Why Do We Sometimes Feel Empty?
Perhaps you have come to see your emptiness as your biggest problem. That’s not how God sees it.
Articles on Trials and Suffering
297 results found
4 Questions about Our Suffering
Why are we to rejoice in our suffering? Why do we suffer in the ways that we do, and why do some suffer much more than others? Why doesn’t God usually answer our prayers for him to end our suffering?
An Open Letter to Those Who Feel Unqualified to Offer Counsel
The Lord specializes in using people who feel weak in themselves, and your sense of inadequacy will probably protect you.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Are Hurting and Hopeless
Be amazed at the power of Christ to transform a helpless man; but also, marvel at the love of Christ that claims rebels like this as his own.
When You Don't Even Realize How Discouraged You Are
The truth is, most of us don’t like the look of discouragement. It feels embarrassing. But when we avoid areas of our own insufficiency, we also avoid finding the help we so desperately need.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Apathetic about Your Faith
If we take apathy seriously, as does God, we will be better equipped to recognize it when it threatens, avoid it, or at least escape from it earlier.
The devil is a very real, very powerful opponent, far too powerful for us to take on in our own strength.
6 Ways to Fight the Debilitating Power of Doubt
In your suffering, doubt is a battle worth fighting. Remember, you never fight this battle alone but with the strength that is yours because of the presence and power of Christ.
6 Questions about the Book of Job
The book of Job is realistic in the sufferings it sets before disciples of Jesus and full of glorious hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
6 Reasons Christians Need to Learn to Lament
For hurting people, knowing that this expression of grief is a biblical and a God-given category can be a watershed moment.
Embracing God in Your Trials: A 7-Day Devotional
A 7-day video devotional on ESV.org aimed at helping you run to God in the midst of trials and suffering.
What to Do When People Don't Sympathize with Your Suffering
In the midst of your heaviest grief, those around you will likely return to life as normal long before you can. Be realistic about people and their ability to enter into your suffering, to stay, and to remember.
Paul Tripp’s Story of Unexpected Suffering
Four years ago, Paul David Tripp entered the hospital with what he thought was a minor issue and began a journey with pain and suffering for which he felt completely unprepared.
Douglas Sean O'Donnell exposes Job's under-the-surface theological foundations that made him hold up under duress.
Must We Be Hurt Deeply to Be Used Significantly?
We want our grand abilities and keen insights to make us usable to God, not our broken hearts and crippling weaknesses.
Why Is Temptation So Hard to Withstand?
Why do we need a shield to live the Christian life? The Bible is clear: because we have an enemy, who is poised ready to attack us.
A Common Misconception about Suffering
A frequent misconception about suffering often recurs in Christian circles. It says: “You are suffering because God is trying to teach you something.”
How Can Jesus Possibly Say That Those Who Mourn Are Blessed?
Much of life happens before you are ready. Our hearts race and our minds search for meaning, but some circumstances resist explanation.
Fear Not, Your Future Is Secure
No matter how hard your story is right here, right now, it is guaranteed for you as God’s child that it will end better that you can imagine.
The Lord Provides—Even in Tragedy
Any good news in the hospital is a glimmer of God’s grace. Any cure reflects not the power of our own hands, but rather his provision for us.
Looking Heavenward Transforms Our Sorrow
Many may think this heavenly-mindedness would make a person detached and ineffective in this present earthly life. The opposite was true for the apostle Paul.
7 Practical Things You Can Do for People Who Are Grieving
There are simple ways that we can demonstrate a deep sensitivity to the pain of grieving people.
The Key to Not Grumbling in Suffering
It seems to me that suffering without grumbling is one of the world's rarities.
The Unbiblical Pursuit of a Trouble-Free Life
How can we keep on loving and serving people when life has so much pain and disappointment? What are the roots of endurance?
Viewing the Christian Story through the Lens of Our Suffering
Suffering disrupts our lives, seeming to violate the way life should be. This can make us desperate to know why we are suffering.
An Open Letter to the Sexual Sufferer
If you are a victim of sexual sin, God offers you true hope and healing.
How to Pray in Times of Physical Pain
Father in heaven, in spite of all our uncertainties and all our embattled anxieties and all our discomfort, we say, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
We Are Both Job and Job’s Friends
One important question in reading any biblical text is who you, as a reader, identify with. This is easier for some texts than for others. Who do we identify with in the book of Job?
An Open Letter to the Christian Disheartened by Ongoing Temptation
D. A. Carson, John D. Woodbridge
That you are experiencing rounds of temptation is not as unusual as you might suppose. From the inception of the church believers have found this pilgrim way to be strewn with multiple temptations.
God’s grace sustains us, even in the darkest hours, so that we never give up. Psalm 88 offers four lessons of hope.