Nature of suffering

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Since the fall, human beings have suffered in various ways. Scripture provides insights into the nature and place of suffering both in the world and in the lives of believers.

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Suffering began with the fall

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Suffering is universal

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Different kinds of suffering

Physical pain and illness

Genesis 48:1 ESV
After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
See also ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Emotional stress

Psalm 55:4–5 ESV
My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
See also “Ben-Oni” means “son of my trouble”; ; ;

Spiritual suffering

Psalm 22:1 ESV
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
See also

The prospect of death

Genesis 3:19 ESV
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
See also

Major causes of suffering

The disorder in creation

Genesis 3:17 ESV
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
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Human cruelty

Psalm 54:3 ESV
For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah

Murder:

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Genesis 49:5–7 ESV
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Oppression:

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; warfare; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Family troubles

Psalm 27:10 ESV
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
See also ; ; ; ; ;

Old age

Psalm 71:9 ESV
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
See also

Satan’s activity

1 John 5:19 ESV
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
See also ; ; ; ; ;

Aggravations to suffering

Memories

Job 29:2 ESV
“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

Fears

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Resentment

Job 2:9 ESV
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Sin and suffering

They are not necessarily related

John 9:3 ESV
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
See also ;

They are sometimes closely related

Romans 1:18 ESV
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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God’s final judgment

Matthew 25:41 ESV
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
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Effects of suffering

Hardness of heart

Revelation 16:9 ESV
They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
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Repentance

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Blessing

Psalm 119:71 ESV
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
See also
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