Couldn't Help Noticing

Suffering I

Rob Smith (Lecturer at SMBC) gave an excellent talk in church last week on the topic of suffering. It was so good that I'm stealing some of it (with Rob's kind permission) to share with you—specifically, a very helpful little summary on the connection between sin and suffering:

1. There is a general connection between suffering and sin. If there were no sin in the world, there would be no suffering. So there is an indirect connection between any person's suffering, and the fact of sin in the world. We are sinners, therefore we will experience suffering.
2. There is sometimes a specific and direct connection between a person's suffering and their sin. Examples of this can be found in Exodus 32:35 (where God sends a plague on the Israelites because they made the golden calf) and 1 Corinthians 11 (where some members of the church are “weak and ill” because they have been participating in the Lord's supper “in an unworthy manner”; some even died because of this).
3. We cannot assume a direct connection between a person's suffering and their sin unless God tells us there is one. How do you know if your cancer is a direct result of your sin, or just a general consequence of this sinful world? You don't, unless God tells you. So it is dangerous to speculate about this.
4. Some suffering has no connection to a person's sin. It may even be a consequence of their relative lack of sin. The most obvious example is Jesus: he suffered, but it wasn't because he sinned. Another good example is Job: the Bible tells us that his suffering was a result of a conversation between God and Satan, where God points out Job's good character to Satan and Satan responds by saying that Job only trusts God because he has been so blessed by God. Were God to take away all that he has blessed Job with, says Satan, then Job would curse God to his face. God responds by challenging Satan to do exactly that: take away all that God has blessed him with (Job 1:8ff). So it seems that Job's suffering is partly a result of his trust in God!

This gave me much food for thought, but for now I'll leave you to do your own thinking on the topic. Stay tuned...