Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. Hebrews 5:8-9 NIV

Writer Ann Voskamp says, “…there is not even one of us who hasn’t lost something, who doesn’t fear something, who doesn’t ache with some unspoken pain.”[1]

There is pain, often great pain, in living, and the follower of Jesus Christ isn’t excluded from suffering. However, suffering in the life of a Jesus-follower and suffering outside of a life lived in relationship with Jesus are two entirely different things. Grace is available to the believer, “a grace that holds you when everything is breaking down and falling apart—and whispers that everything is somehow breaking free and falling together.”[2] Our God, the Bible says, is all about redemption, and that includes working good in our pain.

Jesus’ wounds made redemption of our pain possible–God’s own Son suffered! And the Bible points out the result: “He learned obedience from what He suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8) If God’s own Son went through the experience of learning obedience from suffering, I know He understands when I cry out to Him for strength to view my suffering as a pathway to good. But He also understands my cry for a way out.

Jesus-follower, your suffering is not fruitless, and it comes with this promise: “‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness'” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT). There have surely been “handfuls of grace” in your life.  Remember when your car ran out of gas in front of the gas station? Or someone returned your lost wallet—with everything in it? If you begin to watch, you’ll see those handfuls of grace in pain-filled valleys.

 

Resource reading: Hebrews 5:7-10

[1] Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 19.

[2] Ibid. 20.