The Anatomy Of Suffering
Introduction — Suffering is a universal human experience.
It is quite apparent how pervasive suffering is in our world. Take a quick glance at Twitter or your newsfeed and you will recognize that suffering is everywhere. And if we pause and reflect for a moment, we all will recognize the residue of suffering inside of us.
Humans are drawn to stories about human suffering and triumph, but we often focus on the triumph instead of the pain. We have been taught to focus on the positives in life and not the negatives. While there may be nuanced situations in life that this may be wise and healthy, this cultural maxim passed down to us often leads to the inability to process and sit in our suffering in a healthy way. The focus on triumph in suffering also excludes every person who will not triumph over their suffering in their lifetime.
We need a healthier and more nuanced view of suffering to make sense of the suffering that people experience in this world.
What is Suffering?
Human suffering is the troublesome, distressing and painful experiences we face in a broken world. Suffering is the antonym of God’s good, beautiful and peaceful world.
Suffering + the Story of Genesis
God created a world without suffering. When God created the world, he called it "good." (Genesis 1:31) Every aspect of creation--from plant life to the ocean--everything was in harmony with God's intention. There was no decay, no seismic climate shifts, no natural disasters, no shortened life spans, no cancers, no diabetes, no chronic pain, no betrayal, no violence, no racism, no depression, no anxiety and no injustice. Humans lived in harmony with one another. The animal kingdom was in harmony with itself. Everything was "good."
Suffering entered human history in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, we watch the unraveling of God's good design for this world. The first humans decided to walk away from God's goodness and pursue the boundary that God gave them—not to eat from one tree in the garden. They chose to disobey a good God who made a good world. And from that point on human autonomy apart from God and human rebellion against God's goodness began the undoing of God's design for this world. Suffering became a common human experience.
Suffering + the Story of the Bible
Suffering becomes a major storyline in the Bible post Genesis 3. Immediately after the first humans chose to walk away from God's design for their lives, they experienced shame and relational fracturing. And from that point forward we read about every form of human suffering: relational fracturing, physical illness, natural disasters, shame, anxiety, depression, death, grief, injustice, starvation, and spiritual disconnection from God. This was the result of humans walking away from God's good design for the world.
Tim Keller, in his book Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, notes how important the story of human suffering is in the Bible saying, "The story of late modern culture—that life is about individual freedom and happiness—has no place for suffering. But the Christian story, as we will see, is utterly different. Suffering is actually at the heart of the Christian story. " (pg. 77)
To Keller, Jesus is the ultimate example of suffering and his suffering is the heart of the Christian story.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He took upon himself the guilt of human sin—the greatest act of suffering in human history. His suffering was the means by which God ultimately would heal human suffering—bringing redemption, healing and holistic renewal to the world.
Suffering is a meta-theme in the Bible. The Bible does not just mention human suffering, it graphically narrates stories of suffering throughout history. Suffering is not pointed out to glorify it. Suffering is pointed out to paint an honest picture of life in this undone and broken world.
Suffering + an Honest Story
The Bible offers an honest portrayal of human suffering in a world that has been deeply affected by sin, evil and humans choosing to walk away from God's good design. The Bible is a human book and does not paint a false ideal about being human in a broken world. The Bible tells an honest story of the human condition. Every human in biblical history, including Jesus, walked through moments and seasons of suffering.
James writes that we "face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2) validating the nuanced and the diverse nature of suffering. All suffering is not the same. Suffering is nuanced. Suffering comes in many forms. There are many unique and personal stories of suffering in the Bible. And all of them are told honestly.
Here are the major categories of suffering that you will find throughout the story of the Bible.
Physical Suffering. Physical suffering is seen in stories like Job and the woman with an issue of blood in the Gospels. Job walked through physical, bodily disease that caused intense pain. The woman with the issue of blood had a sickness that lasted for years that no doctor could cure. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like cancer, diabetes, chronic illness, bodily injuries, or Covid-19.
