The God Who Suffers

Suffering has often been looked down upon. It is something that nobody wants, and yet everyone has.
It seems as if, especially from the Christian perspective, that if you are suffering it is because you have done something wrong to offend God or that He is trying to show some unmastered sin in your life. Where does this idea come from? Have we not learned from Job? Have we not remembered Paul's sufferings for the early church? Have we even been so blind to forget Christ our Lord? "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, Save me from this hour?'" (John 12:27) Christ our Lord suffered much greater than any other man, and what sin did He commit? How did He ever err?
Nowhere in all of scriptures does God promise us a life of wealth, happiness, and prosperity if we follow Him. In fact, He calls us to die to ourselves, to take up our crosses and follow Him. Our God is a God who will ask us to sacrifice ourselves for other people. In order to follow Christ, we must follow in his footsteps. These footsteps did not lead him to comfort, did not lead to temporary happiness, but to death, even the death on a cross. Surely there was joy after this, as Hebrews 2:2 states, "...looking to Jesus as the pioneer and perfect or of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Jesus goes on to say in John 12:27 "No, it was for this very reason I come to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name!" Why do we not say the same? Father, glorify Thy name in my life. So often we treat God like a generous grandfather, who is once again trying to please his dissatisfied grandchildren. We ask and beg and plead for blessings, forgetting that we must endure temporary suffering so that we may see the joy in the aftermath. Who are we to tell our Creator what is best for us? Does He not know? Does He truly need our counsel in how to direct our lives? Aren't we supposed to be glorifying Him and not the other way around?
God rewards those who lay down their lives. Jesus is proof enough of that. But it is up to us, who claim to be followers and lovers of God, to live for His glory.