Hope for the Suffering (Romans 5:1-8)

What is our greatest need in the face of suffering? Our initial response might be, “relief.” After all, when dealing with suffering in some capacity, what do our initial prayers for others or for ourselves tend to focus on? We want the Lord to diminish or take away any suffering.  But what if God is actually accomplishing something better in us and for us through suffering that we wouldn’t otherwise experience if he simply took it away? Would we pray the same way? Perhaps not. Instead, we might begin to become aware of how God could use suffering to uniquely transform us for the better. Once we can perceive the good that God is able to bring about through suffering, we find great comfort in knowing that even when he doesn’t promise to remove suffering from us, what he does promise is to provide us with the hope necessary to endure it - a hope that clings to the good he will work through our suffering.