Clifford Denton turns his attention to a sensitive topic.

The 'problem' of suffering is, of course, a big and sensitive subject, but it is not as complex to understand as we might think. The difficulty comes when it is suddenly brought close to home; when we or someone close to us is going through a difficult patch - perhaps through sickness - perhaps through some other pressure of life, temporary or permanent. Where is God to be found? Why is he seemingly silent?

The Big Picture

In What the Bible says about the Judgment of God we began with the big picture, which is also the best place to begin here. We live in the period between the Fall and the coming Kingdom of God. We wait for the return of Jesus and the blessed time (pictured in Revelation 21) that eventually will come when there will "be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4).

But in the meantime, the free will of mankind, through the mistakes of Adam and Eve, has led us all to live for a period in a world where Eve was promised pain in childbirth (Gen 3:16) and Adam was promised toil, hard work and difficult circumstances symbolised by thorns and thistles (Gen 3:18-19). Furthermore, the earth was designated a place where satan, the tempter, would be active, living in enmity with mankind (Gen 3:15).

Nevertheless, God made covenant with Abraham which would be fulfilled through Jesus the Messiah, made manifest in terms given through Jeremiah (31:31-33). Despite the Fall and all its consequences, we who live in faith are on a pilgrimage, as it were, to a destination beyond this world's problems, waiting for all the promises of God to be fulfilled in our lives.

Even when the suffering of this world reaches the high pitch of Luke 21, Mark 13 and Matthew 24, Jesus' exhortation to us is not to look at the problems all around but to "look up and lift your heads, because your redemption draws near" (Luke 21:28).

We journey through a temporary world where all our experiences become prompts to seek God, personally and together, for help on the way. If there is a primary purpose for all the suffering in the world, it is that we will earnestly seek God. Our priorities should be balanced towards eternal life, but God also sends us help in this life according to his best judgements for us - personally and within the 'big picture'.

If there is a primary purpose for all the suffering in the world, it is that we will earnestly seek God.

Kingdom Now...or Kingdom Coming?

Jesus warned us that there would be false expectations concerning his return (Luke 21:8-19, Matt 24:4-14). The parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matt 25:1-13) warns us that a wrong view of his coming will possibly lead to a falling away for some, through giving up, losing focus and even losing hope. Even in Paul's day, there were those among the Thessalonians who were confused and some who were losing hope (1 Thess 5:1-11; 2 Thess 2:1-17).

So, what are we to expect prior to the Lord's return? A careful reading of Acts 3:18-21 is helpful here - it is like a three-point sermon.

• Point 1 (v18) concerns the prophecies that were fulfilled through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.
• Point 2 (v19) exhorts us in the era between his first and second comings to seek the Father through faith in Jesus so that our sins may be blotted out and seek him for times of refreshing.
• Point 3 (v20-21) concerns Jesus' return. He remains in heaven until the time appointed by the Father. The Kingdom of Heaven will not come in fully until then. It is not in the hands of the Lord's disciples to bring in the Kingdom for him. When the King returns he will bring in the complete restoration that we all yearn for - more so as the suffering of the fallen world is magnified. There will be no final Kingdom without the King.

Meanwhile, as Paul also said (Rom 8:23), we have the first-fruits of God's Spirit in us, sufficient for our pilgrimage, our growth in faith and love as we go on to complete our journey. There is no suggestion that the completion will come before the Lord's Kingdom is fully with us, when we will even have new bodies:

I consider that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us...we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies...we wait for it patiently. (Rom 8:18-27)

While we await Jesus' return, we are exhorted to seek the Father for forgiveness, sanctification and times of refreshing. We also have the first-fruits of God's Spirit in us.

Word Study

There are two main Hebrew words that are related with the word suffering, each with a somewhat different emphasis.

One word is natan, meaning to give, cause, perform, allow. Jesus said (Mark 10:14), "suffer the little children to come unto me." This has the sense of allowing something to take place. This is not the same as the other main Hebrew word for suffering, nasa. Nasa has a wide range of meanings including, to bear, exact, stir up. This is the sort of suffering we are considering in this study - the sort of life experience that is a burden and requires perseverance. It is not, however, a punishment.

