The Christian and Suffering: Part IV

For the last three months I have been discussing suffering from Paul’s writings, as well as Acts and the gospels. However, when studying a theology of suffering, an examination of Acts and of only Paul’s instruction on the matter is somewhat incomplete. For anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ though, these two resources leave no room to hold to the belief that suffering is not part of God’s plan for them. It is only after death that anyone can see an ultimate relief from suffering. Until then, every Christian must embrace the teaching that God not only will see them through it, but that He can accomplish much because of it.

Our culture today is one that lives for safety and comfort. Paul and the other apostles not only did not have that mentality, they could not have it! In the earliest days of the church, its members were continually threatened to speak out for Christ. Rather than pray and ask for safety, they instead prayed for boldness, only asking that God take note of the hostile actions against them (Acts 4:27-29). Later on, as Peter and the apostles began to teach and were imprisoned for preaching the gospel, the Pharisees had them beaten and ordered to no longer teach and preach about Jesus (Acts 5:40). Note their response: “So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).

These instances demonstrate that a Christian must have a biblical view of suffering and trouble that will usually run against the cultural perspective. Our goal is not to try to avoid suffering, but to grow from it, looking to Jesus and the apostles’ examples for guidance. Just as they were not above suffering and great difficulty, neither is the follower of Christ. Just as God accomplished much good through the sufferings of Christ and the apostles, so too will God continue to work through us and our suffering. While we often will not understand why we must undergo the struggles and sufferings allotted to us, we can trust that God is at work. “What God has done in the past is often a model of how He will work in the future—though He is creative in how He will do it.”¹ We may not always understand our circumstances from our perspective, but we can trust in God’s faithfulness.

Footnotes:

1 James E. Allman, “Acts of the Apostles” (lecture, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX, June 20, 2011).