pain is not your prophet

Paul is not telling you your suffering is small. He is telling you what it is being weighed against, and then he says what that is - which is the part usually left off.
The glory he has in mind is the revelation of the sons of God. Creation is straining forward, waiting to be set free into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Heiser puts Romans 8 alongside the texts about the believer's place in God's family for exactly that reason. As he says of this passage elsewhere, it "is not denial of suffering. It is confidence in the ending."
Scripture links:
- Romans 8:18-19 - "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God."
- Romans 8:21 - "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
Pain reports accurately on today. It knows nothing about the ending.