Suffering Is Not the End
“Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated.” – Hebrews 11:36–37
As I write this, our news is heavy: two school shootings and a targeted assassination all on the same day, Wednesday-September 10, 2025. Innocents wounded, communities shaken, grief spreading afresh. It’s easy to look at the Bible and think, faith will protect me from this kind of violence. But time and again, Scripture and today’s headlines reminds us: faith does not promise freedom from suffering.
The names change. The places change. But the pattern is the same. Some believers have been flogged, some imprisoned. Some have been killed for their stand. Jesus Himself warned: “They will persecute you… you will be hated… for my name’s sake.” (John 15:20)
Yet, painfully, powerfully-Scripture also insists suffering is not defeat. Not for those who live by faith. The heroes in Hebrews pressed on. Even when the darkness around them was real. Even when they could see no rescue.
From those stories we learn three truths for this time:
Violence is real.
It arrives not just in ancient times, but in our schools, our streets, at events. It violates, injures, and sometimes kills. But neither Scripture nor today’s pain are silent about it.
Faith may suffer—but it does not surrender.
Faith doesn’t always avoid the cross. Sometimes faith carries it. Faith stays stitched to hope even when the skin is broken, even when news headlines hurt, even when there is no obvious rescue.
Violence is not the end.
Hebrews 11 ends not with smoke and blood but with a great cloud of witnesses, with promises, with the assurance that God sees, God remembers, and God will make all things new. The story didn’t finish at the cross-it continued with resurrection. The promise didn’t expire in the tomb.
Let’s pray-
Lord, today we pray with heavy hearts. For lives broken by violence. For families mourning. For communities wounded. We confess we often expect faith to mean safety, only to find violence where we hoped for peace. Yet we choose to believe You are still God. You have promised that suffering is not the end for those who walk by faith.
Strengthen us to stand when fear beckons, to speak Your truth when silence is easier, to live in hope when the future looks grim. Help us trust that even the night You redeem, even tragedy You will see, even when death seems final-You are making a way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
