By Michael Strating, PhD
In the previous post, we considered how the Christian’s response to suffering is not one of bitter resignation or stoic assent to abstract principles of faith. We also considered God’s character in light of suffering; God is neither passive, apathetic, distant, or uncaring in our suffering, nor does He take pleasure in the pain of believers. Instead, God often uses suffering to invite us into a deeper relationship of trust in His sovereignty, goodness, and compassion. The Christian response to suffering, then, is characterized by surrender and lament, which are acts of trust: I do not understand what God is doing, and I may desperately wish that my circumstances were different, but I choose to entrust myself to Him.
Next, we consider following questions: If God really does work in all things – including suffering – for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28), how might I see or understand the good that might come from my current circumstances? But, what if I cannot see or understand the good in my present suffering? In this post, we will look at two practical tools for engaging with these complex and challenging questions. [1]
Seeing God’s Sovereignty and Goodness in Suffering
As I have walked alongside clients who are wrestling with these kinds of questions, I felt compelled to spend some time this summer reading a book called Suffering and Sovereignty by Brian H. Cosby (2012). This book is a summary of John Flavel’s writings as a representative example of Puritan perspectives on suffering and God’s sovereignty. It covers topics such as the origin and nature of suffering, God’s purposes in ordaining suffering, and proper Christian responses to suffering. I found this short book helpful for identifying ways to respond to suffering by systematically considering a range of purposes for which God permits or ordains suffering.
Regarding the origin of suffering, Flavel affirms that suffering is ultimately due to sin, either as a direct effect of personal sin or an indirect effect of living under the curse in a fallen and broken world. In this way, God is not the author of evil but He does permit evil as a form of fatherly discipline for sin, leading to contrition and repentance, or else He uses evil for His glory and the good of His people (e.g., Gen.50:20). Clients often feel guilt in response to suffering, so one immediate implication is that we must be very careful to help clients discern whether their guilty feelings reflect true guilt over personal sin versus false guilt in response to living in a fallen and broken world (Job; Jn. 9:3).
Next, if God does indeed use suffering for good, then it is helpful to consider God’s purposes in allowing suffering. In general, God uses suffering:
- to promote the glory of God
- to promote the good of God’s people, or
- to serve as signs and effects of God’s warning and judgment on unbelievers
So, how can we carefully and prayerfully consider ways that God might be using our present circumstances of pain and suffering for good? The following is a list of questions for systematic reflection, derived from Cosby (2012). [2]
How might God be using this situation in my life…
- to reveal, deter, or mortify sin?
- Is God warning me or calling me to repentance?
- Confess and repent from willful sin (Ps. 32) or pray for God to reveal hidden sin in your life (Ps. 19:12-13).
- to promote my ultimate good?
- What long-term benefits might come from this, even if I don’t see any immediate benefits right now?
- How might this produce godliness and spiritual fruit in my life (e.g., faith and patience)?
- to promote the good of others?
- How can my response to suffering serve as a witness to other believers or to the world around me?
- to further His kingdom or bring glory to Himself?
- to reveal God’s character?
- (e.g.) God’s wisdom, faithfulness, fatherly love and correction, goodness, grace and mercy, sovereignty, immutability, justice and righteousness, all-sufficiency
- to relinquish the temporal for the eternal?
- (e.g.) to loosen my grip on temporal and earthly things
- (e.g.) to reveal the vanity of earthly things
- (e.g.) to reveal the true nature of comfort and contentment beyond my present circumstances or my earthly life
- (e.g.) to make me long for heaven and eternal life in the presence of God
- to produce a sincere faith, devoid of hypocrisy?
- Do I really trust God as much as I say/think I do? Am I excessively doubtful or fearful?
- Am I striving to take control of my own life, providing for my own comfort, security, satisfaction, achievement and fulfilment, or ultimate joy?
- Do I really submit my will to God’s will, seeking to please Him and enjoy Him forever, or do I strive to please myself or others more than God?
- to encourage fellowship with God?
- Is God using this to draw me closer to Him, for example, through Scripture, prayer, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper?
- to cultivate communion with Christ, the greatest sufferer (Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10-11; Col. 1:24)?
