The Personal Cross We Bear.

⁵ For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning
– Psalms 30

¹⁸ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
– Romans 8

⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
– Revelation 21

The the cross we bear in the bible is in terms of ministry. Unofficially, it is the burden of the other – life long difficulties.

Those difficulties can be medical in nature from hereditary, by accident, or deliberate which causes suffering(s) which there is no cures. Other difficulties also includes addiction(s), being a victim of a crime, or being born in an abusive or toxic environment, and then dealing with the psychological damage and emotional trauma afterward.

When we think of healings and deliverances in scripture, we think of God permanently healing a Syrian Leper, or delivering the Hebrews from the hands of the Egyptians, but we do not often imagine people in the Bible living with their greatest ailment(s).

Jacob was never healed of his limping after he wrestled with God, while God blessed Job more after his suffering than before which included seven sons and three daughters, He never did restore his sons and daughters to him from the dead, and during the many instances of brutal occupations and exiles by foreign powers, many of the Israelis/Jews died before returning back to Israel. If we are honest with ourselves, we do not like to think of it because of the possibility that we many not at all get what we have prayed for.

The truth is that God not only allows temporary suffering, but also life-long suffering. We are born into suffering irrespective of our level of goodness (Job 5:5). Some of it occurred as a consequences of living in a world tainted with sins (Genesis 3:18-19 & Romans 8:19-21), and others as a consequence(s) of generational sins (Exodus 34:7), while the rest as the result of our own doing or the doing of others.

Be that as it may, how ever meaningless it might be, they are not for nothing.

Suffering in a form of ailments, hardships, and adversities have a way of making us grow and become stronger all around (Romans 5:2-5 & James 1:2-4). As Job has said:

¹⁰ But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
– Job 23

Suffering also makes us hope for the future. Just as the law shows us the futility of our efforts to obtain eternal life through our righteousness (Romans 3:19-24), suffering reminds us our hope is not to be on earth but heaven, the future kingdom, and the return of Christ.

¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
²⁰ For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
²¹ Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
– Romans 8