Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in The Christian Life

The Christian is not a Stoic. Neither does he flee into a fantasy world that denies the reality of suffering.

Jesus endured His suffering in order to redeem His people. But those He redeemed are not thereby delivered from all pain and misery. Indeed, as we shall see, we His people are called to participate in His suffering.

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15).

To suffer as a Christian carries no shame. Peter concludes: Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19). Here, Peter erases…

The promise of God is not that He will never give us more weight than we want to carry. The promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear.

It is precisely the presence and help of Christ in times of suffering that makes it possible for us to stand up under pressure.

Because of Christ, our suffering is not useless. It is part of the total plan of God, who has chosen to redeem the world through the pathway of suffering.

Those who understand God's sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.

The day of one's birth is a good day for the believer, but the day of death is the greatest day that a Christian can ever experience in this world because that is the day he goes home, the day he walks across the thresho…

It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God.

Ultimately the only answer God gave to job was a revelation of Himself. It was as if God said to him, Job, I am your answer. Job was not asked to trust a plan but a person, a personal God who is sovereign, wise, and good…