The meaning of suffering in peoples’ lives is widely misunderstood.

 

In these passages we have a message for God’s people, the nation of Israel, about their suffering. They also show others that the matter and purpose of suffering in our lives can often be completely misunderstood. The reality is that God is sovereign in our affliction.

The wrong response is to look to a ‘false God’ … fashioning an idol of some kind to make ourselves feel that we are in control. Whilst this may be very ‘convenient’ there is, in reality, nothing convenient when dealing with God. He is the one who is always in control because he created this world and everything in it.

The right response to suffering is to acknowledge that we don’t always understand its purpose in our lives. What God will do in the future, however, is certain because of what he has done in the past. Our response should always be to remember the cross of Jesus Christ.