Believers like Elisabeth Elliot, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Gerald Sittser have astonished the world, declaring the sufficiency of Christ even in the hottest fires. Elliot buried two husbands: one was murdered on the mission field and the other died of cancer after four years of marriage. Tada, a quadriplegic who was injured in a diving accident, has survived two bouts with cancer and lives with relentless, excruciating pain. Sittser lost his mother, his wife, and his daughter all in one tragic car accident. These saints, who have proclaimed the goodness, grace, and love of God despite staggering loss, have inspired millions, like me, to trust Christ in their own pain.

Nothing gets our attention like suffering. It’s hard to ignore pain — not just for those enduring fiery trials, but also for those who are watching. Our eyes and hearts are inevitably rivetted by tragedy.

As Christians, suffering gives us an extraordinary opportunity to share our faith. People want to know why we’re different. Why we’re not bitter. Why the flames haven’t destroyed us. Especially when the heat seems unbearable.

Believers like Elisabeth Elliot, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Gerald Sittser have astonished the world, declaring the sufficiency of Christ even in the hottest fires. Elliot buried two husbands: one was murdered on the mission field and the other died of cancer after four years of marriage. Tada, a quadriplegic who was injured in a diving accident, has survived two bouts with cancer and lives with relentless, excruciating pain. Sittser lost his mother, his wife, and his daughter all in one tragic car accident.

These saints, who have proclaimed the goodness, grace, and love of God despite staggering loss, have inspired millions, like me, to trust Christ in their own pain.

What the World Can’t Ignore

John Newton (1725–1807) loved to compare faithful Christian sufferers to the burning bush that Moses saw in Exodus. Summarizing Newton’s view of trials, Tony Reinke writes,

Some Christians are called to endure a disproportionate amount of suffering. Such Christians are a spectacle of grace to the church, like flaming bushes unconsumed, and cause us to ask, like Moses: “Why is this bush not burned up?” The strength and stability of these believers can be explained only by the miracle of God’s sustaining grace. The God who sustains Christians in unceasing pain is the same God — with the same grace — who sustains me in my smaller sufferings. We marvel at God’s persevering grace and grow in our confidence in him as he governs our lives. (Newton on the Christian Life, 191)

Watching believers suffer and die well changes a world that lives to avoid suffering. There’s nothing unusual about Christians who are happy in prosperity. That’s natural. Even expected. But joy in suffering is supernatural. The world takes notice. Like Moses and the burning bush, they step aside to see why we are not destroyed (Exodus 3:2–3).

It is in our darkest moments, hottest fires, and deepest pain that we have the greatest opportunity to share the gospel; people want to know the reason for our hope (1 Peter 3:15). I have a debilitating physical condition, and it is often when I’m facing the sharpest pain and most frustrating weakness that people ask about my faith. I feel grossly inadequate in those moments, so I can testify that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to me (2 Corinthians 4:7).

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