As we follow Joseph’s story of unjust suffering through our teaching series The Dreamer, we will be confronted with the big questions about suffering. To help us learn to trust God through the troubles that come our way, our very own Brianna McClean tackles some of the big questions about suffering head-on in a 5-part blog series over the coming weeks.
The Horrible Reality of Suffering
Earlier this year, on Easter week, I received a terrible phone call.
I wondered why this particular friend was calling. As soon as I picked up, I knew something was awfully wrong. She told me to sit down.
She was calling to tell me that two of our friends has died in an accident while on holidays.
Milly and Toby were both school teachers and part of a new church planting team. They were 25 years old and had been married for less than two years. Over the days and weeks following their deaths, I so often caught myself thinking, ‘Has this really happened?’.
I watched the news reports and the social media posts go up. I walked past their empty flat. I saw the same shock and despair that I felt ripple through their church family and community. They were so young, so lively and so loved.
Suffering is an inescapable reality.
That was blindingly true for my friends, as we faced a future without Milly and Toby. It’s true for you—whether that suffering comes in the form of illness, job-loss, relational breakdown, or countless other reminders that this world is not as it should be. It’s true of everyone you know.
And, it was true for Joseph, as we see recounted in the book of Genesis in the Bible. Over the coming weeks in our teaching series The Dreamer, we will be diving into Joesph’s story and seeing the unjust suffering he experiences.
As we explore Joseph’s story of suffering, there are big questions to ask. Those questions need real answers, which is what this blog series hopes to provide.
4 Reasons to Think About Suffering
We all have beliefs about suffering. Those beliefs are fundamental for how we see the world and live in it.
If we are to live as followers of Jesus, trusting in the Bible as truth, we should think deeply about suffering. And we need to think theologically about suffering.
Theology—which simply means the study of God—is no stuffy, academic hobby for pastors. It is a powerful and necessary discipline for every Christian. This theological ground work will prepare us to answer questions and ask our own. It will help us to understand more of who God is and what His plans for the world are. Most of all, it will ready us to suffer differently.
Here are four reasons we need to think theologically about suffering:
1. We all suffer
If our understanding of God can’t account for pain, it is insufficient. If Jesus is only worth following when life is going well, you will walk away from him when it gets difficult. Belief systems which have no answer for suffering are not worthy of belief.
2. What we believe about God in the good times really matters in the hard times
You don’t wait until your house collapses to buy insurance. When the storm comes, it will be our knowledge of God which forms the foundation on which our faith will stand firm.
3. If we don’t listen to the Bible, we will listen to other voices
If we don’t seek to hear what God has to say, our beliefs will be shaped by other things. Pain-numbing habits, self improvement, and cynicism will all leave you wanting.
4. There are hard questions which deserve careful answers
Have you ever wondered: How can a good God allow suffering? What is the relationship between sin and suffering? Is God responsible for suffering? This blog series is a platform to explore some of those questions.
Theology doesn’t make pain disappear. In fact, if we properly understand God’s desires, it might make us grieve the brokenness of this world more. However, seeking theological answers to the questions suffering raises does change things.
Jesus Changes How We Suffer
The day after Milly and Toby died, a local newspaper released an article with the headline, ‘Young couple tragically lose their lives’. That same day, our group of friends gathered for a Good Friday church service. As I watched my friends weep and proclaim God’s goodness, I thought, ‘those news reporters don’t have the full story’.
Milly and Toby’s death is certainly evidence that life is not as it should be, but their deaths are not the final sentence in this story. As their friends and family grieved, they did it so differently to how the world, and newspaper reports, expected them to.
Why? Theology—their knowledge of God. We shared in the Lord’s supper that day, assuring one another that Milly and Toby were celebrating with Christ on high, and I can’t remember a time that ‘bread of life’ (John 6:35) tasted so sweet.
Suffering is a sure thing. It can bring huge, difficult questions. Over the next few weeks, let’s do some theology together, to prepare us to know God more—even through the tears.