Human suffering. I've seen so much of it these past couple of weeks that the idea of living alone on a desert island is sounding appealing.

• Dozens of people shot in a cold-blooded massacre at a nightclub.
• ​An Ohio woman charged with trafficking her 11-year-old daughter for sex to feed her heroin addiction.
• Parents experiencing the death of their son in an ungodly alligator attack in Disney World, of all places.

I had to stop watching the news. I couldn't bear to see any more anguish.

But human suffering continued to infiltrate my world. It crept into my private circles. In just the past few days, people have talked with me--people I know and care about--who are dealing with debilitating depression, cancer diagnoses, childhood sexual abuse, broken marriage vows, even thoughts of ending their lives.

Even though I've been a Christian my entire life I still find myself asking, Where is God in all this suffering? And that's when I begin again to understand that, in times of suffering, it is not the loss of loved ones, the loss of innocence, the loss of ability, or the loss of relationships that wrenches our souls. It is the loss of hope.

Dr. Myron J. Taylor once wrote, “The real sting of suffering is not misfortune itself, nor even the pain or the injustice of it, but the apparent God-forsakenness of it. Pain is endurable, but the seeming indifference of God is not.”

Although suffering makes it seem that God is indifferent it is clear from Scripture that He is not. He cares deeply when His children are hurting. In fact, He suffers with us. He grieves when His children grieve.

Suffering was never part of His plan for His kids. He created for us a perfect world. A world that knew nothing of terrorism or tragedy, of sickness or sorrow. A world in which there was a perfect relationship between the Creator and the created. A world in which He simply delighted in being with us. Then sin entered that world and messed everything up. No one grieves that more than God.

And yet we have hope. Because God is still with us. He accompanies us on our often heartrending journey, but not as an oblivious onlooker. He selflessly, compassionately offers us what we need--healing for our broken hearts, rest for our weary souls, strength that is made perfect in our weakness, peace that passes human understanding.

God not only walks with us through our suffering, He enters into it. And in our times of deepest anguish when we think we can't go on, He points us to a future in which the perfect world He created will be restored. Where tears and fears will be no more. Where all that's wrong will be made right. Where all that's broken will be made new. 

We need never fear that God has forsaken us. He would never leave us to deal with the heartaches of life on our own. It would go against the Father's nature to abandon His kids. So where is He in our suffering? Smack dab in the middle of it. 

We learn from the Bible that God is our Refuge; that He is a High Tower, where we find safety. The psalmist David referred to God as my hiding place (Psalm 32:7, NIV) and a shield who saves the upright in heart (Psalm 7:10, NIV).

Yet, we must realize that even though God is our Protector, He never promises to shield His kids from all of life’s problems. 

The world can be a scary place. For many, even our homes aren't safe. We often find ourselves fearful; our peace and sense of security threatened by circumstances out of our control. Ever since sin entered the world people's lives have been marked by trouble and turmoil. Storylines that included imprisonment, debilitating illness, depression, drunkenness, abuse, marital unfaithfulness, and fatherlessness are not reserved for Days of Our Lives. The most beloved biblical characters had skeletons such as these in their prayer closets.

God does not always shield us from evil. He does not always protect us from pain. But our Heavenly Father always protects our identity as children made in His image. Our Heavenly Father's ever-present strength may not prevent bad things from happening to us, but it does prevent us from being defined by those things. We are His beloved children. And nothing can change that.

Problems in life provide God an opportunity to prove how much we need Him. It is in our deepest struggles that our relationship with Him is deepened. It is in going through the agony of adversity that our understanding of Him is developed. It is when our hearts hurt the most that they connect with His heart the best.

Safety is not found in the absence of danger; it is found in the presence of God. Our Heavenly Father is always by our side and at this very moment is offering to give us the security, the strength, the power, the peace that we need. He wants nothing more than to turn our heartache into hope, our frustration into fearlessness, our insecurity into invincibility. 

We know from Scripture that God loves everyone. But I will confess, there have been people I've met that have had me thinking to myself, "God, you've got your work cut our for you with this one."

Yet, He loves them. And, what's more, He tells me to love them. All of them. Even the ones who aren't very lovable. Even the ones who don't speak or dress or drive or think or believe or vote the way I do. Even Cub fans.

To love people as God loves them we must see them as God sees them. He looks beyond their fault and sees their need. To love others as God loves them we must look at every person we encounter from our Heavenly Father's perspective. Often, what we see is very different from what God sees.

We see an antagonist who always has to be right. God sees a person who needs to find healing from being wronged.  

We see a jokester who can never be serious. God sees a person who needs an outlet for the pain he or she is trying to hide.

We see a braggart who can't stop talking about his or her self. God sees a person who needs to know that he or she is deeply loved apart from what they've done or where they've been.

We see someone who is not only depressed but depressing. God sees a person who needs permission and a safe place to express his or her pent-up anger. 

We see a wallflower who is always compliant and who never expresses an opinion. God sees a person who needs the boldness that comes from believing that he or she, as well as their opinions, matter.

We see an high-energy, over-achieving workaholic. God sees a person who needs to understand that true significance does not come from what we do.

We see a perfectionist. God sees a person who needs to love him or her self enough to allow for mistakes. 

We see a deadbeat dad who walks away from his family responsibilities. God sees a person who needs to experience what a good Father is before he can become one.

We see a hopeless drug-addict. God sees a person who needs to believe that, for those who trust in Him, there is always hope.

We see a gang member who is filled with anger. God sees a person who needs intimacy and a sense of belonging.

We see a terrorist who is consumed by hate. God sees a person who needs to experience, at a soul level, the love of Jesus. 

We see someone with zero sense of self-worth. God sees a person who needs to know that he or she is worth dying for.

We must love others as God does. We must look beyond their fault and see their need. After all, that's how our Heavenly Father loves us.