"D.A. Carson said, 'In the darkest night of the soul, Christians have something to hold into that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love they cannot escape the cross. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not also along with Him graciously give us all things? When we suffer there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? Yes. If our attention is focused more on the cross and on the God of the cross than on the suffering itself.'
Here's what I've found. Those who recognize that their suffering in this life is never as great or as serious as their sins, find joy in an unexpected place in the midst of suffering. Because the great mystery is not, "Why do I suffer?" The great mystery is, "Why would the sinless Son of God suffer as my subsitute on the cross for my sins, receiving the wrath that I deserve so that I might be forgiven and declared righteous?" That is the great mystery of mercy. And that mystery can and will make all the difference in the midst of the severest forms of suffering."
~ C.J. Mahaney
