Job, who was no stranger to suffering, wrote this about the experience of mankind, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). Because sin entered the world, suffering is common not only to mankind, but to the whole creation (Rom. 8:19-22).
The saints of God can find encouragement from the Scriptures in their time of suffering. In Romans 8:18-30, we find at least two promises from God that ought to encourage us as believers in Jesus Christ in our times of suffering. First, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory we will experience in the age to come (vs. 18). Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The second promise from God in our suffering is that God is at work in our times of suffering for His glory and our good (vs. 28).