The End of All Toil, Sufferings, and Evil

Where is hope in our physical, mental, and spiritual sufferings, in the evil we see in this world?

Have you ever felt weary of the everyday toil in school, work, familial arguments, etc., but can never get out of the cycle? Have you ever felt like you keep battling the same emotions or mental health issues over and over again, but they never get better? Have you ever felt defeated as you struggle with the same sins repeatedly? Have you ever been weighed down by the fact that the world is becoming more and more sin-saturated? I certainly have, and if you’ve ever felt anything like I mentioned, you are not alone.

In Spring 2021, I was doing my second online school term in Hong Kong because of COVID. During that time, I was running on an average of 4 hours of sleep each day. My schedule looked something like this:

16 hours work -> 4 hours sleep -> 4 hours work -> 2 hours sleep -> 8 hours work -> ??? -> 2 hours sleep -> IDK -> 16 hours work -> 6 hours sleep -> 8 hours work -> ??? -> IDK

The ???’s and IDK’s are not typos; every day was a blur. I maintained this cycle Mondays through Saturdays, and on Sundays, I’d go to bed at 3 a.m., get a solid 6 hours of sleep, then attend the second service and young adults fellowship from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with my eyes half-open (my pastor always teased me about it). And then I’d go home, fall asleep for 2 hours instead of having dinner with my family, wake up, and keep grinding until 6 a.m. the next day.

I had no rest, and I was suffering. It was a 4-month long mental marathon: I kept running and running and running until I couldn’t, but I still was not at the finish line yet, so I had to crawl to it. Not only was I physically and mentally malnourished, but I was also spiritually starved despite reading 5 chapters of the Bible each day so that I could finish my one-year Bible plan. I attributed the suffering primarily to the time zone differences between Hong Kong and Canada, so I longed to come back to Canada even if school and co-op weren’t going to be in person.

I finally came back at the end of August 2021, with a co-op term in the fall and a school term in the winter awaiting me. The co-op term felt much more restful, but the school term was still brutal despite me caring less about academics and putting in less effort. That made me wonder:

Is this what it’s going to be like for the next few years? What about after university? There are no “term breaks” in the workplace, so am I just going to live lifelessly every day for the next 40–50 years, God-willing? How many more mental marathons can I survive?

I began to truly understand that my hope cannot be found in circumstances, things, or people around me, but only in God. Now here’s a logical jump — how does no hope in X, Y, or Z equal hope in God? The answer lies in Scripture.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” (Psalm 23:1–2) [Image Source: LetterPile]

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23 is one of the most meaningful psalms to me. I didn’t really take notice of it until I sang it at my grandma’s funeral in 2018 (see the link at the end). This psalm brings comfort in knowing that God, as the Shepherd-King is the one leading us, protecting us, and giving us blessings. He is with us wherever we are — He is close to us (notice David’s referral to God from “He” to “You”) — and we can be assured that He will lead us into His peace and quietness (“green pastures”, “still waters”, “the house of the Lord”). In Him, there is rest.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. — Romans 5:3–5

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ — Matthew 25:21

Applying this to the idea of suffering in school, work, or even ministry, how can we find hope in God? In the midst of my suffering, I see how God was guiding and sustaining me as I turned to Him in my weaknesses, and how He was producing character in me as I persevered (Romans 5:3–4). I know that as I work faithfully for His glory, He will be pleased with me and will reward me (Matthew 25:21) because He wants me to use the talents He has equipped me with. Eventually, like the good shepherd He is in Psalm 23, He will lead us into His presence, where we can truly rest.

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. — 2 Peter 3:13

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. — Revelation 21:4

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. — 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Now let’s look back at the initial question: Where is hope in our physical, mental, and spiritual sufferings, in the evil we see in this world? I want to reassure you that these things will end when Jesus Christ comes back the second time. The heavens and earth will be restored. All sorrow will be wiped away, and all wounds will be healed (Revelation 21:4). All sin and evil will be judged; God’s righteousness and justice will prevail (2 Peter 3:13). No matter how much we struggle with our sins and weaknesses, we have hope in the assurance that our faith in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection has already secured our relationship with God, that we already have a righteous standing before God (Romans 5:5), and that He will continue to sanctify us through His Spirit that dwells in us, eventually making us perfect after we die our physical death (2 Thessalonians 2:13). God is faithful, just, merciful, and sovereign, and that is why we can put our faith in His promises and hope in Him.

Final Words

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in the home stretch of the term and year. For those in school, we are all probably scrambling to finish our projects and assignments. But let us also not forget that Christmas, the celebration of Jesus’s coming on earth, is around the corner. May we all rejoice in the hope that it brings — our salvation, sanctification, and restoration — and live out this hope in our lives. Finally, I’d like you to ask yourself: What are some things you feel hopeless about? What steals your hope in God? I urge you to lift up these things to God and let Him restore hope in your heart.

Link to the Cantonese hymn version of Psalm 23 (if you don’t know Cantonese then too bad):

耶和華是愛(粵語) — 影音使團