There may be no greater inner agony than the loss of a relationship we desperately want.  If a mild acquaintance turns on you, condemns and criticizes you, and says she never wants to see you again, it is painful.  But if your spouse does this to you, or if one of your parents does this to you when you're still a child, the psychological damage is infinitely worse.  We cannot fathom, however, what it would be like to lose not just spousal love or parental love that has lasted several years, but the infinite love of the Father that Jesus had from all eternity.  Jesus' sufferings would have been eternally unbearable.  Christian theology has always recognized that Jesus bore, as the substitute in our place, the endless exclusion from God that the human race has merited...  If we again ask the question: "Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?" and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is.  However, we now know what the answer isn't.  It can't be that he doesn't love us.  It can't be that he is indifferent or detached from our condition.  God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself... So, if we embrace the Christian teaching that Jesus is God and that he went to the Cross, then we have deep consolation and strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth.  We can know that God is truly Immanuel--God with us--even in our worst sufferings...  Embracing the Christian doctrines of the incarnation and Cross brings profound consolation in the face of suffering.  The doctrine of the resurrection can instill us with a powerful hope.  It promises that we will get the life we most longed for, but it will be an infinitely more glorious world than if there had never been the need for bravery, endurance, sacrifice, or salvation.