Causes of suffering

The ultimate cause of suffering is sin

Genesis 3:14–19 CSB

So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

It need not be the result of particular sins:

Job 1:1; Jn 9:1–3

Job 5:6–7; Ro 5:12–14

Suffering as a result of human wickedness

Murder

Genesis 4:8 CSB

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

See also Ge 49:5–7; 1 Sa 18:10–11

Injury

Matthew 26:67 CSB

Then they spat in his face and beat him; others slapped him

Hatred

Psalm 109:3 CSB

They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

See also 2 Sa 13:15; Tt 3:3

Jealousy

Genesis 37:4 CSB

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

See also Ge 4:4–5; Ge 16:6; Ge 21:8–10; 1 Sa 18:8–9; Mt 27:18

Persecution

John 15:20 CSB

Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

See also Je 38:6; Da 3:4–6; Da 6:7; Mt 5:10–12; Mt 10:35–36; Re 6:9–11

Cruelty

Psalm 71:4 CSB

Deliver me, my God, from the power of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and oppressive.

See also Jdg 1:7; Ps 54:3; Am 1:13; Mt 2:16–18; Lk 10:30

Rioting

2 Ki 7:17; Ac 16:22

Warfare

Jeremiah 50:22 CSB

The sound of war is in the land— a crushing blow!

See also Ge 14:1–2; Ge 14:11–12; Ex 13:17; Jos 6:20–21; Jos 10:22–26; Jdg 1:4–7; 1 Ki 22:35; 2 Ki 17:5–6; Zec 14:2; Lk 21:20–24; Re 6:4

Injustice

Ezekiel 9:9 CSB

He answered me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; he does not see.’

See also Ge 39:19–20; 1 Ki 21:11–14; 2 Ki 21:16; Ps 58:1–2; Ps 64:6

Oppression

Ecclesiastes 4:1 CSB

Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

See also Ex 1:11; 1 Ki 12:1–4; 1 Ki 12:12–14; Ps 12:5; Jas 5:1–6

Adultery

2 Sa 12:9; Mal 2:14

Theft

Matthew 6:19 CSB

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

See also Ge 31:19; Job 1:14–15; Job 1:17; Job 24:2

Broken relationships

Job 19:14–19; Ps 27:10; Pr 16:28; Ac 15:39

Suffering as a result of misfortune

Accidents

2 Sa 4:4; 2 Ki 1:2; Lk 13:4

Sickness

Genesis 48:1 CSB

Some time after this, Joseph was told, “Your father is weaker.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

See also 2 Ki 20:1; Job 2:7; Ps 42:10; Mt 8:6; Ac 28:8; Php 2:27; 2 Ti 4:20; Jas 5:14

Hunger and want

Ge 12:10; Job 30:3; Is 5:13; Mt 25:42–43

Natural disasters

1 Ki 22:48; Job 1:16; Job 1:18–19; Is 29:6; Joe 1:4; Zec 14:5; Mt 24:7; Ac 27:18–20

Suffering through old age and death

Ageing

2 Sa 19:34–35; Ps 71:9; Ec 12:1

Bereavement

Ge 23:1–2; Job 1:18–19; Lk 7:11–13; Jn 11:33–35; Jas 1:27

Suffering through anxiety

Proverbs 12:25 CSB

Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up.

See also Dt 28:65–67; Lk 21:26

Suffering through foolishness

Psalm 107:17 CSB

Fools suffered affliction because of their rebellious ways and their iniquities.

See also Jdg 11:34–36; Pr 10:1; Pr 11:15; Pr 14:1; Pr 23:29–30; Lk 15:17

Suffering through Satanic activity

The influence of Satan

Genesis 3:1 CSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

See also Job 1:12; Job 2:6–7; Lk 13:16; 1 Jn 5:19; Re 2:10; Re 20:7–8

Demon-possession

Mt 8:28; Mt 12:22; Mt 15:22

Suffering brought about by God himself

All suffering comes within his will

Jn 9:3; Eph 1:11

Some suffering is for his immediate glory

John 21:19 CSB

He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

Jesus Christ’s suffering produces salvation

Isaiah 53:10 CSB

Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

See also Ac 2:23

Christian suffering produces good fruits

Ro 5:3–4; 2 Co 1:9; Heb 12:11; Jas 1:2; Jas 1:3

God’s people must be disciplined

Hebrews 12:7 CSB

Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

See also Ex 32:35; 2 Sa 12:13–14; Ps 119:67; Ps 119:71; Pr 3:11–12; Heb 12:8–11

The wicked must be punished

Romans 6:23 CSB

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See also Ge 6:5–7; Jn 5:14; 2 Th 1:8; Re 9:4; Re 20:15

Suffering accepted voluntarily

By Jesus Christ

1 Peter 2:21 CSB

For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

See also Is 53:3–5; Is 53:10; Lk 9:22

By his people

2 Corinthians 12:15 CSB

I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

See also 2 Co 4:10–12; Php 3:10; Heb 11:35

For the good of others

John 15:13 CSB

No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

See also Ro 5:7; Phm 18