Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5 NIVUK
There have been many events in the history of Christendom that have been scandalous. Those who bear the name of Christ are not immune from taking some very poor decisions or being duped into sin.
One of these events that annoyed me more than most came right after the Berlin Wall fell, communism crumbled in most of Europe and God’s people had freedom at last. Those days were heady, giddy days. I’ve yet to experience anything like that again.
But scoundrels sought to profit from those hard-won, blood-bought freedoms. And I don’t mean sharp businessmen or oligarchs.
No, I mean those clowns who had hypnotised the weak-willed and unwise on American TV for decades, who realised there were millions more marks to con in the east. I mean the shysters and the crooks who preached false gospels, who rented whole stadia in places like Moscow to preach before huge crowds who had just escaped the most brutal regimes, and were now being sold the materialist lie that God wanted them to be rich, if only they handed their precious roubles over to the guy who’d arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport in a private jet.
I was furious. It still annoys me even now. That anyone could be so sick in the head to a) believe that barely disguised demonic lie, and b) preach it to a nation that had known intense suffering.
You see, that most American and capitalist of ‘gospels’ is as fake as the ‘Ralex’ watches and ‘Adidash’ trainers that used to flood into Eastern Europe from China. It’s a lie. A terrible, idolatrous, demonic lie.
Christians aren’t all destined for a life of riches, comfort and ease. I challenge you to find a single verse in all of the New Testament that could teach otherwise. Jesus definitely didn’t teach it. Not a bit.
In fact, quite the opposite. He clearly prepared His followers for persecution and suffering (Matthew 10:16-20; Mark 13:9-11). The whole of church history, from those exciting days of Pentecost, right up to the days when Paul is tried and placed under house arrest, drips with the blood of the martyred and the wounded and the dispossessed.
Paul even states these words:
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
2 Timothy 3:12-13 NIVUK
And the word for ‘persecuted’ here is absolutely poetic. It refers to being harassed, hounded, made to flee, pursued, molested, driven away.
But it also carried with it the sense of running towards something, swiftly, with determination and single-mindedness.
I want to ask two questions in this study: why do Christians suffer? And also Why don't Christians suffer?
They might seem contradictory, but believe me, they were not.
‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ was a book written by Rabbi Harold Kushner in 1981, exploring why suffering happens to those who seemingly don’t deserve it. I’m not going to write a book report on it as I haven’t read it. However, from reviews and rebuttals of this book, what I’ve seem is that Kushner proposes that God is powerful, but not powerful enough to stop evil from happening.
If that’s true then we are in a really bad place.
Christians have wrestled with this problem for generations. ‘How can a good, all-powerful God permit suffering?’ they ask.
And right there is our problem. We have pictured God as some kind of gentle, benevolent old guy in a beard and a long white gown, a kind of gentle hippy uncle who wants everyone to ‘Just be happy, maaan!’ and never does anything to upset anyone ever.
That view of God cannot be found anywhere in Scripture.
Other people view God as perpetually angry and vengeful, a strict disciplinarian dictator, waiting to zap anyone who steps put of line with a lightning bolt.
Again, not in Scripture.
So how does Scripture view God?
As a Father:
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalms 68:5 NIVUK
‘This, then, is how you should pray: ‘ “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Matthew 6:9 NIVUK
And like any Father, God always wants the best for His children. This is what the apostle Paul teaches:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 NIVUK
The Greek word for ‘good’ here has several different meanings that are all relevant here. As well as ‘good’, it also means ‘pleasant’, ‘excellent’, ‘distinguished’, ‘useful’, ‘upright’ , ‘honourable’, ‘advantageous’.
Paul is saying that in any and every circumstance – whether pleasant or painful – God is at work and working for our good. Not only is He working for our good, but He will complete His work (Philippians 1:3-6).
So what real Christians believe about suffering is not that God is ultimately good, but ultimately powerless before the sheer weight of suffering in a fallen world. No, real Christians believe that God is good, and that He is also sovereign. He is in control. His actions are neither random nor capricious. Why? Because He had a purpose in our suffering. He is using it for our good.
Now, I’m sure for some of us that is utterly startling to hear. After all, the early part of the third decade in the 21st century had been something of a nightmare: a global pandemic, natural disasters and the actions of Vladimir Putin taking the world to the edge of a nuclear war, while slaying innocent civilians in Ukraine seemingly with abandon and impunity.
How can God be working for our good in that?
The simple answer is that we don’t always know. It isn’t always clear. And we won’t always find out.
This is where faith comes in. This is where we believe that God is bigger than us, has our best interests at heart and knows precisely what He is doing, even if we do not.
That may sound glib or superficial, but it is neither.
Consider the Early Church. It experienced some of the toughest persecution known to man under the vicious and capricious Roman Emperor Nero. The Bible records people being arrested, thrown in prison and killed – even among their own church leaders (Acts 7:59-60; 12:7).
Paul relates their suffering, and the suffering of the Apostles, with incredible clarity:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
2 Corinthians 1:8 NIVUK
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 NIVUK
And yet...
And yet in the midst of their persecution and trouble, we see God’s deliberate hand at work:
And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
Acts 8:1-4 NIVUK
God used the vicious and heartless persecution the Early Church faced to drive them out of the relative comfort of their mice Jewish cities so that they could fulfil the command Jesus had given them in Acts 1:8!
Do you see it? The pain had a purpose.
Habakkuk had a similar experience. His book is the story of one man’s battle to fathom out God’s purposes and how God uses incredible suffering for His purposes.
Jeremiah also struggled with this, as he prophesied during the brutal destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the intense pain of exile.
The Bible is real. The Bible is honest. The Bible is open. God is sovereign. He is on the throne. God does not exist solely for our comfort and ease. Sometimes it’s His will for us, and even our nation, to pass through times of incredible and intense suffering. And we won’t always know why. But Job and Habakkuk tell us how we should respond:
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’
Job 1:20-21 NIVUK
Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIVUK
And if our suffering seems to be senseless and random and we can’t see any purpose in it, let’s use it to drive us to the Lord in prayer and worship and seek His face more than ever.
At least that way our suffering won’t be wasted.
Questions
How do you react to the idea that a good God can not only permit suffering, but also use it for our good?
How do you react when you can't understand why you are suffering?
How can you ensure that your suffering is never wasted?
I e had encounters with these charlatans wh seek only to rob people I order to build their empire. Recently I received a message from one of these prosperity preachers. If I sent him 100# he would pray for myself and my family ! Blatant robbery of vulnerable people.