God Enhanced View of… Suffering?

1 Peter 4.12-19:

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

How should we view suffering if we endeavor to have a “God entranced view of all things” (if you will allow me to paraphrase the title of John Piper and Justin Taylor’s book)? Suffering in the life of the Christian is not only a reality, but something that is to be expected (v. 12, above). And why wouldn’t it be? We are strangers, aliens, and nomads in a world that hates us (John 15.18-19). The world hates us because we are in disagreement with their beliefs– we stand as evidence of their condemnation. They are also under the yoke of slavery to sin (Romans 6.16) which is direct rebellion against God, as well as under the sway of their father Satan (John 8:44) who is a murder, the father of lies, and is absolutely filled with a hatred for Christ, the Gospel, and Christians. This is the stage we find our lives playing out upon.

Unfortunately (as if that word was strong enough), men and women are often led to a false gospel thinking that if they say a prayer God will start working out His wonderful plan for their lives– a wonderful plan that involves monetary blessings, sports cars, and a life of ease. How quickly they throw away Christ when suddenly their life of luxury comes to a halt, and the reality of suffering comes into play! Still, others, when faced with suffering, divorce suffering from God’s sovereignty. This position is just as pitiable as the first, as they put their hope in an impotent God. They are practicing a dualism, where Satan is just as powerful as God and is in fact able to thwart God’s intended plan causing God to scurry with remarkable speed to direct the course of events for the good of the person afflicted so that the promises of Romans 8.28 will still stand. That God wins in every instance is something inconsistent with this dualistic thought that God is not sovereign over all things. Furthermore, how can we place our hope in a God who is not sovereign? A God who is not in control, even in our suffering, is not a God to be worshiped, adored, or even trusted. Praise God that this idol that has been constructed to protect God from responsibility (as if a sovereign God needed our protection!) in suffering stands in direct contradiction to the God of the Bible, the Most High, sovereign King of the universe!

Peter says in verse 19 above, “[t]herefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” We should entrust our souls to the very one who is in control of the suffering! What an absolute reversal of human nature’s reaction. Why should we do this?

God, being sovereign over every situation, is the sole being that is able to change the situation. This is why we can take Romans 8.28’s promise of all things working for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. He is not taken by surprise at our suffering, but knew from before the foundation of the world what He would allow, why He would allow it, and the resolution of what He allows for His glory and our good. However, while we celebrate God’s sovereignty, we must not make the mistake that some make, that ascribing sovereignty to God makes Him the author of sin. This fails to note that God permits actions, occasions, etc to happen in such a way that the means by which they happen are responsible. This is a profound mystery of which greater theologians than I have attempted to answer over and over. I will leave that discussion to them, and affirm that the Bible states that God is both sovereign, yet we are still responsible. That God permits a means for an end, and that the means by which something comes about is responsible is best seen in the opening chapter of Job. Satan is only allowed to cause suffering to the extent that God has commanded, and is able to go no further.

In “All the Good that Is Ours in Christ” Mark Talbot states:

“…Scripture repudiates the claim that God does evil while at the same time everywhere implying that God ordains any evil there is. To say that God ‘ordains’ something is to say that he has planned and purposed and willed it from before the creation of the world– that is from before time began… As Isaiah puts it, ‘The LORD of hosts has sworn, ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposes, so shall it stand’…For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?’ (14.24,27). Nothing–no evil thing or person or event or deed– falls outside God’s ordaining will. “¹

So, how should we view suffering in light of God? We should run to Him in the midst of it, because He and He alone is able to work it out for own good. He is able to do so because He alone is sovereign over the situation. We must entrust our souls to God while suffering according to His will, for there is no other source of hope, because there is none greater than God who can be in control. John Piper quotes C. H. Spurgeon as saying:

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”

When asked if this view is a sense of fatalism, Spurgeon replied:

“What is fate? Fate is this – Whatever is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence says, Whatever God ordains, must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working for some great end. Fate does not say that. . . . There is all the difference between fate and Providence that there is between a man with good eyes and a blind man.”

It is in God’s providence that He allows suffering, but as Spurgeon says providence ordains with a purpose. It is not blind fatalism that causes things to be but the hand of God who is in control. There is no other time in history when suffering and providence have been so brilliantly intertwined as in the crucifixion of Christ. Acts 2.22-24 says

“²²‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— ²³this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. ²⁴God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.’”

Christ’s death, a brutal torture and hanging on a cross that led to suffocation, came about due to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. He ordained the suffering of His Son, yet it was carried out by others who were held responsible for their actions (you crucified and killed). Yet, even with the horrendous amount of suffering, God worked it out according to His plan which was infinitely good. The same God who ordained, planned, and foreknew the sufferings of Christ, and also worked it out for both His glory and the good of all who love Him and are called according to His purpose, is the same God who has His hand upon your sickness, your suffering, the bridge in Minneapolis, the planes of 9/11, the tower of siloam, and every other instance of suffering in this world. The same God who raised Christ from the dead (v. 24, above) is the same God who we run to… who we are to entrust our very souls too when we are in the midst of suffering.
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1. Talbot, Mark R., “All the Good that is Ours in Christ”, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Ed. by Piper, John and Taylor, Justin, pg 47