To deal with suffering and disappointments, we need God’s perspective on life.

5) The ultimate answer to life’s disappointments is the hope of heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body– but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.

Today’s suffering can mean tomorrow’s glory. God is not accomplishing all His purposes today, nor is He explaining all His plans to us right now.

Hope pumps life into the inner person. Ambition is a kind of emotional adrenalin that keeps us aspiring to better and greater achievement. I’m not speaking a hope in hope or a faith in faith but a hope and faith in the Lord. We need to understand that when it comes to our dreams and aspirations for life God is not in the business of teasing us by putting a carrot on a stick permanently out of our reach. He is not some cruel master who wants us to jump like dogs, only to lift our desired dreams barely above our highest reach.

While there’s life, there’s hope. Hope in heaven is a 100% certainty … that God gives to every single follower of Christ. It’s his promise to us!

Hope in the future can keep us going. Like Job we too can say, Job 19 [25] I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. [26] And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; [27] I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job knew that there was One who would redeem him from the present trouble in the future - in heaven! Death is not the final chapter in life … death is the door to experiencing the presence of God for an eternity in heaven!

1 John 5 [11] And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. [13] I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

2 Corinthians 4 [17] For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! [18] So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Romans 8 [18] Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

Hebrews 10 [35] Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. … [34] You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. [35] So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t do it. I have tried this. I can endure, but I can’t rejoice. And, it bothers me when I see these pious Christians who go around with a smile screwed to their faces and they pretend like they are enjoying suffering.” I don’t blame you … I get upset at this too! When Paul is talking about rejoicing in suffering he’s not talking about being excited about the suffering. Authentic rejoicing in suffering has to do with rejoicing in the hope that we have even in the midst of the suffering. What is that hope? The hope of heaven one day but also the hope that He is getting ready to enjoy heaven right now by molding us and refining us through trials and suffering.