When God Speaks Through Suffering: Finding Faith, Comfort, and Purpose in Pain

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We see them there, and we clap for their bravery. The voice of the crowd cheers and applauds for what they represent. They were there at the 2026 State of the Union, standing solemnly as the crowd roared its approval (Briceno, 2026). There was Erika Kirk, the widow whose husband was senselessly assassinated while listening to the questions of college students. There was Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, who survived an ambush while on duty serving his country, patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C. His partner on patrol was not as fortunate and died as a result of the gunman’s bullets. But his partner’s parents were there as well, waving as the voice of the crowd lauded them in their grief (Briceno, 2026).

Other guests recognized by the State of the Union crowd included the mother of slain 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who, with her mother, sister, and brother, had emigrated from Ukraine to escape the bloodshed and horrors of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Anna Zarutska was there, as President Trump sought to highlight decisions by rogue judges, releasing a repeat hardened schizophrenic criminal through a no-cash bail system. A career criminal arrested 14 times, who promised the judge he would behave, instead slashed Anna’s daughter to death on a commuter train (McCormack, 2026). The crowd cheered politely as Anna Zarutska wept bitterly, being held up by a stranger standing next to her.

Sage Blair was there, a guest of President Trump (WhiteHouse.gov, 2026). Sage was pushed by her school district to undergo a sex change. Sage experienced bullying when she refused to comply and ran away from home. A Maryland judge denied her parents’ custody rights due to their refusal to immediately affirm a male gender identity for their daughter. After battling this ruling, Sage and her parents were later reunited, and the case has become a lightning rod for parents’ groups arguing for stricter parental notification laws. Sage and her mom were welcomed loudly by the crowd at the State of the Union, as symbols of school districts that claim greater authority over students’ gender choices than their parents (WhiteHouse.gov, 2026).

There were plenty of heroes recognized by the crowd at the State of the Union speech as well. The president awarded two Armed Forces heroes the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military award for valor. He recognized the Olympic gold medal-winning hockey team and awarded its goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, a Presidential Medal of Freedom. A Coast Guard petty officer who saved 164 people during the deadly Texas floods of 2025 was honored and awarded the Legion of Merit medal for his bravery and selfless actions (Basu, 2026). According to this same story, it was “a night of heroes,” recognizing decorated veterans and everyday American heroes (Basu, 2026).

Applause rang loudly for each of those who were recognized, some for incredible bravery and self-sacrifice, and some who wore a brave smile while struggling with extraordinary grief over a tragedy that brought their story to the attention of the White House and provided their ticket to the State of the Union.

There are competing voices that seek our attention. The voice of the crowd at times encourages us to act a certain way to meet its socially accepted approval. When we go against those voices, as did Sage Blair, we face a chorus of attacks from those seeking to drive us to compliance. There are also voices crying for things to be made right, parents wanting control and say-so over their own children’s decision-making, not the school district. There are the voices of those arguing for stricter sentences for career criminals, and those that decry reckless liberal judges who release criminals with extended rap sheets based on their perception that cash bail is a wealth-based limitation for the poor and that socioeconomic disparity demands reform. They argue that only the most dangerous criminals should be detained pretrial. But there is another Voice speaking to us, the voice of the God who whispers in our pleasure but shouts in our suffering (Lewis, 2009).

The Christian author C.S. Lewis was no stranger to pain. He lost his mother as a young child and had his father emotionally abandon him (Ritchie, 2017). Lewis had a respiratory illness and suffered physically as a teenager. He was also wounded in World War I and lost the love of his life, Joy Davidman, to bone cancer. Lewis would go on to document his intense anguish at the loss of his wife in the book A Grief Observed (Lewis, 2001).

Lewis wrote that pain and suffering were a megaphone to get the attention of a broken world, because pleasure in the world would allow people to ignore Him (Lewis, 2009). Our suffering forces us to draw near to God and focus our attention on Him alone as He perfects our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7). It is God alone who can and will assure us by His holy Presence (see Psalm 139:7) and will demonstrate His abundant grace in our darkest hour (Psalm 119:67). As we live in a world with free will, we must make the choice of whose voice we will follow. But our free will also allows others who follow a different voice to bring suffering into our human experience, through our own choices or the choices of another.

We don’t truly know that Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we have (Essian, 2026). Suffering removes the illusion that we are in control of our own experience. It reveals the foundation of our faith (James 1:2-4). In the moments of our greatest suffering, we see what it is that we really trust, what we really cling to, and what we treasure most (Matthew 6:19-21).

The Bible teaches that suffering can refine our faith, produce endurance, form in us a strong and resilient character, and give birth to hope (1 Peter 1:3-7), that is, if we will allow God to perform His masterful work in us through the suffering. We can certainly resist, and we often do, because of the perceived injustice associated with the suffering. Yet in God’s hands, suffering becomes the tool that strengthens us. It becomes the pressure that forms steadfastness in us and the instrument that purifies our faith into an imperishable inheritance, more precious than refined gold (1 Peter 1:4, 7).

There were many voices at the 2026 State of the Union, voices clamoring and applauding the brave heroes and the wounded sufferers recognized in attendance. After the evening came to a close, the heroes proceeded to other gatherings where more voices would heap praises upon them, while the wounded sufferers slowly faded from the glowing crowd, taking their sorrows and griefs with them. But there is another Voice that provides comfort in our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). That Voice comforts us in every affliction, so that we can comfort others with the same comfort we have received. Nothing in our story of suffering is ever wasted, not the grief, not the questions, not the tears. God will comfort us in our afflictions, and He can turn our afflictions into someone else’s consolation (2 Corinthians 1:6-7).

Let us seek God in our suffering: Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Let the experience of your own suffering push you deeper into Christ, not further from Him. Receive the comfort He gives, and be ready to share it, as Erika Kirk comforted Anna Zarutska (McCormack, 2026). Jesus’ own bearing of suffering, mockery, and death made the way for us, so that our suffering would never be the end of our story (Matthew 25:21).

May you find, even in the hardest moments, that your suffering is not wasted. It is sacred ground where God is at work, making you more like Christ and providing the comfort you will one day pass on to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Sources

Basu, Z. (2026, February 25). Trump’s night of heroes: Takeaways from the 2026 State of the Union. Axios [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2026/02/25/trump-sotu-speech-takeaways.

Briceno, L. (2026, February 25). Some of the most notable guests at Trump’s 2026 State of the Union. Fox News [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/most-notable-guests-trumps-2026-state-of-union-photos.

Essian, J. (2026, March 1). Finding God in Our Suffering. Paradox Church: Sermons. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQHu-JElkc.

Lewis, C.S. (2001). A Grief Observed. New York: Harper One.

Lewis, C.S. (1940; updated 2009). The Problem of Pain. New York: Harper Collins.

McCormack, C. (2026, February 24). Murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s mom breaks down during State of the Union 2026 as Trump rips Dems: ‘How do you not stand?’ NY Post [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2026/02/24/us-news/ukrainian-refugee-iryna-zarutskas-mom-breaks-down-during-state-of-the-union-2026/.

Ritchie, D. (2017, January 17). God Shouts to Us in Our Pain. Desiring God [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-shouts-to-us-in-our-pain.

WhiteHouse.gov (2026, February 25). President Trump Delivers his 2026 State of the Union Address. WhiteHouse.gov [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/02/president-trump-delivers-his-2026-state-of-the-union-address/.