Entering into the Loneliness of Job
There is a deep sense in which the lonely sufferings of Jesus Christ mean that no believer today is called to enter Job’s loneliness in its full depth.
Articles on Trials and Suffering
297 results found
An Open Letter to Those Suffering in the Hospital
Perhaps in the hospital bed, you try to pray but can’t find the words. The spiritual disciplines upon which you’ve depended seem oceans away.
A Narrative of Hope in the Darkness of Tragedy
The sovereignty of God is not some debatable proposition; it is the assurance that your child’s death is not a meaningless accident.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Anxious or Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
Why You'll Never Grieve Well without Hope
To grieve well is to have a growing sense of confidence and rest that God's promises of resurrection, centered in the resurrected Jesus, are really true.
We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear, and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when in fact you are rich.
Podcast: How to Endure Inexplicable Suffering (Eric Ortlund)
Eric Ortlund looks at the example of Job and how, as Christians, we should respond when we face the kind of suffering that Job did.
Suffering: A 7-Day Reading Plan
This 7-day Bible reading plan was created to help you draw encouragement from God's Word in the midst of suffering—leading to hope in the gospel through the power of the Spirit.
If you’re not dealing with hardship now, you will someday. And if you’re not dealing with it now, you are near someone who is.
How to Turn Weeping into Witnessing
We can’t jump straight to It’s alright. God will be good. We can be sure he will, but that’s probably not where we should start.
How to Pray in the Wake of Hurricane Dorian
Natural disasters can be a doorway for spiritual questions and eternal decisions. We can do more than just watch and marvel.
How to Find Yourself in the Psalms
I love the psalms because we find ourselves, but even more significantly, we find our Lord in the psalms.
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp encourages us to turn to Christ in our hardships, taking even our most difficult moments to him.
Passionate about the Trivial and Apathetic about the Vital
The paradox of apathy is that, for the spiritually apathetic, there is an inverse relationship between the greatness of a truth and our emotional and practical response to it.
The Promises of God: A 7-Day Devotional
We are to treat a promise of God as reality, as someone treats a check. We are to take the promise and endorse it with our own name by personally receiving it as true.
What Is the Best Question to Ask a Hurting Friend?
There are lots of good questions to ask someone who is hurting, but I think one of the best questions is this: "How are you doing today?"
My Suffering Savior Taught Me to Sing
My suffering Savior has taught me to always choose a song—a song that fortifies my faith against discouragement and breathes hope into my heart.
Podcast: Where Is God in Suffering? (Ligon Duncan)
How can Christians can face profound life-changing suffering with their faith intact and find encouragement from God's word in the midst of a season of intense pain?
3 Pieces of Advice for Responding to Miscarriage
Miscarriage can be an acutely painful experience. Yet it teaches those who experience it—and the church as a whole—to lean into the Lord's care.
No One in Our Lives “Always” Acts a Certain Way—Except God
Every. Single. Day. Always. The Lord has no off days and no half-hearted days. No days where instead of pursuit he dawdles in his goodness or forgets to follow in his mercy.
A Momentary Affliction in Light of Eternity
All Christians, especially those who are suffering, should be daydreaming about eternity on a regular basis.
No one sets out to learn lament. But once you find it, you're so thankful because there's grace that God can give you when the dark clouds of hardship and pain roll into your life.
3 Words of Counsel to Sufferers
Be aware that you're always preaching to yourself some kind of gospel.
Podcast: Asking God "Why" in the Midst of Suffering (Mark Talbot)
Is it okay to ask God why when suffering? What do you do when you go through profound suffering?
Spiritual warfare made the Puritans what they were. They accepted conflict as their calling, seeing themselves as their Lord’s soldier-pilgrims.
All the Very Best Stories Lead Us to Hope in the Darkness
Stories, it seems, can remind our kids that in Christ, morning will always come, no matter how deep the darkness.
How Lament Can Help with Racial Reconciliation
When we don't know what to say, lament can become a really helpful language to use.
How the Bible Is One Big, Divine, Holy Story of Marriage
One of the amazing things about the Bible is the grand scope of its vision.
Three Purposes of God in Your Suffering
We know that suffering is a result of sin and a fallen world, but that usually feels inadequate when we're in anguish.
Podcast: Trauma, Pain, and Loss: A Doctor’s Story of Faith and Healing (Katie Butler)
Kathryn Butler discusses her work as a trauma surgeon working in the ICU, sharing what it was like to be inundated with life and death situations day in and day out.