Human suffering is on the increase. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in natural disasters: volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts and famines. Many lives were lost. Many became homeless. Many became orphans. What’s going on? Why does God (if there is a God, many would add,) allow these things to happen? Is he perhaps behind it? As Christians, how would you respond to human suffering? It is one thing to say, "Don’t worry, God will take care of you" when you are not in it but it is another thing to say it when you are in it.

How would you counsel someone who is going through a storm of life? What would you say to a sick person? I always find it hard to minister to such people. I may read a portion of Scripture to him and say a prayer for him, but have I helped him find peace in the midst of his suffering? Have I lifted up his soul? In my observation, I reckon that only those who seek God earnestly and His salvation consistently will find peace and tranquility. However, those who do not focus on God but only on their doctors, diagnosis and prognosis will not experience peace and tranquility. As a result, many of them give up their faith in God. This ought not so to be. What they need to know is that God is faithful and that He cares for them. Such assurance comes only through the following:

When a person is undergoing suffering, what he needs is peace, tranquility, and assurance that everything is under God’s control. But how can one find that restful spirit in the midst of suffering? The answer has to do with your position in Christ.

Peter began his letter by outlining God’s plan for the believer. He said that in eternity past God knew whom He would choose and on that basis elected His own. Then the Holy Spirit sets apart the elected sinner for a special work of grace. At God’s appointed time the sinner obeyed the call of God through faith, received the cleansing of Christ’s blood and was born again (1 Peter 1:2).

Do you know your position in Christ? Do you know the hope of your calling? Do you know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? (Ephesians 1:3) Do you know Christ’s incomparably great power for us who believe? And do you know what is the breadth, length, depth and height of Christ’s love for you? (Ephesians 1:18, 19; 3:18)

Before a person experiences the peace of God in his life, he needs to make peace with God. How to make peace with God? Paul said that we are enemies of God and we need to be reconciled to God by the blood of Christ (Romans 5:10). When a person puts his trust in Christ to save him from sin, he is declared righteous in the sight of God (Romans 5:1), he is clothed with Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:22), he becomes a child of God (John 1:12) and he is no longer under God’s condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Therefore, knowing your position in Christ help you find a restful spirit in the midst of the trials of life.

Do you know your God? I am not surprised that some of you have been Christians for years and still do not know God personally. Yes, you may know Him theologically (i.e. in knowledge), but my concern is, do you know Him experientially (i.e. in heart)? We need both. King David said, "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee" (Psalm 9:10). He knew his God theologically as well as experientially.

I often wonder what goes through a sick person’s mind. What is he thinking in his suffering? Some suffer from insomnia. So they spend the night thinking all sorts of things. The thought of death grips them. It cripples, demoralizes and devitalizes them. What would you say to these people besides praying for them?

There is one thing I believe you could do and that is to remind them of the sovereignty of God. When a person is very sick, everything falls apart. Everything seems to be out of control. God becomes unreal to him. He has many questions about God and His doings. I was visiting someone the other day and in the course of our conversation, he asked me, "Why did God allow this incurable illness to fall on me?" There is no easy answer. But one thing we could do is to help this person to refocus his thought on God and His sovereignty. Only then can he find peace, tranquility and assurance in the midst of his suffering.

It is important to know your God. David knew his God both theologically as well as experientially. As a result, it gave him great confidence when he faced the storms of life (Psalm 27:3). Do you know your God intimately?

Oftentimes, a chronic sick person finds it hard to accept the Bible explanation on suffering. Like the many disciples of Jesus, on hearing His teaching said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" (John 6:60) And they left Him (John 6:66). Some of us may react like the disciples of old. Our hearts may become hardened and bitter against God.

Paradoxically, when a chronic sick person is told by his doctor to take a certain course of medicine, he takes it obediently and without asking questions. Why is it so? It is because he believes with all his heart that his doctor’s prescription is good for him and will not do him any harm. But when it comes to God’s remedy to experiencing peace, he finds it hard to accept what the Bible says concerning the means of experiencing peace and tranquility in the midst of suffering. Strange, isn’t it?

