Why Do We Suffer?
“Look at that dog! It does not have a care in the world. It is not concerned about what it will eat, nor about money, taxes, or earthly needs,” a man remarked as he observed a dog lying peacefully in its doghouse.
Animals, of course, do not partake in the same kind of suffering as human beings. Human life is marked by trial and affliction. As it is written, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). From the very moment of birth, man enters the world in tears, as though dimly aware of what lies ahead.
The Thracians, a pre-Christian people, had a remarkable custom. When a child was born, relatives would gather and lament, saying: “Alas for this child! What awaits him in this world—sorrows, anxieties, sickness, and toil; and after all these things, death.”
Conversely, when one of their own departed this life, they gave thanks, believing that he had been delivered from the evils of this world.
If man’s life were nothing more than suffering, such a view might appear justified. One might even conclude that it would be better not to have been born.
Yet the Thracians lived before Christ. They did not know the truth revealed to us: that this present life is but a passage—a bridge leading to the Kingdom of Heaven—and that afflictions, when rightly understood, serve our salvation.
Consider the following image. A father stands upon the terrace of a great building, while his son below is absorbed in the distractions of the street.
“My child, can you hear me? I wish to speak with you,” the father calls.
Receiving no reply, he casts a small pebble toward him—not to wound him, but to rouse him. The child looks up and beholds his father.
Thus also do afflictions awaken the soul and turn it toward God.
As the holy Apostle Paul teaches, “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). He does not say merely “through tribulation,” but “through many.” Yet even these are not without purpose.
For this reason, the Lord calls blessed “those who mourn” (Matt. 5:4). Likewise, the Apostle James exhorts us: “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2).
Only when we behold our sufferings in this light do they become a source of hope rather than despair. The matter, therefore, lies not in the afflictions themselves, but in our understanding of them.
Just as in medicine it is not sufficient merely to recognize an illness, but the diagnosis must be true, so also in life it is not enough simply to speak of pain. One must seek right understanding, and the means whereby suffering may be healed, transformed, and made a path to salvation.
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