scripture tells us “The Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert…” Genesis 16:7. Upon seeing her distress, the Lord asks where she’s come from and where she’s going, she explains herself, and he encouragingly commands her to go back to her mistress, Sarai and submit to her. You see, obedience often comes with a taste of suffering, but God, in His infinite mercy, ALWAYS has a promise He will fulfil attached to His instruction.
Genesis 16:11
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
‘You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery...”
The name Ishmael means God hears.
Hagar then goes on to proclaim:
Genesis 16:13
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
El Roi - The God who sees
In the midst of Hagar’s tribulation, the character of God was revealed to her, her faith was strengthened, and she grew in intimacy with the Lord. Will she not now say “God is good”?
My brothers and sisters, the Lord revealed Himself through challenges to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and many, many more of those who walked in faith to our God before us.
Open up the Word, have a deep dive for yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you, to reveal the love and mercy of God to you, so that you will surely know that in times of suffering God is right there with you, and has experienced this suffering likewise for ALL of us.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
What a gracious God we serve, that we can seek him in times of distress and be confident He will look after us.
Some more scripture to take away:
Psalms 34
Genesis 22:11-18
Hebrews 11:6 & 9
2 Timothy 4:6-8
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Romans 5:3-5!!!
Shalom.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Ge 16:13–14.