Now if you want to experience peace and tranquility in the midst of suffering, you need to do the following:

When Paul was in prison, he exhorted his readers to rejoice in the Lord at all times and in all places. Like himself, they had been facing opposition from people who were antagonistic to the Gospel (Philippians 1:28-31).

What does it mean to "rejoice in the Lord always?" To "rejoice in the Lord always" means when circumstances are most promising and to rejoice in the Lord when everything is wrong (Habakkuk 3:17, 18). Paul was not saying something that he himself did not go through in life. In the course of his ministry, he encountered many trials of life (Acts 16:25; 20:23; 27; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 11). The repetition of the command "rejoice" suggests the need to maintain a spirit of joy in the Lord despite adverse circumstances.

There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on circumstances. If the circumstances are fine, the mood of gladness is there. But if the circumstances are contrary to what you expect, then happiness is absent. However, joy does not depend on circumstances. Joy is something that is rooted in the heart and its delight arises from a quiet assurance that God is in control of everything (Psalm 57:1-7; 27:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

The reason why Paul was able to rejoice in all circumstances was his understanding of God’s sovereignty. He did not believe in accidents. He believed circumstances (good or bad) were God-sent to refine him just as fire refines gold (1 Peter 1:6, 7; Romans 8:28; Job 23:10). Therefore, he was able to rejoice in all circumstances (James 1:2-5).

In his letter to the persecuted Christians, Peter charged them to commit themselves to God and to trust His faithfulness in the midst of their sufferings. He said "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19). Jesus said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:18, 19). Christians have a different lifestyle. They are different from the people of the world. They think differently; speak differently; behave differently. The world cannot accept that kind of lifestyle – no dirty jokes, no smoking, no wild parties, no womanizing, no gambling, no rock music, no pornography, etc. So they react harshly against the Christian community by ridiculing them.

To submit to God in times of suffering (such as being mocked by the world) can be a problem to some people. The natural tendency is to fight back. But Peter’s instruction for us is to continue to do what is good and commit ourselves to God. He said, "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Pet 2:12).

So the next time you suffer for righteousness’ sake (1 Peter 4:14-16), you should entrust yourselves wholly to God, for your suffering is according to the will of God (1 Peter 2:23).

Job was a good example. He said, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Job seemed to know what God is doing in his life and the outcome of it. Therefore, he confidently placed his life in His hand and allowed Him to shape him. Elsewhere he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15a). This man knew what submission to God is. As a result, he experienced peace in the midst of his suffering.

Peter made it clear that suffering is part and parcel of the Christian life (Acts 14:22). He said that suffering is only for a season, if necessary. Thereafter it will yield the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). Therefore, he exhorted his readers to rejoice in their suffering (1 Peter 1:6, 7; James 1:3, 4).

Job said, "…when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (23:10b). A leader of the persecuted church in China said, "We Christians are like the bamboo – when you cut us down, we grow back taller and stronger" (Bamboo in Winter).

God uses persecution to advance His Gospel. When persecution came upon the early church, God’s people were scattered everywhere preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 8). When Paul was in prison, he said to his concerned readers that his imprisonment had really served the advancement of the Gospel (Philippians 1:12, 13; 4:22). Nothing, not even imprisonment, can hinder the proliferation of the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:9, 10).

God permits suffering for a purpose. You may not know why certain events happened to you at a certain period of your life. However, in time to come, you may know why God permits those events to happen to you. Paul was a good example. He was a man of suffering (2 Corinthians 11). He might not know why God permits "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him" (2 Corinthians 12:7). And he never complained to God or felt pitiful. He only pleaded with God to heal him. But God did not heal him. Instead, He said to him that His grace is always sufficient for him. God knows our limits. He will not put us in a place of testing where His grace is not sufficient for us (1 Corinthians 10:13).

What did Paul learn from his sickness? He learned that when he is weak, then he becomes strong in the Lord. Therefore, he rather takes pleasure in his weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Furthermore, out of this experience, he is able to comfort others and help them to find peace and tranquility in the midst of suffering (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4).