David Powlison’s Answer to the Question “Why Me?”
David Powlison (1949–2019) reminds us that God does not offer advice and perspective from afar; he steps into our suffering.
Articles on Trials and Suffering
297 results found
An Open Letter to the Christian Frontline Medical Worker
The work to which you’ve devoted your life can plunge you into your darkest hours, luring you into doubts about God’s love, perhaps even about his existence. Where is God in all this?
Podcast: The Day I Lost My 3-Year-Old Son (Cameron Cole)
Cameron Cole talks about losing his three-year-old son and how that tragedy and all the suffering it entailed has ultimately strengthened his hope in God.
3 Important Truths Job’s Friends Neglected
In the context of the whole Bible, perhaps the deepest error and omission of Job’s friends is this: they have no place for innocent suffering.
A Word to Parents at Their Breaking Point
It can be helpful to manage your expectations of what normal life can and should be, and recognize that the season you’re in is intensely difficult in a particular way and that it won’t always be that way.
9 Principles for Navigating Anxiety and Depression with Your Teen
What are the general principles to bear in mind as you begin to work with your teen through anxiety and depression?
A Story of Grace in the Face of Infertility
Read the personal story of a couple who experienced infertility for a period long enough to know the pressures, anxieties, absences, and losses that so commonly define the experience.
How Suffering Crushes Our Unrealistic Expectations
Our expectation is that tomorrow will be just the same as today was, but this world is not operating the way that God intended for it to operate.
9 Notable Quotes from ‘Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy’
Lament gives us a language to express our grief and sorrow to God, while asking him to lead us to deeper trust.
Don't Miss What God Is Teaching You in Your Pain
God works through our weakness to bring glory to his name and make it absolutely clear that it's him who's at work.
How to Pray in Times of Trouble
When we cannot articulate our prayer requests to God, the Holy Spirit understands our groanings and translates them into intelligible prayers that God the Father can understand and will answer.
What Not to Say to a Grieving Person
Here are three things that grieving people wish no one would ever say to them again.
How to Die for the Glory of God
Coming to the end of life can be very self-centered and that’s antithetical to the gospel. When I die, I want my life to reflect the gospel.
There’s no guarantee that because we’re in a saving relationship with God through Christ that we’re going to be exempt from darkness.
The Mission Field I Never Expected
For those of us who are parents, God wants us to esteem the field he’s given us. It’s not a tiring distraction from the true mission field we should be tilling.
Jesus knows that true power only flows through weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
John Piper’s Prayer for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Grant recovery. Grant a cure. Deliver us—your poor, helpless creatures—from these sorrows, we pray.
2 Reasons We Don’t Know How to Lament
The notion that lament isn't familiar is actually an indictment of the state of the American church.
An Open Letter to the Child Facing End-of-Life Decisions for a Parent
How can you make rational medical decisions while flailing in grief? Even if you know your parent’s wishes, the burdens can feel too heavy.
Caregiving Is a Stewardship of Grace
It is easy to focus on physical needs in desperate times, but by God’s grace, remember there are spiritual issues, too.
What to Do When God Doesn’t Answer
We are called, as was Job, to begin our lives of discipleship with the fear of God and repentance from evil.
Why We Don't Have to Hide Our Pain from God
Like a child going to a parent, we don't have to clean up our spiritual act to pour out our hearts to God.
How to Resist the Vortex of the Course of This World
By definition, a Christian is one who has been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col. 1:13).
Podcast: Why Did God Let Job Suffer? (Christopher Ash)
Christopher Ash discusses the story of Job and how God's goodness shines through suffering. He also explores the roles of Satan, the fall, and the cross of Jesus Christ in human suffering.
Why Study the Books of 1–2 Peter?
Into a historical moment when many Christians feel disoriented, 1–2 Peter helps us recenter our hope on Christ.
A Sufferer’s Great Resource in Tragedy
In the early days, the pain and sorrow of losing my son were so intense that I could not focus on anything beyond daily survival. But hope prevailed.
The Beauty of Shared Suffering
God delights in identifying with us in our suffering. He feels the sting in his chest when you hurt. He takes
it personally.
The Best News Ever for Our Sexual Struggles
What does God give us to face our inevitable struggles and sufferings? The resoundingly glorious answer of Romans 8 is that he gives us the only thing that can truly provide the rescue, wisdom, and strength we need.
The church must be dedicated to hearing and attending to the cry of the afflicted. May all Christians resist the temptation to burrow our heads in the sand because we dread emotional upheaval.
What We Think We're Entitled to in the 21st Century
We realized just how much we had assumed we would have, how many things we believed were almost rights of ours.