In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials (ESV)

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. (NIV)

We’re excellent at numbing pain…
Headache? Ibuprofen.
In debt? Credit card.
Anxious? Scroll.

But here’s what nobody wants to talk about… we can’t actually escape pain—not yet, at least. Though we may fight it our whole lives, life on earth comes with it. 

In Acts 7, we read about the kinds of trials Peter was writing about in this week’s verse. Trials, he saw his own friend's face, and would face himself. The scene unfolds in a debate between a follower of the Way and the opposing religious leaders. Stephen reminds the Pharisees of the Torah—the Old Testament they knew best—as he reveals to them how it all points to Jesus. That truth enrages them. They gnash their teeth and prepare to stone him.

But Stephen’s response to the coming suffering? He doesn’t run or soften his message. He rejoices.

It says, “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God,’” (Acts 7:55–56).

Stephen, full of faith, looked beyond suffering and saw his inheritance—a loving God ready to receive Him. He looked past this life of pain to the one without it.

Jesus never promised this life would be without pain. He promised His presence in the middle of it. The world says escape it, but Christ says endure it with Me. 

Those quick fixes only add another layer of avoidance, making the pain stronger when it finally demands to be felt. But in the midst of our pain, Christ offers something far better: His presence. And one day, He’ll make all things new, and there will be no sorrow or pain anymore. 

Through Christ, even death becomes a doorway to life. 

Our culture may be great at numbing the pain for today, but we know that we can rejoice in it knowing The Day that is to come.

Written by Ben Hesch