26 Bible Verses about Suffering, Hardship

The poor you always have with you, but me you have not always.

For you always have the poor among you, and whenever you choose you can do acts of kindness to them; but me you have not always.

For the poor you always have with you, but you have not me always."

There He fasted for forty days and nights; and after that He suffered from hunger.

tempted all the while by the Devil. During those days He ate nothing, and at the close of them He suffered from hunger.

For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: how, working night and day so as not to become a burden to any one of you, we came and proclaimed among you God's Good News.

I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops--pay which you are keeping back--is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.

It was now the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Sea of Adria, when, about midnight, the sailors suspected that land was close at hand. So they hove the lead and found twenty fathoms of water; and after a short time they hove again and found fifteen fathoms. Then for fear of possibly running on rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern and waited impatiently for daylight.read more.
The sailors, however, wanted to make their escape from the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow. But Paul, addressing Julius and the soldiers, said, "Your lives will be sacrificed, unless these men remain on board." Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship's boat and let her fall off. And continually, up till daybreak, Paul kept urging all on board to take some food. "This is the fourteenth day," he said, "that you have been anxiously waiting for the storm to cease, and have fasted, eating little or nothing. I therefore strongly advise you to take some food. This is essential for your safety. For not a hair will perish from the head of any one of you." Having said this he took some bread, and, after giving thanks to God for it before them all, he broke it in pieces and began to eat it. This raised the spirits of all, and they too took food. There were 276 of us, crew and passengers, all told. After eating a hearty meal they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat overboard. When daylight came, they tried in vain to recognise the coast. But an inlet with a sandy beach attracted their attention, and now their object was, if possible, to run the ship aground in this inlet. So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea, unloosing at the same time the bands which secured the paddle-rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea. Now the soldiers recommended that the prisoners should be killed, for fear some one of them might swim ashore and effect his escape. But their Captain, bent on securing Paul's safety, kept them from their purpose and gave orders that those who could swim should first jump overboard and get to land; and that the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. In this way they all got safely to land.

On the contrary, as God's servants, we seek their full approval--by unwearied endurance, by afflictions, by distress, by helplessness; by floggings, by imprisonments; by facing riots, by toil, by sleepless watching, by hunger and thirst;

For you know the condescending goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ--how for your sakes He became poor, though He was rich, in order that you through His poverty might grow rich.

and, after proclaiming the Good News to the people there and gaining a large number of converts, they retraced their steps to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Everywhere they strengthened the disciples by encouraging them to hold fast to the faith, and warned them saying, "It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God."

To this very moment we endure both hunger and thirst, with scanty clothing and many a blow. Homes we have none. Wearily we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we bear it patiently; when slandered, we try to conciliate. We have come to be regarded as the mere dirt and filth of the world--the refuse of the universe, even to this hour.

For as for our troubles which came upon us in the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down, and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life. Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.

Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if I were out of my mind.) From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one. Three times I have been beaten with Roman rods, once I have been stoned, three times I have been shipwrecked, once for full four and twenty hours I was floating on the open sea.read more.
I have served Him by frequent travelling, amid dangers in crossing rivers, dangers from robbers; dangers from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles; dangers in the city, dangers in the Desert, dangers by sea, dangers from spies in our midst; with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing. And besides other things, which I pass over, there is that which presses on me daily--my anxiety for all the Churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?

I do not refer to this through fear of privation, for (for my part) I know both how to live in humble circumstances and how to live amid abundance. I am fully initiated into all the mysteries both of fulness and of hunger, of abundance and of want. I have strength for anything through Him who gives me power.read more.
Yet I thank you for taking your share in my troubles.

As a good soldier of Christ Jesus accept your share of suffering.

For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty. They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.

The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

And you endure patiently and have borne burdens for My sake and have never grown weary.

Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.

And you will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name; but he who holds out to the End--he will be saved.

You will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name, but those who stand firm to the End will be saved.

Blessed is he who patiently endures trials; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the victor's crown--even the crown of Life--which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him--how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.

For it is an acceptable thing with God, if, from a sense of duty to Him, a man patiently submits to wrong, when treated unjustly.