I see difficulties. I see problems. I see situations I can’t fix. I see them not only in my life, but in the lives of others–my family, my friends and those in my church. And if that’s not enough, I see even more whenever I catch a glimpse of the news. I’m not just aware of pain and suffering in the lives of those around me, but I’m also aware that it’s going on all over the world.

When I see pain and suffering, I’ve noticed that my default setting is to question God’s character. It sounds something like this:

God, where are you?

God, if you love me, why are you doing this? Or letting this happen? Or not fixing this?

God, don’t you care?

Maybe you can relate to those kinds of questions. It’s easy to ask them when we focus on what we see around us.

The apostle Paul, who certainly did his share of suffering, talked about a different way of seeing life. It requires digging into our programming a little and changing the default settings on how we view our circumstances and suffering.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, he said:

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Paul chose to look beyond his troubles, which compared to eternal glory were just light and momentary. I don’t think he’s minimizing the pain we feel–he’s just reminding us that what we suffer now cannot even be compared with what we’ll enjoy in heaven. Paul chose to fix his eyes on what is unseen, on what is eternal.

I know of no other way to make it through the pain and suffering of this life than to keep my eyes on Christ. And I’ll confess, it’s not easy for me. It’s like my mind somehow keeps resetting to focus on my circumstances, not on what is unseen and eternal. Maybe you can relate.

It’s a choice that must be made everyday. Often multiple times each day. Will I look at the difficulties or will I look at the One who loves me and has ultimate power over everything I face?

In Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul wrote:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

If sometimes you don’t know how to pray for yourself or others, try Paul’s prayer. Ask God to enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you would know the hope to which he has called you, so that you would understand how great of an inheritance you are to him and so that you would grasp how great is his power that works within you.

God always answers prayers that are in line with His will. That prayer is, so expect Him to answer.