1 Corinthians 13:12
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."
John 16:33
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation."
"When peace like a river, attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul" — Horatio Spafford
"The same suffering that softens one heart can harden another—not because God changed, but because suffering reveals what we think about Him."
Discerning Suffering
Discern: to detect with the eyes; a figure approaching through the fog.
Suffering has the ability to distort our vision.
The problem isn't suffering itself, or even the groan we feel in the suffering. The problem is most people look at the suffering but never learn to ask the right questions to discern what they are looking at.
John 11:17–26
"Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'"
John 11:21
"Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'"
John 11:23–26
"Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'"
"Do you believe this?" (John 11:26)
"If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, power, or both." — C.S. Lewis
God Is Good
Psalm 31:19
"Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!"
James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
Assumptions We Must Question
1. "If God is good, He will prioritize my comfort."
Reality: Because God really is good, we can rest in the fact that no suffering has the ability to take away true comfort.
2 Corinthians 1:3–4
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
2. "If God is good, then He owes me an explanation."
Reality: Because God really is good, we can rest in the fact that no suffering has the ability to change who He is.
James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
3. "If God is good, then He shouldn't allow suffering."
Reality: Because God really is good, we can rest in the fact that no suffering is beyond His fatherly care.
Matthew 7:9–11
"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
Questions We Must Ask Ourselves
- What am I feeling?
- What story am I living?
- Is that story true?
- What is true?
The Cross Helps Us See in the Dark
At the cross, ultimate suffering and ultimate goodness are not separate realities. Both can exist together.