Many Christians, myself included, have "known" most or all of these biblical truths intellectually for a long time. But for many of us, it can sometimes be a long time in between articulating them to ourselves or to each other with clarity in specific words, with all the biblical balance and nuance that is needed to preserve their accuracy and faithfulness. And it can be that these things we may "know" up in our brain's filing cabinet of theological propositions, filed away under the "Doctrine of Suffering" folder for a rainy day, sometimes need to come to the fore again in difficult times, so that we can remember the precise truths in specific words (2 Tim. 1:13), and no less importantly, so that we can meditate, pray, sing, kneel, prostrate, cry, smile, hand-lift, self-cross, and interject (as emotional and embodied creatures) those theological propositions from our brains into our hearts so that they become renewed convictions. In our hearts, or in our bones--pick the metaphor. Deep. Affective. Effective.
The following is copied from my phone note-taking app, now with added scripture references, and minimal other editing or addition. This means it will not be particularly well-ordered or well-structured like a normal planned blog post, but I trust it will still have value.
My Recent Reflections and Notes on Suffering
1) Lament is biblical, and a biblical though underappreciated, under-studied, and under-taught form of worship in response to suffering or injustice. It can involve expressing pain to God. It can ask God the questions "why?" or "how long?" or "whether" he won't keep his seemingly-related promises at times when it looks like he doesn't seem to be doing so. It cannot (righteously) involve anger at God or actual unbelief concerning his goodness in general, his goodness toward his people, or his faithfulness in keeping his promises. For us unfortunately it often will involve unrighteous anger, due to our remaining, indwelling sin. But we can ask God to help keep us from, or help us overcome, those particular temptations and sins, and he will certainly forgive when we fall to them, as we acknowledge, confess, and repent of such responses, trusting in Christ's all-sufficient atoning work for us.
See examples and patterns of biblical lament in Psalms 13, 22, 42-43, 77, 88, and 89, for starters (as well as in many other portions of scripture--indeed there is a prophetic book entitled 'Lamentations').
2) God, as our Creator, is not obligated to share with us details of "why" concerning any particular event or circumstance (Job 38-42; Eccl. 3:11; 7:13-14). He has revealed some generalities of "why" focused on our long-term conformity to Christ and preparation for an "incomparable weight of glory" in eternity (Rom. 8:18-19, 28-29; 2 Cor. 4:17). The cross and resurrection are the quintessential, paradigmatic realities for our approach to understanding temporal suffering and earthly human injustice under God's meticulous, righteous providence (Job 2:7-10; Is. 45:7; Dan. 4:34-35; Eph. 1:11), with fullness of new creation justice and restoration waiting on the other side of the grave (Rom. 8:16-17; the focus is our bodily resurrection on the Last Day and the renewal of this whole world, although there also seems to be a blissful "intermediate state" for believers between death and that Last Day--cf. Phil. 1:21-26). In other words, the historical and scriptural revelation of the accomplishment of redemption in Christ should be sufficient for us to trust God's hand and plan in all our suffering.
3) The cross also demonstrates that God loves and cares for us, even when we don't feel cared for in moments of suffering (Rom. 5:8). We can therefore cast our cares on him and trust that he hears us with true parental concern (like he apparently heard all Job's words, based on intertextual connections between Job's speeches and God's speeches to Job later in the book) whether or not his response or answer (or seeming non-answer) is always what we wish (Matt. 7:11; Lk. 11:13; 1 Pet. 5:7).
4) When God withholds our desires or does not answer our prayers, he wants our trust and our desire for intimate relationship with him to grow, perhaps more than anything else (Ps. 119:71; Rom. 5:3-5; 2 Cor. 1:8-10). From those who walk uprightly he ultimately withholds nothing that is truly good for them (Ps. 84:11, 12). He wants us to come to a place like Asaph came to in Psalm 73, where he is our sufficient and satisfying portion even if all earthly blessings and comforts fail us (Ps. 73, climaxing in v. 26).
