Calvin Quotes on Suffering

In Good Times

Not hard. Give thanks

“All the good things we have were created for us so that we might acknowledge the one who is their author, and might celebrate his kindness with thanksgiving.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 116).

Every good and perfect gift comes from above

In Bad Times

“We should learn to bear poverty with the same patience and tranquility of heart we display when we soberly enjoy the fruits of plenty.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 119).

in all things glorify god

James do not say today or tomorrow - who are we living for? Who really runs our life?

“Instead of seeking the things which suit us, we should seek the things which please God and which serve to exalt his glory.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 21).

“First of all, then, in seeking to know how to lead a tranquil life, Scripture insists that we should resign ourselves and all we have to God, surrendering to him our dearest desires, that he might tame and master them.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 44).

Romans 8:28-29 All things are ordained by God to make us more like Christ and bring glory to God’s name. But if our life is not about bringing glory to his name all things that are distasteful to us will only be bitter with no sweetness mixed in.

“No one, therefore, has properly denied himself who has not so resigned himself to God that he gladly allows him to rule him as he wills. People who feel this way will never think they are badly off, whatever happens, nor will they complain about their lot in life as if to make a veiled criticism of God.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 50). - DO NOT GRUMBLE BUT BE THANKFUL

“How important this attitude is will be clear if we think about life’s unforeseen events. There are a host of illnesses which constantly assail us, one after another. At one time the plague torments us, at another, war. Frost or hail may bring barrenness, and as a result threaten to impoverish us. Death may deprive us of wife, children, or other kin. Or again, our house may go up in flames. Such things cause men to curse their life and to hate the day they were born; they rail against heaven and the light itself, insult God and, in a stream of blasphemies, accuse him of being cruel and unjust. By contrast the believer should be conscious, even in adversity of God’s mercy and of his fatherly goodwill. Although he may experience the distress of seeing his nearest and dearest die, and his house empty, as it were, of all life, he will not cease to bless God and to cherish the thought that, because God’s grace dwells in his house, it will not leave it desolate. Though his crops and vines may be spoiled and wiped out by frost, hail or other storm and though famine may threaten, he will nevertheless not lose heart, nor will he come to resent God, but will keep on firmly trusting him saying in his heart: “Even so, we are under God’s protection; we are the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 79:13)…He will not give way to anguish, nor will he seethe with impatience and grumble at God. Instead, [The Godly Man] will remember that his heavenly Father is both just and kind in the chastisements he sends; in this way he will learn to be patient. In short, whatever happens, he knows that everything comes from the Lord’s hand, and he will accept it calmly and gratefully, so as not to resist the command of him in whom he has forever put his trust.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 52).

“Real piety, by contrast, by contrast, holds that it is God’s hand alone that governs fate, both good and bad; and since his hand is neither hasty nor unthinking, it dispenses prosperity and adversity in a just and orderly way.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 53).

Unless we have tangible proof of our weaknesses, we immediately get inflated ideas of our own abilities, and readily imagine they can prevail over every possible difficulty. So it is that we develop an empty foolish confidence in the flesh, which then produces a supercilious attitude toward God, as if we could manage by ourselves without his grace.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 58).

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Thorne in the flesh

God being just and good is the theology we need because it reminds us that everything that comes into our life is exactly what is needed both in what it is and in measure to conform us to Christ. Our suffering is never more than what is exactly needed to accomplish God’s purpose. thats why Hebrews 12:5-12. And as Calvin says, “To be impatient is to refuse to see that God is just.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 85).

Summary: “[Christians] must learn to live soberly in time of prosperity and patiently in time of poverty.” (Calvin, A Guide to Christian Living, Banner of Truth, 122).