Suffering gives rise to inner distress, on account of a sense of injustice, frustration, loss or anger. Christ himself provides an example of such suffering to believers. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Relevance Score
10%
Though I cry out, 'Violence!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him. When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.
For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us.
When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me too, O my father!"
"Do not call me Naomi, " she replied. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me."
At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."
Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
The king was shaken and went up to the gate chamber and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"
Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son." So his father wept for him.
Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, wept over him, and kissed him. And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him, taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.
The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you put him?" He asked. "Come and see, Lord," they answered. Jesus wept.
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. "Give me children, or I will die!" she said to Jacob.
And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb. Because the LORD had closed Hannah's womb, her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously. And this went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival taunted her until she wept and would not eat. "Hannah, why are you crying?" her husband Elkanah asked. "Why won't you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"
They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.
As Elisha watched, he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.
When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.
Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.
In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape."
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram's horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance. "Speak to us yourself and we will listen," they said to Moses. "But do not let God speak to us, or we will die."
And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself traveled on a day's journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
A dire vision is declared to me: "The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning." Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see. My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.
So all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or interpret it for him. Then King Belshazzar became even more terrified, his face grew even more pale, and his nobles were bewildered.
Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood," he said. "What is that to us?" they replied. "You bear the responsibility."
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Then He said to them, "My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me."
Then He said to them, "My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch."
Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, so the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart." I was overwhelmed with fear and replied to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
They were deeply grieved and began to ask Him one after another, "Surely not I, Lord?"
Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.
Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep.
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me!" So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household soon heard of it.
But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.
But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully. The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people were making so much noise. And the sound was heard from afar.
When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes.
When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.
You are to speak this word to them: 'My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.
Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain. Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.
Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.
And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores; yet they did not repent of their deeds.
But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: "Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"
And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,' and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away."
So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. 'He will lead them to springs of living water,' and 'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' "
When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight until I entered God's sanctuary; then I discerned their end.
May the arrogant be put to shame for subverting me with a lie; I will meditate on Your precepts.
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
They went up and wept before the LORD until evening, inquiring of Him, "Should we again draw near for battle against our brothers the Benjamites?" And the LORD answered, "Go up against them."
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
During the days of Jesus' earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. Abraham stepped forward and said, "Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"
Then Jacob declared, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, 'Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?"
After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.
I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me. In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak. I considered the days of old, the years long in the past. At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered: "Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again? Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time?
A synagogue leader named Jairus arrived, and seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet and pleaded with Him urgently, "My little daughter is near death. Please come and place Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live."
Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:
Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel,