5 Verses to Encourage You Through Suffering

Life can be hard.

At some point, we all face trials and experience circumstances that we can’t expect, understand, or control. When we are in the midst of a season of suffering, it can feel like God is far away and our pain is too great to bear on our own.  

Yet the Bible says we can rejoice even in our darkest moments. If you feel alone, betrayed, overwhelmed, or afraid, cling to these verses and place your hope in the God who will never leave you or forsake you. No matter what you’re facing, God is bigger and His love never fails.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

David, the writer of this and many other Psalms, experienced the full spectrum of human suffering, betrayal, loneliness, and fear. Over and over he poured out his heart to God, expressing his emotions and questioning his circumstances. But he was also constantly turning his eyes back on the character of God and finding his hope there. He knew that God was always listening and would fulfill every promise he had spoken over David’s life.

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

This verse comes at the end of the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, thrown in jail, and forgotten, yet God had a plan all along - he became one of the highest officials in Egypt and saved his entire nation from a famine. Maybe your life has not gone the way you planned - maybe it’s gone in the opposite direction! Let this story give you hope that God can take even the bad things that happen and use them to accomplish His good purposes in your life and the lives around you.

Isaiah 43:1-3

Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

As believers in Jesus, we can take these promises to heart. God’s intimate care for us is evident in His word and He has proven his faithfulness over and over again. Take a moment to remember what He has done for you in the past, and believe He will see you through whatever you’re going through today!

John 16:33

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples in preparation for what was to come in the days surrounding his crucifixion and resurrection. As followers of Jesus, we aren’t promised an easy life. In fact, He says we will have trouble because we’re living in a sinful world that is not our home. But we can rejoice in the fact that Jesus defeated death on the cross and gives us power to overcome anything we face while we’re on this earth. In Him we can have peace when life is anything but peaceful.

1 Peter 1:6-7

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

God allows our trials and uses them to purify and mature our faith. We learn to place our hope in God, our prayer life is strengthened, and we gain empathy to comfort others who are suffering around us. Ultimately, our trials reveal God’s power and bring Him glory - in our weakness we must learn to lean on His strength.

*Bonus Verse* I couldn't stop at 5 so here's one final passage to wrap it up!

Romans 8:31-39 (some verses omitted)

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against 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?... (37)No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The apostle Paul gives us a powerful word in Romans 8. He suffered countless trials for proclaiming Christ, yet his faith remained unshakeable. Remember today that God is for you, you are more than a conqueror through Jesus, and nothing can separate you from His love!