1.0 What is Suffering?
For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
Job 3:24
The Webster’s Dictionary describes suffering as:
… the state or the experiencing of pain, anguish, agony, affliction and a cause of distress and hardship. It is to experience something unpleasant. It is also to bear loss or damage. Suffering means the state of being in great trouble or pain of body or mind.
Suffering implies an external cause of great physical and mental strain and stress and is likely to connote the possibility of or the need for relief.
Suffering implies conscious endurance of pain or distress and often a stoical acceptance.
This is a very broad definition that explains various forms of suffering and reactions to it. In a later lesson, we will talk about the different areas where suffering takes place.
“Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted and suffer from others”
2 Timothy 3:12
1.1 The Origin of Suffering
If God is so good, and the world he created is “very good” why is this world filled with suffering and death?
The answer is plainly described in Genesis 1–3. God created a “very good” world, but Adam’s rebellion brought a curse and death.
The Bible tells us that God created humans and put them in the Garden of Eden to till it and care for them. God also instructed them, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
When man and woman disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit, although they did not immediately die physically, the seeds of death were implanted in them. Adam only died when he was 930 years old, but they experienced spiritual death of separation from God.
This incident of disobedience brought about sin (Romans 5:12) and the resultant suffering in the world.
God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food, until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3: 17-19).
Childbearing which should have been a joy for the woman became cursed and painful, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain, you will give birth to children” (Gen. 3:16). Even marriage relationship became full of problems and suffering, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). We all know that marital abuse is one of the worst and common forms of suffering today. Then there is the problem of health and sickness as well.
1.2 The Universality of Suffering
“We do not suffer by accident.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
A story is told of an angel who was sent to Earth by God to find the most precious thing that the world could offer. First, he found a gold nugget. “No, no!” he exclaimed, “This isn’t good enough for my King!” Then he took up a handful of sparkling diamonds, but he discarded them after one glance. Sadly, he wondered if he would ever find anything valuable enough to offer to God. Just then, he heard the sound of a sinner crying. Softly, he tiptoed to the place where he saw the man kneeling and watched silently as he wept tears of penitence and gratitude to God for loving him and saving him from his sins. “Ah,” said the angel, “I’ve found just what I was looking for.” He gathered the teardrops in a golden chalice and took them to Heaven. He had found the Earth’s most precious treasure!
This is only a story, but you can take it to heart when you are sorrowful. Someday your tears will shine like jewels in Heaven! This story just illustrates the universality of pain and suffering. There is no one who is exempt from suffering, rich or poor, good or bad, Christian or non-Christian.
Gautama Buddha found that there was no home or family in which there was no suffering or death. Suffering has been part of the human experience since humans fell into sin.
In the Book of Psalms, more than a third are songs of lament. They include graphic descriptions of suffering. Psalm 22 is a cry for help to God, and it also illustrates Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Jesus repeatedly announced that his suffering was his mission (Matt. 17:12; Luke 24:46). He also warned his followers that they would suffer in the world but told them that he and the Holy Spirit would be with them to help them at such times.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
1.3 The Suffering of Jesus
When we think of suffering, we must never forget that the Lord Jesus Christ led a life of suffering. The physical, and emotional suffering that Jesus endured especially on the last two days of his earthly life was so terrible that most of us can’t bear to completely comprehend or bear it. In the movie, “The Passion of Christ,” the director, Mel Gibson, tried to depict Jesus’ suffering in such graphic detail that many of us couldn’t bear looking at it. Although he was criticised for such gory details, every detail can be seen as accurate both from the Bible as well as from secular history.
The Scripture says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…Surely, he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:3-5).
Why did Jesus have to suffer so much? The Prophet goes on to say, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Jesus suffered and died for our sins to enable us to receive salvation and restoration of our fellowship with God. That is why it is called the Gospel of Suffering.
Jesus bore the pain and suffering for us. He willingly chose the route of suffering and was persecuted for us. His persecution was not unexpected to him and he was well aware of it.
The Bible records Jesus foretelling about his suffering and his death on the cross. In the Gospel of Matthew we read, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matt. 16:21). This idea was repugnant to the disciples and their idea of Messiahship, so Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matt. 16:22).
Jesus was not trying to escape from persecution and suffering. So he replied to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt. 16:23).
Then Jesus goes on to say to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25).
So suffering is part of Jesus’ life and mission. IT is also meant to be part of ours as his disciples. Persecution and suffering may seem like destruction from a human point of view, but from God’s point of view is a necessary part of bringing his rule on earth.