Finding God's Face in the Mystery of Suffering


         Human suffering is the most difficult to explain. There is no doubt that we sometimes suffer as the result of our own sins. But much of the suffering we experience in life is due to other reasons.
ü  We suffer because we live in a fallen world corrupted by the sin of Man.
ü  We suffer because suffering refines us in righteousness.
ü  We suffer because suffering restrains us from falling in love with this evil world and therefore helps us to maintain an eternal perspective, reminding us that we are to be aliens and strangers passing through this world to a better life in a new, perfected world.
ü  We suffer because suffering motivates us to lean hard upon the Lord, trusting in Him as we have never done before.
ü  We suffer because the faith we demonstrate in the midst of suffering brings honor and glory to God. And, yes, we suffer for purposes known only to God Himself.
God's answer to suffering is to embrace it--to redeem suffering through suffering. Let's see theologians view on suffering. 

John MacArthur writes;
The King of all the universe uses trials and times of suffering for His own ends. What are God’s purposes for suffering? Sometimes God reveals His purposes to us immediately. Sometimes it is not until years later that we can look back and see some good come from misery. And sometimes our pain remains a complete mystery to us. There is some pain that we will not understand until we see Him face to face and understand everything completely (1 Corinthians 13:12).[1]

Josh McDowell writes;
God uses sufferings to teach us many truths, among them the virtues of hope and trust in God. It is hard to place our trust in someone or something that we cannot touch, feel, or see. Yet when we do, God bestows favors on us to prove his tremendous love for us. Because of our wounded nature we have a tendency to place our hope in human beings and material possessions. The loss of either of these causes us to realize how finite our desires are. Only God is worthy of our hope; only God should be our desire and goal. Our husbands, wives, families, jobs, hobbies, and material possessions are all good in themselves, but they must not be the prime objectives of our lives. These people and things can never satisfy our spiritual nature, though losing them causes great sorrow and bitterness. But we can handle with peace and joy whatever trials and tribulations may descend on us if God is our hope.[2]Be used.”[3]

G. Campbell Morgan writes;
Suffering can help us grow and mature. The character and trustworthiness we form here, we take with us there, to Heaven. Romans and 1 Peter 4:19 make clear that suffering is a grace from God. It is a grace given us now to prepare us for living forever.[4]

G. Matthew says;
In the Christian religion, patience is one of the most valuable virtues of life.  Increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian who has accepted the gift of salvation. While patience is not one of the traditional biblical three theological virtues nor one of the traditional  cardinal virtues, it is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, according to the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians. [5]

                                                                                                                          By: Victor Aung Thu Lin



   [1] John MacArthur, The Body Dynamic (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1996), pp.119-120.
[2] Josh McDowell, Evidence for Joy (Victoria, Australia: Word Books, 1985), 166.
[3] Ray C., How to Live what You Believe (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1974), 181.
[4] Campbell Morgan, The Acts of the Apostles (London: Fleming H. Revell Company), 94.
[5] G. Matthew, The Normal Christian Life (Secunderabad, AP, India: OM Books), 182.

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