Written by Amanda Serrano
isaiah 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
When we think of victory, we usually picture strength, breakthrough, and visible triumph. We don’t picture suffering. Yet Isaiah 53 gives us a completely different image of what victory looks like in the Kingdom of God.
I learned this in a very real way when my five-year-old experienced a traumatic injury. It was painful and frightening, but instead of trying to control what was happening, which I couldn’t, I had to trust God completely. In that surrender, I discovered a peace I hadn’t known before.
Isaiah 53:10–12 describes Jesus, the Suffering Servant, whose pain was not random but purposeful: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief… out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.” Jesus’ suffering brought life, redemption, and victory. What looks like loss or grief can become the path to God’s purposes. His pain was part of a greater plan, and ours can be, too.
Through my child’s injury, I realized that suffering teaches us to trust in ways comfort never could. I couldn’t fix the situation, but I could place it in God’s hands. I could pray, “Lord, I trust You,” and mean it with my whole heart. Proverbs 3:5–6 became alive for me in that season: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Letting go of control didn’t remove the pain, but it allowed God to shape it into something redemptive, deepening my faith and teaching me what true trust looks like.
Isaiah reminds us that victory through suffering is real. Sometimes it comes through difficulty, fear, or uncertainty, but God is always at work, redeeming our broken moments. The cross shows us that suffering does not have the final word. Trusting God transforms trials into opportunities to experience His peace, His presence, and His power in ways we could never create on our own.
Prayer Prompts:
Thank God for His faithfulness and for the victory He brings through suffering, even when we don’t fully understand it.
Ask God to help you trust Him in your current struggles, letting go of control and allowing Him to teach and shape your heart through them.
