When Jesus entered our world, he came all the way down. He lived no middle-class life. He was invited into the places of power only to be condemned. His withstood the full weight of temptation but never gave in. His sufferings before the cross were intense and profound.

Why is suffering, like taxes, so ubiquitous? Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen take up that question in their book Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness. They ask, “Does the Bible give an apologetic for our suffering?” Their simple answer is “Yes.”

When we suffer, our heart breaks open to God in ways that it can’t otherwise.