Pain Desires An Answer
*An excerpt from Beyond The Shadows A Theology of Suffering and Hope By John Kuykendall. Subscribe to be the first to learn when Pre-Order is available
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).
Do we as Christians speak about suffering too much, or not enough? Do we have a thoroughly biblical understanding of suffering? At a pastor’s fellowship I attended many years ago, a very kind, gracious, and biblically grounded pastor named Roger was asked to bring the first message of the day. I do not remember his text, and I must confess I don’t remember a lot of what he said. However, I distinctly remember Pastor Roger describing times of difficulty in which God had made His presence known. The Pastor, whom my mother thought the world of, also testified of God’s faithfulness amid challenges experienced by the Church he was pastoring. I appreciated the message even though as a young man I knew very little about suffering.
The next pastor who was asked to speak went out of his way to tell us he wouldn’t be talking about hard times or troubles. In his words, “We hear too much about it.” If he uttered that unnecessarily pointed phrase once, he uttered it ten times during his message. That is all I remember of his message. That and his unkempt appearance. Was this sloppy and somewhat combative pastor right? Do we hear too much about suffering?
We may hear and talk a lot about suffering, but are these conversations informed by the Bible? Are our convictions and beliefs rooted in the truth of God’s word, or something else? It is incumbent on Pastors especially, who all ought to be theologians, to drive this conversation so that we may help people come to see the trials, the most mundane things of life, and the most horrendous suffering through the perfect lens of Scripture. But this isn’t just the duty of pastors and theologians. The layperson must also develop a biblical understanding of suffering. Not only for the trials of life that will inevitably come but also for those whom the Lord will allow you to minister to.
We all ought to desire to glorify God in every area of life. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes that God has placed eternity into man’s heart. We must see things with an eternal perspective. Too often our conversations regarding suffering are dominated by subjective thought, sentimentality, and a focus on the temporal. I pray our discussion here will help encourage all of us to consider the theology of suffering.
Someone may still ask why we need a theology of suffering. Is it helpful to focus on suffering? There is indeed a real danger of developing an unhealthy fixation on suffering. We all know people who see trouble coming down every road. These people, as my wonderful mother-in-law has observed, borrow trouble. The danger of an unhealthy fixation on something does not diminish the need to view the truth accurately. A corrected biblical view of suffering may unburden those who borrow trouble! In these chapters, I will show the necessity of a theology of suffering through a thoroughly biblical and experiential study.
What Is Suffering?
It is necessary here to answer two basic questions regarding suffering. Specifically, we need to establish what suffering is and from where it originates. In one sense it may not be necessary to define suffering. We all know what suffering is and are at least vaguely familiar with the concept even if our lives are untouched by suffering. Nevertheless, words and concepts have meaning and we can’t accurately discuss a thing if we don’t know exactly what it is. For us to grow in a Godly perspective on suffering, we need to know God’s perspective, and we need to know the boundaries and essential realities of suffering.
Elizabeth Elliot aptly defined suffering as, “having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have” (Elliot, 2019). That seems to be a succinct definition. None of us want sickness. None of us wants to lose a loved one. We don’t want rejection, poverty, persecution, physical pain, or trouble of any kind. Conversely, there are things we do want but do not always have. We do want comfort in life which includes health, a comfortable home, the joy of friends and family, sufficient money to pay bills, and to be left alone to pursue the things we love. Not everyone has those things though. We are often plagued with things we don’t want and are left destitute of things we sincerely want. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not” (Job 14:1-2). Suffering is a reality. God’s people suffer, and amid this suffering, we do not despair for we know our God is sovereign in all things and is accomplishing His glory and our good through the trials of life. May God enable us to trust Him always regardless of what we may experience.
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13).
