Chapter 10: The Varieties of Suffering

Walking with God through Pain & Suffering

by Tim Keller

 

Chapter 10: The Varieties of Suffering

 

• Suffering has a tremendous capacity to help us grow.
• Suffering does not deepen and enrich us automatically.
• The same traumatic experience can ruin one person and make another person stronger and even happier.
• How can we be prepared to handle suffering in a such a way that it leads to growth?

 

Diversities of Suffering

• One way to be better prepared to handle suffering is to be aware of the fact that suffering comes in all varieties and shapes. Not all suffering is the same.
• The Bible contains a remarkable degree of diversity on teaching regarding pain and adversity.
• Suffering has a great number of causes as well as a wide variety of responses.
• We cannot adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach to suffering—either its causes or proper responses to it.

 

The Suffering We Bring on Ourselves

• Some suffering we bring on ourselves through immoral or unwise choices.
• Biblical examples: David and Jonah
• Suffering brought on by our own choices can be used by God to discipline us and to wake us up to our own weaknesses and failures.
• God may use this type of suffering to humble us and lead us to turn to him.
• The lesson of this kind of suffering is often humility and repentance.

 

The Suffering of Betrayal

• Some suffering is not brought about by our own failures, but by the betrayal or cruelty of others.
• Biblical examples: Paul, Jeremiah
• Suffering caused by good and brave behavior—a response of the wicked to the righteous.
• Standing up for what is right or a just cause may bring suffering.
• Personal relationships may encounter betrayal; others may turn on you in their own self-interest.
• The temptation will be to become bitter and harbor anger.
• Certainly, justice should be pursued when necessary, but a vengeful spirit should be avoided or this type of suffering will lead to bitterness.
• The lesson of this type of suffering is to learn the grace of forgiveness and trust in God’s justice.

 

The Suffering of Loss

• There is also the common or “universal” suffering of loss due to our own mortality, weakness, decay, and death.
• The curse of sin has affected us all, and no one can escape this kind of suffering.
• We will all endure the futility of life in a sin-cursed world, whether disease, natural disaster, loss of a loved one to death, or our own death.
• The lesson with this type of suffering is to direct our eyes on God and to the various forms of comfort and hope that our faith offers us.

 

The Suffering of Mystery

• Some suffering is incredibly horrendous, extraordinary, and “senseless” and can be classified as mysterious suffering.
• Biblical example: Job
• There is no simple answer to this type of suffering as Job and his friends discovered.
• The point of Job’s suffering was not to fix any one particular thing in his life but to lead him to trust and obey God simply for who God is, not in order to receive something or to get something done.
• Job’s suffering was not a chastisement or a lesson aimed at changing a particular flaw in Job’s life. But it was still used as a powerful vehicle both for Job’s personal growth and for God’s glory.
• The lesson was about the whole tenor of Job’s life, and his need to base it fully, with all his heart, on God.
• Job-type suffering requires a process of honest prayer and crying, the hard work of deliberate trust in God, and a re-ordering of our loves.

 

Diversities of Temperament

• Not only are there various types and causes of suffering, but the way people respond to suffering is also quite varied depending on a person’s temperament, personality, and individual circumstances.
• Aspects of internal affliction in response to suffering:
  • Isolation
  • Implosion
  • Condemnation
  • Anger
  • Temptation
• Every instance of suffering likely contains a mixture of these internal responses—different for each person.
• These responses highlight the infinitely complex and diverse condition affliction can be.

 

Diversities of Pathways

• Every affliction is virtually unique.
• Every sufferer will need to find a somewhat different path through it.
• Some counsel is helpful to some, but the same counsel could be hurtful or irritating to others – even if the counsel is true.
• The timing, tone, and motivation behind true counsel is crucial in order for it to be helpful and comforting.
• Truths need to be grasped in the right order for that person in that situation.
• “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” (Ps 23:4).
• It turns out there is more than one path through the valley.
• The Lord, the perfect Guide, will help you find the best way through it.