There are so many questions we have about life, the most common of which might be why do bad things happen to good people. Instead of bogging our minds down with all of the ins and outs of why we go through rough times, the simple answer is this: sin. Not always our sin, but the fact that sin is present in this world. It brings suffering. It brings hurt. It brings despair.

So many people that I know are struggling with despair. They’ve lost a loved one, been mistreated, been neglected, suffered illness, lost friends, battled depression. Sitting in our congregations are people who, though we may never know the specifics, are dealing with despair. But it isn’t limited to them; it’s our entire world. This sinful world is filled to the brim with people who are experiencing grief on some level. They’re hurting. They’re in need of comfort in this dark and trying world. They’re in need of the Savior.

One of the most beautiful things about Christianity is not that it takes you away from trying times–it doesn’t (2 Tim. 3:12)– but that it gives you strength and hope through these things. If you are a child of God who is battling some kind of grief-inducing situation, please consider these words. And, if you aren’t a child of God, and you’re experiencing the same grief, know that you can have this kind of hope if you will submit to God’s will for your life:

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”  – 2 Cor. 4:8-9

Life has a way of pressing us down and making us feel like we’re out of options; of making us feel alone. But these verses, they tell a different story. They tell the story of a child of God who is, yes,  hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down. They tell the story of a child of God who experiences grief and hardship. And YET, this same child of God is not crushed. Not in despair. Not forsaken. Not destroyed. Why? Because our Lord was.

Isaiah 53 tells us that Jesus was crushed (v.5). Hebrews 5:7 paints the picture of Jesus’ despair in the Garden of Gethsemane, while His own utterance from the cross tells how God had forsaken Him in that moment (Mark 15:24). Finally, in John 2:19 we see that Jesus prophesied and said that His body would be destroyed but He would raise it in three days. This was our Lord. Crushed. In Despair. Forsaken. Destroyed. Why? So we don’t have to be.

As a child of God, we have been given the glorious hope of eternal life. We can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if we will endure the present suffering (which Paul called light affliction – 2 Cor. 4:17) we will be saved from this perverted, sinful, hurtful world. We will live forever in Heaven, where we will experience no pain, no suffering, no crying, no mistreatment. We will experience no more loss, no more troubling thoughts, no more illnesses–either mental or physical. We will be free from every single thing that has ever hurt us, and we will be the One who made us. How beautiful heaven must be!

And so, while you may hurt for a time on this earth–and while that pain may seem unbearable at times–know that you can do this. You can get through this, because Jesus did….for you. He went through all that He did so that He could be with you forever. Don’t let a few weeks, months, or years of hurt keep you out of a perfect, peaceful heaven forever.