5) Past grace (and gratitude for it) fuels faith in present and future divine grace (an unduly disputed insight by John Piper in his books and preaching). Past successful endurance of faith through trials encourages assurance and faith and hope and trust for present and future trials (Jas. 1:2-4). See also Psalms 77, 78, 105, 106, 114, 135, 136, etc. in which the Psalmist(s) remember the mighty works of God, especially the Exodus. And note Psalm 111:2: "Great are the works of Yahweh, studied by all who delight in them" (my emphasis).
6) Beyond or rather as a direct consequence of the cross and resurrection, the Spirit was also given to us to comfort, support, and counsel us, and to intercede for us with his own perfect prayers (in union with Jesus' own ongoing intercession for us!) especially when we are weak and perplexed about how to pray (Rom. 8:26, 27). These are profoundly comforting truths when prayer feels nearly impossible sometimes, at the bottom of the pit.
7) Joy in Christ is compatible with, and often coexists with, sorrow over evil and suffering and death (in God himself as well as in us--cf. Is. 63:10; Eph. 4:30; Jn. 11:35; 2 Cor. 6:10), and can always be sought and rekindled when ebbing low, through attention to the ordinary means of grace (Word, prayer, fellowship, the sacraments, shepherding by elders, worship), as the Spirit blesses such practices in his sovereign timing and good pleasure (see Westminster Confession of Faith 14.1 and 18.3 with accompanying scriptural proof-texts).
8) Preparation of seeking delight in God above all things is crucial to engage in before significant trials come. A proper biblical understanding and expectation of earthly trials and suffering as normative for the Christian life (1 Pet. 4:12) are crucial, and cut against the grain of crass "prosperity gospel" theologies and even against the grain of certain flavors of more sophisticated covenant theology that tends to emphasize continuities (and there are some) between the era of the typological kingdom of Israel (during which divine blessing was normatively visible, obvious, and outward) and the era of the kingdom of Christ prior to his return (during which divine blessing and kingdom advancement are often, though not always, less visible/obvious and are normatively "cruciform" and ironic in character). This is not to say that kingdom fruit is all "invisible"--indeed the good works of believers should lead observers to glorify the Father (Matt. 5:13-16; 1 Pet. 2:12). Salt and light have visible impacts on the world.
2) God, as our Creator, is not obligated to share with us details of "why" concerning any particular event or circumstance (Job 38-42; Eccl. 3:11; 7:13-14). He has revealed some generalities of "why" focused on our long-term conformity to Christ and preparation for an "incomparable weight of glory" in eternity (Rom. 8:18-19, 28-29; 2 Cor. 4:17). The cross and resurrection are the quintessential, paradigmatic realities for our approach to understanding temporal suffering and earthly human injustice under God's meticulous, righteous providence (Job 2:7-10; Is. 45:7; Dan. 4:34-35; Eph. 1:11), with fullness of new creation justice and restoration waiting on the other side of the grave (Rom. 8:16-17; the focus is our bodily resurrection on the Last Day and the renewal of this whole world, although there also seems to be a blissful "intermediate state" for believers between death and that Last Day--cf. Phil. 1:21-26). In other words, the historical and scriptural revelation of the accomplishment of redemption in Christ should be sufficient for us to trust God's hand and plan in all our suffering.
3) The cross also demonstrates that God loves and cares for us, even when we don't feel cared for in moments of suffering (Rom. 5:8). We can therefore cast our cares on him and trust that he hears us with true parental concern (like he apparently heard all Job's words, based on intertextual connections between Job's speeches and God's speeches to Job later in the book) whether or not his response or answer (or seeming non-answer) is always what we wish (Matt. 7:11; Lk. 11:13; 1 Pet. 5:7).
