The Glory in the Groan
When Righteous Sons and Daughters Still Suffer
There’s a question that doesn’t go away easily. It shows up when the lights are off and no one’s around. It’s in the silent spaces between prayers. It’s in the tears you don’t want to admit are still falling. If I’m living for God, if I’ve turned from sin, if I’m doing what’s right, then why am I still suffering. Why am I still sick.
People won’t say it out loud, but they wonder. They wonder if God is mad at them. They wonder if they missed something. They wonder if they’re less favored. They start examining everything they’ve ever done. But what if the suffering isn’t proof that you failed. What if it’s proof that you’re His.
Romans 8 says that if we’re children, then we’re heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. But then it says something most people skip over. It says we are heirs with Him if we suffer with Him so we may also be glorified with Him. That means this isn’t just about the glory. This is about the groaning too. This is not just resurrection. It’s crucifixion. The cross always comes before the crown.
This isn’t the kind of thing that gets preached much anymore. People want formulas. They want three steps to their breakthrough. They want to feel good about how fast they’re growing. But there’s something in this Gospel that doesn’t let you skip the pain. There’s something holy in the fire. There’s something glorious in the groan.
Suffering is part of being a son
People think suffering means something’s wrong. But suffering might just mean something’s right. The only people who get shaped are the people God calls sons. Hebrews 12 says that if you’re not disciplined then you’re illegitimate. But if you are disciplined, if you are corrected, if you are allowed to be refined, it’s because you’re a son.
That word discipline doesn’t mean punishment. It means formation. It’s the word used to describe the shaping of character. The maturing of a child into a son. And it says that Jesus Himself learned obedience through what He suffered. Not through sermons. Through suffering.
If Jesus had to walk through suffering to fulfill sonship, then why do we think we’re failing when it hits us. Why do we start trying to escape what He embraced.
Not every sickness is because of sin
This needs to be said plain. Not all sickness is the result of sin. Not every person in pain is under judgment. Jesus made that clear in John 9. His disciples saw a man blind from birth and asked, who sinned. This man or his parents. Jesus said neither. This happened so the works of God could be revealed.
Job was righteous. God said it Himself. Yet Job lost everything. His health. His kids. His friends. And what did his friends do. They tried to convince him it was all his fault. Just like religion still does today. Job held the line. He said, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. He said, I know my Redeemer lives. And in the end, God rebuked the friends and restored Job double.
Not all suffering is judgment. Sometimes suffering is proof you’ve been trusted. Trusted to carry something heavier than ease. Trusted to carry mystery. Trusted to groan without cursing. Trusted to weep without walking away.
Healing is real. But timing is not ours
Let’s be clear. Jesus heals. He still heals. Isaiah 53 says by His wounds we are healed. Matthew 8 says He took our sicknesses and diseases. The cross paid for healing. But that doesn’t mean healing always comes when we want it. It means healing is guaranteed, but the way and the timing are His.
Paul didn’t get healed from his thorn. He asked three times and God said no. Not because He was mad. Not because Paul lacked faith. God said, my grace is enough. My power is made perfect in weakness.
Paul didn’t throw a fit. He didn’t accuse God. He said, then I’ll boast in my weakness. I’ll glory in my infirmity. Because when I’m weak, He’s strong.
That’s not defeat. That’s maturity. That’s what sons say when they’ve been through enough fire to know the difference between God’s presence and their preference.
Timothy was sick often. Paul told him to take care of his stomach. Epaphroditus almost died. Paul left Trophimus sick. These were leaders in the early church. Not one of them was rebuked for their illness. Not one was told they didn’t have enough faith. They were honored. Because they kept showing up. They kept the faith. They didn’t quit.
Suffering grows something eternal
Romans 5 says suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope doesn’t disappoint. That means suffering is not wasted. It’s working. It’s forming something under the surface. It’s grinding out faith where there was once opinion. It’s producing something weighty that shallow Christianity can’t imitate.
Second Corinthians 4 says this momentary light affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory. That means the pain is not punishment. It’s preparation. Something eternal is being made in the fire. Something weighty. Something real.
You can’t fake that. You can’t pretend your way to that kind of glory. You have to bleed for it. You have to groan for it. You have to be pressed so the oil comes out. That’s how the anointing is born.
Creation is groaning with us
Romans 8 says all of creation is groaning. Waiting. Longing. It says we ourselves are groaning too. Waiting for the fullness of our adoption. The redemption of our bodies.
Did you catch that. Our bodies. Healing is not just for now. Healing is a promise sealed in the resurrection. There is a glorified body coming. There is no sickness in heaven. No pain in the Kingdom. And that reality is breaking in even now.
But we live in the tension. The already and the not yet. We groan because we know what’s coming. We groan because we’ve tasted resurrection but still feel weakness. We groan because we know this body isn’t final. And the Spirit groans with us.
Your groan is not a complaint. It’s a prayer. It’s the sound of hope growing inside pressure. It’s the sound of sonship forming in the valley.
Resurrection always follows the cross
Jesus didn’t avoid suffering. He entered it. He embraced it. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. That joy wasn’t comfort. It was union. It was family. It was sons and daughters standing on the other side of His yes.
Philippians says it has been granted to us not only to believe but to suffer for His sake. Granted. As in gifted. As in given permission to walk the same road He walked. Not because He’s cruel. But because He knows what’s waiting on the other side.
The grave didn’t get the last word. Neither will yours.
Hold fast,
If you are sick and serving, you are not forgotten. You are not overlooked. You are not less anointed. You are not under judgment. You are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. And there is glory resting on you even now.
First Peter 4 says if you suffer for Christ, the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. That means you might not feel healed, but you are hosting glory. You might not be walking in strength, but you are walking with the Man of sorrows. And He knows. And He sees. And He is not far.
This groan is not wasted. It is producing something that cannot be lost. Do not trade it for cheap theology. Do not throw away your confidence. Resurrection is coming. Healing is coming. Whether now or in eternity, it is coming.
You are not being punished. You are being formed. You are not cursed. You are crowned. You are not weak. You are being made strong through the weakness. And your groan is not empty.
It is sacred.
And there is glory in it.
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