While suffering is not good, God can use it to accomplish immeasurable good. This knowledge should give us great confidence that even when we don’t see any redemptive meaning in our suffering, God can see it.

I’ve heard multiple people claim, “There are no pets in the Bible.” But that’s simply not true. In Job, the oldest book of the Bible—probably written in the days of Abraham—God asks, “Can you make a pet of Leviathan as you would a bird or put it on a leash for your girls?” (Job 41:5, NCV). This shows that birds—and no doubt other animals—were beloved pets that parents gave to their children.