4) When God withholds our desires or does not answer our prayers, he wants our trust and our desire for intimate relationship with him to grow, perhaps more than anything else (Ps. 119:71; Rom. 5:3-5; 2 Cor. 1:8-10). From those who walk uprightly he ultimately withholds nothing that is truly good for them (Ps. 84:11, 12). He wants us to come to a place like Asaph came to in Psalm 73, where he is our sufficient and satisfying portion even if all earthly blessings and comforts fail us (Ps. 73, climaxing in v. 26).
5) Past grace (and gratitude for it) fuels faith in present and future divine grace (an unduly disputed insight by John Piper in his books and preaching). Past successful endurance of faith through trials encourages assurance and faith and hope and trust for present and future trials (Jas. 1:2-4). See also Psalms 77, 78, 105, 106, 114, 135, 136, etc. in which the Psalmist(s) remember the mighty works of God, especially the Exodus. And note Psalm 111:2: "Great are the works of Yahweh, studied by all who delight in them" (my emphasis).
6) Beyond or rather as a direct consequence of the cross and resurrection, the Spirit was also given to us to comfort, support, and counsel us, and to intercede for us with his own perfect prayers (in union with Jesus' own ongoing intercession for us!) especially when we are weak and perplexed about how to pray (Rom. 8:26, 27). These are profoundly comforting truths when prayer feels nearly impossible sometimes, at the bottom of the pit.
7) Joy in Christ is compatible with, and often coexists with, sorrow over evil and suffering and death (in God himself as well as in us--cf. Is. 63:10; Eph. 4:30; Jn. 11:35; 2 Cor. 6:10), and can always be sought and rekindled when ebbing low, through attention to the ordinary means of grace (Word, prayer, fellowship, the sacraments, shepherding by elders, worship), as the Spirit blesses such practices in his sovereign timing and good pleasure (see Westminster Confession of Faith 14.1 and 18.3 with accompanying scriptural proof-texts).
8) Preparation of seeking delight in God above all things is crucial to engage in before significant trials come. A proper biblical understanding and expectation of earthly trials and suffering as normative for the Christian life (1 Pet. 4:12) are crucial, and cut against the grain of crass "prosperity gospel" theologies and even against the grain of certain flavors of more sophisticated covenant theology that tends to emphasize continuities (and there are some) between the era of the typological kingdom of Israel (during which divine blessing was normatively visible, obvious, and outward) and the era of the kingdom of Christ prior to his return (during which divine blessing and kingdom advancement are often, though not always, less visible/obvious and are normatively "cruciform" and ironic in character). This is not to say that kingdom fruit is all "invisible"--indeed the good works of believers should lead observers to glorify the Father (Matt. 5:13-16; 1 Pet. 2:12). Salt and light have visible impacts on the world.
But there is no guarantee of outward earthly blessings or comforts, and there is certainly no resurrection without the cross first (Rom. 6:4-11; Col. 1:24). We can only expect with certainty the promised "first-fruits" of resurrection life given by the Spirit in this age (Rom. 8:23-25; Eph. 1:13, 14)--namely, Christians growing in faithfulness and justice and all the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), whether that leads to things like more business success, outward health, and familial peace (as [most of] Proverbs would expect [although arguably most or all of Proverbs was written in the context of the typological kingdom of Israel]) or whether that growth leads to perplexing suffering, increased persecution, bodily illness, and/or death (as Ecclesiastes, Job, and much of the NT expect to also often be the case).
