Overview and Objectives

If death is the end of everything, then a life filled with suffering isn’t fair. But if the end of this life brings us to the threshold of eternity, then the most fortunate people in the universe are those who discover, through suffering, that this life is not all we have to live for. Those who find themselves and their eternal God through suffering have not wasted their pain. They have let their poverty, grief, and hunger drive them to the Lord of eternity. They are the ones who will discover to their unending joy why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

• Explain how suffering takes us to the edge of eternity.
• Explain how suffering can awaken us to the reality and inevitability of the eternal.
• Identify events in the Bible that contrast human weakness and divine strength.

As you proceed through this lesson have the following question in mind.
In Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, we see the depth and intensity of human suffering. What do you know about the Holocaust? How do you feel when you see the evidences of that time of awful suffering?