Emotional aspects of suffering

Causes of emotional suffering

A sense of injustice

Psalm 119:53 LEB

Rage seizes me because of the wicked, those who forsake your law.

See also Job 19:7; Ps 82:2

Frustration

Job 19:8 LEB

He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass; and he has set darkness upon my paths.

See also Job 23:8–9; 1 Th 2:18

Loss

Genesis 27:34 LEB

When Esau heard the words of his father he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry of distress. And he said to his father, “Bless me as well, my father!”

See also Ru 1:20–21; Pr 5:11–14; La 1:12

Bereavement

2 Samuel 18:33 LEB

The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, “My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son.”

See also Ge 23:1–2; Ge 37:34–35; Ge 50:1–3; Ex 12:30; Dt 34:8; 2 Sa 19:4; Mt 2:16–18; Je 31:15; Jn 11:32–35

Childlessness

Genesis 30:1 LEB

When Rachel saw that she could not bear children to Jacob, Rachel envied her sister. And she said to Jacob, “Give me children—if not, I will die!”

See also 1 Sa 1:4–8

Parting from loved ones

Acts 20:38 LEB

especially distressed at the statement that he had said, that they were going to see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

See also 1 Sa 20:41; 2 Ki 2:12; So 5:6–8

Spiritual loss

Luke 13:28 LEB

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside!

See also Jdg 2:4; Mt 25:11

Great fear

Genesis 45:3 LEB

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” And his brothers were unable to answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

See also Ge 20:8; Ge 32:7–8; Ex 20:18–19; 1 Sa 17:24; 1 Ki 19:3–4; Is 21:2–4; Da 5:8–9; Lk 21:26

Guilt

Matthew 27:3–4 LEB

Then when Judas, the one who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he regretted what he had done and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

See also Ge 3:8; Jn 16:8; Ac 2:37; Heb 10:2; Heb 10:22

Emotional suffering in the Lord’s work

Jesus Christ’s suffering

Isaiah 53:3 LEB

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with sickness, and like one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard.

See also Mt 26:38

The apostles’ suffering

2 Corinthians 11:28–29 LEB

Apart from these external things, there is the pressure on me every day of the anxiety about all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to sin, and I do not burn with indignation?

See also Ro 9:1–4; 1 Co 15:31; 2 Co 1:8–9; Ga 4:19

Expressions of emotional suffering

Sadness

Ne 2:1–3; Ps 107:39; Ps 116:3; Mt 26:22

Weeping and groaning

Jeremiah 9:1 LEB

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night, for the slain of the daughter of my people.

Joseph wept as he saw his brothers again:

Ge 42:24; Ge 43:30; Ge 45:1–2

2 Sa 15:30 Covering the head and going barefoot were also signs of sorrow; Ezr 3:12–13; Ne 1:4; Ps 6:6–7; Ps 32:3–4; Ps 137:1; Is 15:5; Je 14:17; Mt 26:75 Peter wept bitterly after disowning Jesus Christ; Jn 11:35

Anger

Jonah 4:1 LEB

And this was greatly displeasing to Jonah, and he became furious.

See also Ex 32:19–20; 2 Sa 6:8; Re 16:10–11

Bitterness

Ex 17:3; 1 Sa 30:6; Job 3:1; Job 7:11; Jon 4:3; Ro 3:14

God’s response to the emotional suffering of believers

He comforts them

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 LEB

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

He has delivered them through Jesus Christ

Isaiah 53:4 LEB

However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses, and he carried our pain, yet we ourselves assumed him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted.

Jesus Christ gives them rest

John 14:1 LEB

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

See also Mt 11:28–30; Jn 14:27

There is no suffering in heaven

Revelation 21:4 LEB

And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any longer, and mourning or wailing or pain will not exist any longer. The former things have passed away.”

See also Is 35:10; Re 7:17

The proper response of believers to emotional suffering

Assessing the problem before God

Ps 73:16–17; Ps 119:78; Ro 8:28

Controlled emotion before God

Jdg 20:23; Ps 22:1–2; Ps 62:8; Ps 74:1

Prayer

Hebrews 5:7 LEB

who in the days of his flesh offered up both prayers and supplications, with loud crying and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard as a result of his reverence.

See also Ge 18:22–25; Ge 32:9–11; Nu 16:22; 2 Sa 12:15–17; Ps 38:9; Ps 77:1–9; Jon 2:1; Mk 5:22–23; Jas 5:13

Continuing to do what is right

Job 1:20–22; Eph 4:1; Php 1:27