Cosby’s book concludes by briefly considering the believer’s response to suffering. According to Flavel, our response to suffering can provide evidence of the believer’s salvation and assurance of faith. Whereas the unbeliever responds by rejecting God, experiencing excessive sorrow and despair, or turning to oneself apart from Christ, the believer responds with faith, thanksgiving, and obedience. God-glorifying responses contain both passive or “involuntaristic” elements as well as active or “voluntaristic” elements. Passively, the believer responds with humble submission to God’s will, patient endurance, and sustaining joy and thanksgiving. Actively, the believer seeks to reflect on and make profitable use of afflictions for the strengthening of faith and one’s growth in sanctification. Lastly, Flavel reminds us that all suffering and afflictions are momentary and “insignificant” compared to the eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17), so the believer may find perseverance, joy, and hope by meditating on the believer’s resurrection and hope of heaven.
Trusting in God’s Compassion When We Cannot See the Good
Overall, I found Cosby’s book to be helpful in considering the range of purposes God has in allowing or ordaining suffering, which we can then apply on a specific, case-by-case basis. Pain naturally narrows our focus in on the inner experience of pain or the external source of pain, so we often need wise counsel from others who can help us widen and expand our perspective. This book helps us do this.
However, it may be difficult, if not impossible, for us to see or understand the good that God is working through our suffering, especially when faced with suffering that is severe, prolonged, or seemingly senseless. I see this regularly in cases of complex trauma characterized by chronic loss, neglect, conflict, or sexual abuse – especially when these come at the hands of trusted authorities, such as a parent, spouse, or church leader/community. Many clients in these circumstances greatly struggle with questions such as, What if I cannot see or understand the good in my present suffering? How should I respond to God when my pain is so overwhelming that I can barely function day-to-day, when God feels so distant or absent from me that I am tempted to give up on hoping for His care or protection, or when those around me don’t seem to understand and respond in ways that are either unhelpful or only serve to increase my burdens and pain? What do I do when my faith tells me to trust God, but my lived experience repeatedly seems to tell me that I am alone and helpless?
Cosby’s book emphasizes God’s sovereignty in suffering, yet God’s compassion in suffering remains less explicit. This book ultimately points us to the correct responses of humble submission and surrender, patient endurance, and eschatological hope for the joy that awaits when Christ will bring an end to pain and suffering, when all things will be made new, and when we live eternally in the presence of God. However, this does not mean that God expects us to deny our pain or manufacture positive feelings in this present life of sin and brokenness. Rather, He invites us to go beyond an intellectual profession of faith to a faith that is lived relationally with the triune God and in Christian community. In the psalms of lament, God gives us the blueprint and the language for bringing our pain to Him. We meditate on the ways that Christ intercedes on our behalf as a sympathetic high priest (Heb. 4:14-16), that the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26-27), and that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us (Heb. 12:1-2) and the saints before the throne room of God who cry out for justice and mercy, shouting “How long, Oh Lord?” (Rev. 6:10). We are called to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), patiently and compassionately sharing the comfort we ourselves have received from God (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Though we may feel alone and helpless, we are never truly alone without support.
The pain might not fully go away in this present life and we might not be able to see the good that God is doing through our suffering, but we need not be confined to the limits of our finite perspectives or experiences. Instead of trusting in our faith, we can learn to trust the object of our faith; namely, the God who is sovereign, good, loving, patient, and compassionate. And so we strive to alleviate suffering where we can and we wait patiently for – and with – God in the midst of suffering that persists beyond our understanding or control.
This is expressed beautifully in the full version of the Serenity Prayer:
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as Christ did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.
Next, in the third and final post in this series, we will see examples of how this gets worked out in a few select therapy cases.
[1] My plan for the third and final post of this series is to provide some case examples from my own clinical work.
[2] Each question will likely have varying degrees of relevance depending on the particular person and situation.
Dr. Strating completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Windsor as well as his residency with the London Clinical Psychology Residency Consortium. His areas of focus include working with relationship concerns, difficulties managing or engaging with emotion, anxiety, panic, anger, grief, depression, self-criticism, perfectionism, trauma, and OCD. He is also experienced in research as well as teaching and supervising therapist trainees.
He is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Redeemer University and a practicing Clinical Psychologist at Abide Psychology.
