The preachers quoted here do not claim to explain every sorrow, and one admits it is a subject people would rather avoid. They speak of suffering as something God uses to slow us down and to enlarge the heart, and as a share in Christ's own ministry to the world.
The Bible traces suffering to the fall. Pain, toil and death enter with the first sin (Genesis 3:16-19), and Paul says the whole creation was "made subject to vanity" and "groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:20-22). It refuses, however, to trace each person's suffering to that person's sin. Of the man born blind Jesus said, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents" (John 9:3), and the book of Job is written against the friends who assumed otherwise.
Scripture holds that God is sovereign over suffering and good in it. Job said, "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away" (Job 1:21). Jeremiah wrote that God "doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33). Joseph told the brothers who sold him, "ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20).
It names purposes God works through it. It is a Father's discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11). It refines faith as fire refines gold (1 Peter 1:6-7). It produces patience, experience and hope (Romans 5:3-5). It teaches dependence: "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (2 Corinthians 1:9). And it fits the sufferer to comfort others (1:4). "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalm 119:71). Thomas Watson wrote, "Affliction works for good, as it is our preacher and teacher".1
The deepest answer the Bible gives is not an argument but a person. The Son of God was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). "In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). Believers are said to share his sufferings (Philippians 3:10; 1 Peter 4:13).
Christian writers have approached the question in different ways. Some argue that a world with free creatures may be worth the evil they do. Others warn against any single explanation and set out the several strands of the Bible's teaching. God's answer to Job was not a reason but a revelation of himself (Job 38-42).
Suffering is not the end of the story. "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:4).
- Thomas Watson, 03. All Things For Good, "The Worst things Work for Good to the Godly".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Suffering is God's speed bump to slow a hectic, hastened, frenzied man or woman.
Stewart Ruch
in We Rejoice in Our Sufferings (7pm)
Listen at 12:55
Suffering is that which increases the capacity of the heart.
Dale Heisey
in (Apostolic Vision) Faith's Response to Suffering
Listen at 39:35
Suffering is on Christ's behalf; it must, then, be intended as part of that great ministry for the world in which He, with His saints, is engaged.
F.B. Meyer
in Our Daily Homily - Philippians
Read in context
Suffering is a cloud whose earth-side is very black, unrelieved ofttimes by a single gleam of brightness.
J.R. Miller
in The Ministry of Suffering
Read in context
Suffering is something we don't like to talk about.
Emanuel Esh
in Suffering and Dying - Our Supreme Weapon
Listen at 5:05
Where they differ
One older writer on this site traces all suffering to God's justice on sin, where others speak mainly of what God accomplishes through it.
Suffering is the sentence of justice, and not an act of sovereignty.
Gardiner Spring
in The Mission of Sorrow
Read in context
What Scripture says
- Romans 8:18 present sufferings not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed
- Romans 8:28 all things work together for good to them that love God
- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 the God of all comfort, who comforts us that we may comfort others
- 1 Peter 1:6-7 the trial of your faith, more precious than gold
- Revelation 21:4 God shall wipe away all tears
How this page is made: the quotes are taken word for word from sermons on SermonIndex and checked against them by program before the page is published. The transcripts of audio and video sermons are machine-made, so follow the link to hear the words as they were spoken. The answer above the quotes is an overview with its sources listed; it is not a statement of doctrine by SermonIndex.