Mental + Emotional Suffering. Mental and emotional suffering is seen in the stories of Jesus and the Psalms of Lament. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was in such severe mental and emotional agony that he sweat drops of blood. Forty percent of the Psalms are psalms of lament. These are vivid and honest stories of suffering. Most of these contain descriptions of mental and emotion agony. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like depression, broken-heartedness, anxiety, stress, PTSD, trauma and grief.
Relational Suffering. Relational suffering is seen in the stories of the Hebrews in Egypt and the experiences of Paul. The Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians—an example of relational injustice. Paul was deserted by his friend Demas, a friend and co-worker in ministry. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like betrayal, loss, racism, gossip, or abuse.
Spiritual Suffering. Spiritual suffering is seen in the stories of Jesus and of the Prophets of Israel. Jesus experienced every form of suffering on the cross. In particular, Jesus suffered spiritually when He took upon Himself the punishment for human guilt and sin. The Prophets of Israel were often persecuted by their people for communicating God’s message. They frequently wept over their generation's rebellion against God. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like persecution, anxiety over the burden of people's spiritual well-being, weeping over spiritual decline and rebellion against God, and lamenting over people you love that themselves from you for following Jesus.
Material Suffering. Material suffering is seen in stories like the followers of Jesus in the early church dispersed from their land and the trials of Job. In the book of James, Christians who had been dispersed from their homeland were suffering financially in a foreign land. They were persecuted economically for being followers of Jesus. Job lost his wealth through a series of natural disasters and attacks by his enemies. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like job loss, recession, stock market downturn, housing bubble, inflation, losing your job for following Jesus, or investments losing their value.
National Suffering. National suffering is seen in stories like Israel. Israel faced opposition from other nations, and twice were taken into captivity. In our culture, we would describe this category with words like economic collapse, war, national disasters or a pandemic.
The Bible gives us an anthology of stories that honestly tell the human story of pain and suffering. This is not a sanitized story of perfection that lacks a portrayal of honest humanity. Suffering surfaces in all of these stories in complete honesty.
Suffering + an Unavoidable Story
Let's be honest, suffering is hard. It is never easy. That is why we call it suffering. And suffering is not something that we have a magnetic draw too. In fact, we would rather avoid it at all costs because it is hard, painful and uncomfortable. And yet, we all know that we cannot avoid suffering. When the Bible illustrates or mentions suffering, it never minimizes the pain of suffering. Suffering is hard. Suffering is painful. And the Bible vividly narrates stories of suffering. It is honest about the hardships that coincide with human suffering. In our modern Western culture, we often try to minimize or avoid suffering. That is not a healthy response. We cannot live life in a broken world attempting to sanitize all of the painful human experiences we face. We must face the reality of human suffering as a part of life in a broken world. And in facing it, we walk through it in an honest and hopeful manner. Honest, because we are human and suffering is hard. Hopeful, because we are followers of Jesus and know that this is not the end of our story.
Suffering Is Not the End of the Story
The story of suffering is not the end of the human story. Jesus came to this earth to suffer so that he could help us in our suffering. Through Jesus we find hope in a God who cares about our suffering. Through Jesus we find hope that we have a Savior to redeem us from our brokenness. Through Jesus we find hope that one day He will return to completely redeem this world from suffering.
Revelation 21 is the second to last chapter of the Bible. It paints a picture of our ultimate hope—a world that experiences complete renewal.
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth..." (Revelation 21:1)
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God." (Revelation 21:3)
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be moriuning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
We anticipate this day of renewal. In the meantime, we know that we are not alone in our suffering. We have a God who is with us and understands suffering experientially. We should never forget that Jesus is not detached from the experience of suffering. Jesus suffered in every way—physically, relationally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. He understands. He cares. He is with us through every experience of suffering. And one day, He will redeem and renew the world back to God's original design—a world without suffering.
There Are Better Days Ahead.
Much Love + Peace,
Wesley, Founder + Speaker