We are not Gnostic dualists despising the body's involvement in sanctification or in the coming renewal of all things, and even our bodies participate now in renewed righteousness and life in a sense (Rom. 6:12-13, 19), but the NT does emphasize the fact of day-by-day inward renewal while there is outward decay in this life (Rom. 8:36; 2 Cor. 4:7-18; 5:1-9); we will all suffer and we will all die save for the generation of believers alive at the second Advent of Christ. On resurrection day and that day alone will believers be raised immortal and enjoy fullness of divine blessing and cosmically-visible divine favor, vindication, glory, and eternal peace (Rom. 8:11, 23, 1 Cor. 15:51-57; Rev. 21:4). This should be the "center of gravity" for Christian hope, not earthly success or prosperity or comforts viewed as sure signs of divine blessing for obedience, even if those things are sometimes related to Christians living well (1 Pet. 1:13). We live in a world created by God such that things generally work in certain ways, but that world is fallen because of sin, and does not always work as it "should" or was originally created to. Peoples of that world are being redeemed and renewed by the Spirit of God in union with Christ. They and the entire created order itself will be put fully "right" (and indeed further glorified) only on the Last Day (Jn. 6:39-40, 44; Rom. 8:18-25; Rev. 21-22). That is the day of the full revelation of the righteousness and glory of God together with his people (Col. 1:4).
9) It is not always clear whether particular trials or sufferings are intended as specific divine discipline on believers because of particular sins, although the Spirit may at times bring conviction in ways that make those connections clearer to us (often, perhaps, there are "natural" consequences for living in certain sinful ways, which function as discipline under God's ordinary providence--sloth generally leading to poverty or worsened poverty, for example (not that sinful sloth is poverty's only possible cause!)). But all suffering is related to the original covenantal Fall (cf. Hos. 6:7) of mankind into an estate of sin and misery (Gen. 3; Rom. 8:20-23), and all trials and suffering for believers serve in a broad sense as tools God uses to discipline/challenge/raise us up into sons with matured faith readied for our full inheritance (Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 12:4-11; Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:3-9). The response called for is the same whether we are aware of detailed reasons for a given trial or not: overall deepened repentance, renewed faith and desperate hoping in the promises of God, and coming out on the other side of each trial with gratitude for what God worked in and through it, even while despising the shame and pain and often human injustice involved (Heb. 12:2) (things not good and indeed "despicable" in themselves but intended (Gen. 50:20) and certainly used by our sovereign God for good toward his people--again, the cross is the key paradigm (Acts 2:22-36; 3:14-26; 4:24-31, together with stories like Joseph's in Genesis (Gen. 50:15-20 or all of Gen. 37-50), which is an obvious type or narrative-pattern anticipation of Christ's work, in a remarkable number of details).
9) It is not always clear whether particular trials or sufferings are intended as specific divine discipline on believers because of particular sins, although the Spirit may at times bring conviction in ways that make those connections clearer to us (often, perhaps, there are "natural" consequences for living in certain sinful ways, which function as discipline under God's ordinary providence--sloth generally leading to poverty or worsened poverty, for example (not that sinful sloth is poverty's only possible cause!)). But all suffering is related to the original covenantal Fall (cf. Hos. 6:7) of mankind into an estate of sin and misery (Gen. 3; Rom. 8:20-23), and all trials and suffering for believers serve in a broad sense as tools God uses to discipline/challenge/raise us up into sons with matured faith readied for our full inheritance (Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 12:4-11; Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:3-9). The response called for is the same whether we are aware of detailed reasons for a given trial or not: overall deepened repentance, renewed faith and desperate hoping in the promises of God, and coming out on the other side of each trial with gratitude for what God worked in and through it, even while despising the shame and pain and often human injustice involved (Heb. 12:2) (things not good and indeed "despicable" in themselves but intended (Gen. 50:20) and certainly used by our sovereign God for good toward his people--again, the cross is the key paradigm (Acts 2:22-36; 3:14-26; 4:24-31, together with stories like Joseph's in Genesis (Gen. 50:15-20 or all of Gen. 37-50), which is an obvious type or narrative-pattern anticipation of Christ's work, in a remarkable number of details).
This marks the end of my original notes, now with interspersed scripture references added. But I thought it appropriate to end this post with Deuteronomy 29:29, because we must ever hold in tension the fact that we cannot fully understand the divine plan with the hard providences it includes with the fact that God has revealed certain things for our benefit and support as we face the trials of this life, precious truths centered on Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.
"The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, in order that we may observe all the words of this instruction" (Deut. 29:29).
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