A corresponding Greek word for suffering of this kind is pasho. It is the suffering of Jesus in Luke 9:22 – "the Son of Man must suffer many things." It is also the suffering referred to by Peter relating to our own pilgrimage (1 Pet 3:14), "if you should suffer for righteousness sake..."

We can bring suffering on ourselves of course, but outside of this if someone is suffering in this world (whether through sickness or some other burden), it should not be seen as a personal judgement of God for their sins. It should be understood in the more general context of the fallen world through which we are all pilgrims.

Some Examples

The Book of Job has been given to us to show that a person may suffer sickness and bereavement and it is far from a punishment for sin. Indeed, much personal suffering is part of one's personal walk with God and may promote questions, test faith and lead to personal growth. This may not always be the case, but there is a message for us all in the experiences of Job that prompt us to be careful of our conclusions and also be careful how we counsel others. A suffering person needs comfort but not misguided comfort from unwise friends!

Whilst we sometimes bring suffering on ourselves, outside of this individual suffering should not be seen as judgment from God for their sins. Job is a prime example.

When Jesus healed the man born blind (John 9), the Lord showed us that some suffering, and the testimony which it produces, brings glory to God and is not to be linked with personal sin (John 9:3). When a faulty tower, perhaps of unsound construction, fell and killed 18 people in Siloam (Luke 13:4), it was a lesson that sin is not necessarily attributed to those who suffer most from the consequences of a sinful world.

Sickness or suffering of other kinds, though not always so, can be a result of satan's schemes, for example, the man in the caves of Gadara (Matt 8:28) and the infirm woman (Luke 13:16). We must be careful when to discern the direct workings of satan and when not.

Jesus went about healing and delivering many people, to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom and as a testimony to who he was – the Lord, with power to forgive sin and to heal (for example, Matt 11:2-6, Matt 9:1-8). Yet, some he healed and some he did not heal. He healed as a response to faith (eg Luke 8:48) and also when he was filled with overwhelming compassion (Matthew 9:36). He gave us no expectation that all sickness and suffering would be removed from the world prior to his return, yet showed us that God does respond to faith – which itself is a gift from him (1 Cor 12:9).

Suffering, Testing and Comfort

A wide-ranging study of this subject would show that there is no easy formula to explain why a person is suffering in some way. We are taught not to be downcast, but to look up. We are exhorted to grow in faith through the exercise of our experiences. In our individual lives we will have unique opportunities to seek God and help one another, exercise the gifts and ministries we have been given (1 Cor 12) and grow together in the midst of a suffering world. Furthermore, when we ourselves are seen as suffering we are in a position to both sympathise and witness to a real faith in Jesus.

Returning to questions we posed at the beginning: where is God to be found in our sufferings - and why does he sometimes seem silent? The answer is that he is always close (consider again the testimony of Job). It is a surprising experience of those with faith in Jesus that suffering brings us to seek God more rather than less. It is an evidence of overcoming and an exercise of our faith. Those without such faith are more likely to draw further from God. The seeming temporary silence of God is all part of this process of testing our faith, exercising it and growing it.

In suffering, God is always close – and for those with faith in Jesus, suffering brings us to draw even nearer to him.

We cannot do what Jesus did for us on the Cross, but we are able to witness to it in this world of suffering. It is our privilege to identify with the suffering of Jesus, as pointed out by Paul (Galatians 1:24), who filled up in his flesh "what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church."

Just as the apostles rejoiced "because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" (Acts 5:41), so we can come to a point of maturity where we "consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2). Of course this does not mean we should artificially look to bring suffering upon ourselves to seem more holy; rather it means that we have a wise perception of the subject of suffering in this world.

A word to be held in tension with suffering is comfort. Isaiah 40:1-2 speaks of the comfort to be given to those suffering for the outworking covenant purposes of God. No-one has suffered more than Jesus in this respect, though Israel has had its share of suffering. We too must learn to live with the suffering in this world and comfort one another. Paul said (2 Cor 1:3-7):

Praise be to 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. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings as we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

This is a brief study on a huge and central subject in our lives as pilgrims journeying between the Fall and full restoration. Let us seek to achieve a balanced perspective as we go into testing days ahead, constantly seeking God - each on our individual journey.