Why Suffering: God's Handiwork in the Hard Seasons of Life

Why Suffering: God's Handiwork in the Hard Seasons of Life BSF Lesson 22 has us reflect on the presence of suffering in our lives. Why does God allow suffering and why do good people suffer? What is the purpose of suffering and how should we as Christians live with suffering in our lives? Nobody asks for suffering, but suffering comes. Suffering reveals things we had not been aware of. My college roommate wisely said to me once: you don’t know what’s in your cup until you’re bumped. That image stuck with me. You see, most of the time, we see a pretty decent person on the outside and we possess very flattering views of who we are, our character, integrity, and faith. But it’s only when we’re put through the wringer, through trials, under stress and suffering that the real person inside shows most clearly. That’s also when we in our transparent weakness and awareness of our utter dependence on God, we come to God humbly for His rescue. Because we live so much of our lives on autopilot most of the time, suffering offers a time of reckoning with ourselves to do some serious evaluation. Don't we live most of our lives very naive and self-deluded? Suffering makes us see we don’t have ultimate control even with nice bank accounts, pleasures and diversions, nor knowledge, skills, or expertise. We need help of a kind no human can provide. Suffering makes us realize we need to look up. He tells us this world is not the full story.