"The goal to evade anguish is undesirable because
our dark emotions have a redemptive side (although this fact does
not make them any less painful).
Though tainted in our expression of them, they nonetheless
reflect the character of God. They have the power to vocalize
our deepest cry - and when that cry is uttered before God,
our hearts are exposed and transformed as we glimpse His
heart for us.
Nowhere does the Bible promise that our earthly lives will be
untouched by suffering. Just the contrary, in fact: the New
Testament repeatedly warns that pain and suffering are part and
parcel of the Christian life. But that is not bad news, it is the
gospel ("good news"), for it is through our pain and suffering
that we experience joy and encounter glory:
Romans 8:17Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of
God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 5: 2-5..through whom we have gained access by faith
into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out
his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Paradoxically, God reveals Himself in our suffering. There is no
resurrection without crucifixion; no glory without suffering.
Healing, therefore, isn't quite what we thought it would be.
Our dark emotions reveal God; they open the road to true joy.
This is the central message of the book of Psalms: we encounter
divine goodness in the midst of pain."
Cry of the Soul, page 244-5; Dr. Dan B. Allender and Dr. Tremper Longman III