Transcript
Ben Fallon: Today's question comes from Anna who is confused about what she heard on a previous podcast episode. She writes:
I'm really struggling with a certain biblical concept that I'm hoping you can shed some light on. In your podcast about suffering, you said that God causes suffering to draw us closer to him, or did I hear you wrong? Does God allow it but not cause it? I'm doing a study at my church, and there's a chapter on Satan and strongholds, and it states about Satan's attacks. So, who causes suffering, God or Satan? I'm very conflicted. I actually spoke up in a small group a few weeks ago that I believed our hardships are caused by God based on your podcast, and several people were in disagreement, saying they didn't agree that our loving God is responsible for our difficulties. But perhaps I misspoke. I would be very grateful for your clarity on this.
Paul Tripp: So, I love this question; I think this is a wonderful and important question. I think every believer needs to wrestle with the problem of suffering. I want to start by saying, “The Bible is very honest about life in this fallen world.” It doesn't give us a cosmetic view of life. You could argue that the blood, dirt and scars of suffering are splashed over all of the pages of Scripture. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 8, tells us between the ‘already’ of our birth and the ‘not yet’ of our homegoing, God has chosen our address to be a world that is groaning, waiting for redemption. So, the Apostle Paul speaks of suffering as a universal human experience. And that means if you're not suffering now, you will someday; and if you're not suffering now, you're near someone who is.
So, in the Bible, you find a very honest, helpful, and practical theology of suffering. So, why do we suffer? Or let's just say, “Why do Christians suffer?” Scripture gives us four reasons. Here's the first one. You will suffer because you live in a fallen world that does not function as God originally intended. Maybe that's somebody just bumping in front of you in a line. Maybe that's sickness. Maybe that's unjust loss of your job. Maybe that's driving, and your car being hit by a drunk driver. Those are all just things that are there because you live in this groaning, broken world. That's taught in Romans 8, beginning with verse 18.
Second, you will suffer for the purpose of your sanctification, for the purpose of spiritual growth. Romans 5, James 1, and 1 Peter 1 all teach that God uses suffering to mature us. I like the way it's talked about in 1 Peter; it's the refining of metal. When you mine a metal, it's in an ore state or it's not very usable. And so, you add a catalytic agent, white hot heat, you liquefy it so that metal reaches its highest state of beauty and its highest state of usability. God uses suffering to mature us.
Third, you will suffer so you will be qualified and prepared to minister to others who suffer. That's 2 Corinthians 1. It's a gripping passage of Scripture because Paul says that we suffer so we receive God's comfort so we can give the same comfort we received to other sufferers. No one is better at comforting a sufferer than someone who's received God's comfort in suffering themselves. So, you suffer because you live in a fallen world. You'll suffer for your own spiritual growth. You will suffer to be qualified to minister to other sufferers.
And the fourth thing that's taught in 1 Peter 4, you will suffer because of your faith in Christ. You will suffer misunderstanding. You will suffer rejection, and you may even suffer more intense forms of persecution. So, there are four reasons that Christians suffer.
Now you have to ask the question, the larger and more direct question that has been asked, “Well, who causes suffering?” And the book of Job is very helpful here; this is Job 1:10 through 13.
“Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions and increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to his face.” (Now listen to this.) And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Now fasten your seatbelt and put on your crash helmet. Before Satan can cause Job to suffer severely, he has to get permission from God. That's not Paul Tripp teaching; that's your Bible, Job 1:10 through 13. In fact, God limits Satan's ability. He can make Job suffer, but he can't hurt Job himself. So, not only does Satan have to get permission from God; the scope of his ability is limited by God.
Now here's the second thing. After Satan's attack on Job, here's what Job says, this is Job 1:20 through 21. “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” Now this is a man who's lost everything, lost his entire family, lost all of his wealth and riches, and he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.” Now listen to these words. These don't make any sense if God had nothing to do with his suffering. “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away;” although Satan was the tool, Job understood that it happened under the authority of God. “The LORD has taken away.” If a judge sentenced you to prison, you don't blame your jailer. He's just the expediter of the authority of the judge. So, Job is falling before the LORD. He said, “Everything I had you gave me and everything I lost you took away, it’s you; I bow before your authority.” (Paraphrase)
Now you say, “Well, what's the comfort in that, Paul?” Well, here it is; here's the comfort that only God can give. God can only meet us by his grace and deliver us by his power in situations over which he has control! If he's not in control, then he doesn't have the power to reach us and deliver us. For example, I have control in my home to do things here, to change things here. But I lack that control in my neighbor's home because I have no authority there. So, our comfort in suffering is all about God's sovereign control of everything! That's why he's able to meet us. His promises to us are only as trustworthy as the extent of his rule. And since the Bible says God is sovereign over everything, all of the time, then we can trust that he's going to meet us and give us what we need in those moments of difficulty.
There's a second thing. In Acts 2, it's important to notice how Peter talks about the cross. He says that Jesus died at the hands of evil men. There was no more monstrous evil than the unjust execution of the Messiah. But then Peter says this happened, “…according to the foreordained plan of God. God had planned for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.” (Paraphrase-verse 23) Was it wrong? Yes! Was it God's plan? Yes! See, the cross then teaches us that God has the willingness and power to bring very good things out of very bad things. What could be worse than the death of Jesus? What is better than the death of Jesus for our redemption? So, the Bible does not teach, and this is really important for me to say, that there's a good God, Jehovah, and he rules all the good things; and there's a bad god called Satan over all the bad things. That's an alien view of Scripture. There's one sovereign LORD over everything. Satan is not God's equal. Satan cannot operate independently. He's a fallen angel. And so, everything happens under the wise rulership of the LORD. One God who is in total control of everything and everything that happens, it is his will. And his will will be done, and it's holy, wise, and unstoppable. And that's the hope of humanity!
If Satan independently can cause suffering, even to death, where is there hope for humanity? The hope for humanity is found in God's rule. And yes, he will allow things that we don't want to happen, the unexpected, the unwanted, the unplanned, from our standpoint, will enter our door. But over all of that is a wise, loving, good God who works all things for his glory and our good, and there, hope is to be found.
BF: Well, I just have to recommend Paul's book, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense. It's the most comprehensive resource on suffering that we have, and it lays out six traps to avoid and six comforts to embrace when you are in the midst of suffering. You can learn more about Paul's book at paultripp.com/suffering.
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