Former Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., recently reflected on the pain of knowing he must soon leave his 14-year-old son without a father because of his terminal cancer diagnosis, but explained why he maintains hope and gratitude to God amid suffering that doesn’t have an easy answer.

During a roughly hour-long interview with Focus on the Family President and CEO Jim Daly that aired last Friday, Sasse responded to the problem of suffering by reframing the question, noting what he finds mysterious is why God would desire a relationship with sinners by redeeming their suffering and taking it upon Himself.

“I obviously don’t understand it,” Sasse said of suffering. “But Jesus took on incarnate flesh, and came and didn’t just fulfill the whole law for us. He also suffered all the punishment that Adam and we, in Adam, deserve.”

Sasse, who was given months to live after being diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer last December, went on to observe that suffering often plays an important role in the Christian’s journey of sanctification and that God often uses it to purify the believer’s heart of inordinate affections.

“And though it’s terrible, there is something very special in being able to be united with Christ’s suffering en route to this vale of tears’ final enemy, this last enemy [of death], because it helps us cleave away from all the idolatries we’ve built as we fell in love with the creation, instead of the Creator,” Sasse said.

Daly, who shared that he was orphaned by the age of 11, went on to reflect on how losing his parents at a young age left him with hurt that has never fully healed. He questioned how Sasse is dealing with the pain of knowing that his daughters, Corrie and Alex, who are in their 20s, and especially his 14-year-old son, Breck, will soon have to experience that.

Wiping tears away, Sasse quoted the late Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul’s observation that “there is no maverick molecule” in God’s universe.

“God is not uncertain about anything that has happened, is happening or will happen, and He will weave together that mosaic for our own good,” Sasse said. “God loves His Church and those Christians that He has written into eternity. He will use this for good.”

Despite his faith in God’s sovereignty, Sasse noted that his “deepest aches” concern leaving his family behind, though he believes they will all be reunited eternally someday. “The part that’s most baffling is, why will Breck not have a dad at 15 or 17 or 19? And yet, God knows exactly what He’s doing, and He has a plan for Breck’s life, that covenant child. But it hurts.”

Regarding what he would say to those who are struggling with believing in God’s goodness amid their own pain and suffering, Sasse offered his perspective “from two angles.” “I don’t want to be aggressive with the intellectualist rationalist side, but God tells us in Scripture everything we need to know for faith and life, but He doesn’t tell us everything we want to know or everything that we ultimately will know. And He is God, and to whom else would we go?” “So, I trust Him because He is who He is, and He has been faithful. And so, I won’t get every answer this side of eternity.” “Death is an enemy. Death is wicked. But it’s the final enemy. It’s our last battle. And after that, there will be no more tears. And so, we will have these answers, and we will know that God used it for His good,” he added.

Sasse has spent his final months doing multiple interviews about the hope he has in the face of his own suffering and death because of Jesus Christ, telling Hoover Institution President Peter Robinson in February that he is endeavoring to “redeem the time.”

During another interview with his longtime friends, Michael Horton and Dan Bryant, Sasse acknowledged his subjection to the Curse as a son of the first Adam, but grew emotional describing the kindness of Christ in laying aside His glory to become the second Adam and restore fellowship with sinners by conquering death.