Practicing Biblical Hospitality in the Midst of Suffering

Suffering happens to everyone. There will be at least one moment in your life when you are in the midst of suffering. No matter what type of suffering it may be, everyone’s suffering is real.

My family is currently experiencing a season of suffering and hardship. It is a time when we must trust the Lord and depend on His provision and care for us. One perspective we could have is that our suffering “could be worse.” While this is true, that idea keeps our focus on our own suffering rather than on loving others in the midst of theirs. When we focus on loving and serving others, we are less likely to be selfish in our own suffering.

Practicing biblical hospitality in the midst of suffering allows us to truly love our neighbor as ourselves. While preparing for this recent ice storm, my husband went to the store. Our current situation has placed us in a position of limited funds. When he came home with provisions for the storm, he reminded me that we would need to check on our neighbors, so he bought double in case they were in need. God knows our suffering. He is the One who provides for and delivers His children during times of suffering. Yet sometimes He works through His children to provide for others during their suffering.

God Knows Our Suffering and Gives Comfort

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

When you go through times of suffering, from whom or what does your comfort come? The verses above tell us that God is the source of all comfort. According to these verses, He comforts us so that we can comfort others. The Bible tells us that God knows our suffering, for He is a God who sees and hears us during times of affliction (Gen. 16:13). Sometimes it can be difficult to comfort others in their suffering while we, too, are experiencing our own. But in those difficult times, our reliance on God’s comfort enables us to love our neighbors and show them true biblical hospitality. We become other-focused instead of self-focused.

Jesus is our perfect example of how to love others who are suffering, even amid His own pain. In John 19, Jesus hangs on the cross. He has been beaten and mocked. He is in agonizing pain, dying for the sins of His people, yet even in His suffering, He looks down at His mother and cares for her. Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, behold your son,” and then to John, “Behold your mother.” John obeys, and from that moment on, he brings Mary into his home and cares for her as his own mother. Even during the worst suffering one can face, Jesus thinks of His mother. Because of the love He showed on the cross, we can trust Him to give us comfort as we show comfort to others.

But the story of Jesus does not end with caring for His mother. Luke 23 tells us that Jesus was crucified between two criminals. One of them mocks Jesus, but the other recognizes that He is innocent of the charges against Him. I cannot help but think that this criminal had heard stories about Jesus’ ministry and His acts of hospitality. While hanging on the cross, he sees Jesus suffering but also caring for others in their suffering. I am sure he not only heard Jesus speak to John about caring for His mother but also listened as Jesus forgave those who sentenced Him and nailed Him to the cross (Luke 23:34). Seeing and hearing these things, the criminal becomes convinced that Jesus is the Son of God and asks to be remembered when Jesus enters His kingdom. Jesus promises that he will be with Him that very day in paradise (Luke 23:42–43).

Another wonderful example of showing biblical hospitality to others during her own suffering is the missionary Lottie Moon. In 1912, war and famine were raging in China. It would have been very tempting for Lottie to think only of herself amid her suffering and to cling to whatever morsel of food she could. Instead, she looked around at the people she so faithfully lived among and shared the gospel with, giving her own food and finances to them so that they would not starve. She set aside her well-being for the well-being of others. She loved her neighbors as herself. She placed their lives above her own. While returning home to the United States for medical care, she died, weighing only 50 pounds.

Biblical Hospitality leads to Gospel Comfort

As we look around the world today, we see suffering of all kinds. We acknowledge that everyone suffers, but how do we, as believers, deal with suffering differently from the world? First, we receive true comfort from God. God sees us in our suffering and is the source of our comfort. Then, as we experience His great comfort in our lives, we can turn our focus to comforting others in the midst of their suffering, even if we are still in the midst of ours. But practicing hospitality in the midst of suffering is not simply caring for someone in pain. Hospitality is more. So what does it look like to live out the practice of biblical hospitality in suffering?

We must remember that biblical hospitality is not a form of entertainment; it is actively welcoming and loving the stranger and those within the household of God. This practice should always lead to gospel conversations. To practice hospitality properly, we cannot focus on ourselves in the midst of our own suffering and forget those around us. We have the gospel to comfort us, and our neighbors need that same gospel for their comfort. I am not diminishing our own suffering. No matter what we face, it is right to grieve and trust the Lord in it. But if we are called to love our neighbors, we are to love them even in the midst of our own pain.

Think about the suffering you may be going through right now. Are you dwelling on the what-ifs and worrying about tomorrow? Instead, give the day and the pain to the Lord and look around at your neighbors. Are you sitting in a hospital waiting room, waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery? Is there someone else in the waiting room who is facing the possibility that a loved one may not make it home? Show them hospitality by getting them something to drink, offering a book to read, or even praying for them during their pain. No matter what you are suffering, is there a meal you can provide to someone who does not have one? Is there a bed you can spare for someone who needs a place to stay for the night? Are there clothes or shoes you can offer to someone who needs them? Is there a widow who just needs someone to talk to, or a friend who needs to be visited in jail?

Loving our neighbors helps us avoid the temptation to think only of ourselves. Use the suffering you have endured to anticipate and recognize when others face similar trials. If you are not paying attention to those around you, you cannot be ready to practice hospitality and share the comfort of the gospel when suffering comes.

No matter where you live or what you face, you can trust God in your suffering and love your neighbor in the midst of theirs. Are you in the midst of your own suffering and affliction? Who can you show biblical hospitality to and share the comfort of the gospel with today?