Suffering and the Christian life

Holiness and the life of faith

Pain is difficult enough without being handed an explanation that claims more than anyone knows. Scripture gives reasons to trust God in suffering, but it does not supply the particular reason for every affliction. The faithful response can include grief, petition, endurance, and practical help. Pretending nothing hurts is not the biblical definition of trust.

Read Psalms 73:1-28

1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.
5 They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8 They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.
11 They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
14 For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me—
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.
18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
20 As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
21 For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28 But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

The psalmist does not hide the fact that the situation troubled him. The apparent success of the wicked had nearly unsettled his faith. The change comes through seeing matters in relation to God and their final outcome. That does not erase every present question. It reorders the perspective. Scripture’s inclusion of this struggle should make believers less inclined to demand polished answers from a person who is still trying to understand a painful season.

Read Romans 8:18-30

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
25 But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

Paul speaks of groaning, not of pretending the present condition is already ideal. The good God works toward includes conformity to Christ and final glory. That should restrain confident claims that a particular loss happened for some easily identified benefit. Sometimes the benefit is not presently visible. The promise is that suffering cannot defeat God’s saving purpose. It does not require the sufferer to call evil good or to display cheerful feelings on command.

Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.
8 For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us,
11 you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.

Paul describes distress severe enough that he despaired of life. That statement should challenge the idea that strong faith always looks emotionally untroubled. God’s comfort does not make the experience unreal. It enables endurance and later care for others. A person who has suffered may become more patient with weakness, but that result should not be demanded as though the sufferer owes everyone a helpful lesson immediately. Sometimes the faithful act is simply to sit with him and help carry the burden.

Read 1 Peter 4:12-19

12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
13 But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.
16 But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
18 “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.

Peter does not call every form of suffering equally honorable. He distinguishes wrongdoing from faithfulness. Where suffering accompanies obedience, the believer can entrust himself to the faithful Creator and continue doing good. That is different from seeking pain as proof of devotion. Christ’s people may ask for relief and pursue just remedies. The command to endure means suffering should not be allowed to purchase disobedience, not that every available help must be refused.

Tell God the truth about the suffering. Receive help without treating dependence as failure, and offer help without claiming to know every reason for another person’s pain. Keep the future promise in view while attending to the present need. Christian hope is strong enough to acknowledge what remains difficult.

Consider your perspective

Christian hope makes room for grief without requiring an explanation for every suffering. Pain is not a reliable measure of weak faith, and confidence in God should deepen practical compassion rather than replace it with easy answers.

Put it into practice

Ask a suffering person what would actually help, and offer something specific that you can provide. If you are suffering, bring an honest lament to God and accept appropriate practical or medical support.

Reflect and respond

• What can be affirmed without pretending to know the particular reason?
• What kind of help would actually serve the sufferer?
• How can lament and trust be expressed together?

Passages and further study

• Scripture: Psalms 73:1-28. https://ebible.org/engwebp/PSA073.htm
• Scripture: Romans 8:18-39. https://ebible.org/engwebp/ROM08.htm
• Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. https://ebible.org/engwebp/2CO01.htm
• Scripture: 1 Peter 4:1-19. https://ebible.org/engwebp/1PE04.htm
• Second London Baptist Confession (1677/1689), chapters 5, 13. Historical Reformed Baptist comparison; its first-day Sabbath teaching in 22.7-8 is not adopted here. Original text: https://1689confession.app/
• WEB text and public-domain notice: https://ebible.org/details.php?id=engwebp.

Scripture quotations are from the public-domain World English Bible (WEB). Historical confessions are study aids, subordinate to Scripture. This independent lesson is not an official denominational statement.