Today is a sad day. Our playful, little Bassett Hound got loose on Valentine’s Day and decided to play out in the street. Unfortunately, a service van was coming down the street at the same time—and we had to make the tough choice to put “Flash the Wonder Dog” to sleep. For our three little children, it’s like losing a brother; for Mom and Dad, some hard decisions have had to be made; and today at 11:20, I’m going to go in and say good-bye to my faithful friend. It is a very sad day, indeed.

Suffering stinks—There is just no nice way to say it. Most days, we simply try to avoid it. We drive past the hospital and cemetery, usually without a second thought, and manage to put out of our mind all of the suffering experienced in those places. We turn on the six o’clock news and watch the daily barrage of bloodshed, rape, and robberies without a tear. Comfortably removed, we can separate ourselves from these tragedies before “Sally brings us the weather and Dick, the latest in sports”! But when pain touches us—how different the story is! It grabs us by the lapels and shakes us without letting go! What was once avoidable can be avoided no more. Like an unwanted house-guest, “suffering” sneaks into our lives and robs us of joys and goodness formerly known.

God understands what it is like to suffer. He can relate, because He, too, suffers! I mean, we know well the basic cause of human suffering: sin. But passively and actively, a holy, sinless God also suffers because of human sin! After seeing the violence of the pre-Flood world, the Bible says “The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:6). In Scripture, we see that God is also “compassionate” and “longsuffering” towards us. It is written, “He has compassion on all He has made” (Ps. 145:9), and “The Lord is…longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). “Com-passion” means literally to “suffer with.” As His dear child, He doesn’t just “think about you” when you are suffering in this fallen world, nor does He merely “wish you well” —He actually suffers with you! And ‘longsuffering’ is the wonderful old word to describe what ‘patience’ truly is – “suffering long”. Patiently, God bears with us though we daily sin much and cause the Holy Spirit to grieve (Ephesians 4:30). But compassionately and patiently, God suffers with us.

The only thing more amazing is that God would also suffer for us! “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” (Luke 24:26). He did not begrudgingly “have to” suffer because someone made Him, but ever since Genesis 3:15 and the beginning of time, He spoke of the suffering that He would willingly endure to redeem His precious creation! He knew about the insults in Psalm 22; the rejection in Isaiah 53; the rod of affliction in Lamentations 3; and the hundred other stories recorded for us in holy Scripture that foreshadowed His suffering, death, and resurrection. The Bible is not just a book of “moral stories,” the whole purpose of God’s Word points to how Jesus Christ would save us by suffering in our place!

When suffering “grabs you by the lapels”, do not forget His compassion, for as His child, you never go through it alone! Not only does He suffer with you, but first He suffered for you to redeem you from this veil of tears! Risen and victorious, we can trust well His words: “In this world you will have much trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Daniel McQuality is pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Holland, Michigan.