Causes of suffering

The ultimate cause of suffering is sin

Genesis 3:14–19 NIV

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

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 NIV

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” 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 NIV

Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him

Hatred

Psalm 109:3 NIV

With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.

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

Jealousy

Genesis 37:4 NIV

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word 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 NIV

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

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 NIV

Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

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 NIV

The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!

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 NIV

He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord 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 NIV

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.

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 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin 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 NIV

Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

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 NIV

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.

See also Dt 28:65–67; Lk 21:26

Suffering through foolishness

Psalm 107:17 NIV

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of 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 NIV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not 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 NIV

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Jesus Christ’s suffering produces salvation

Isaiah 53:10 NIV

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

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 NIV

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

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 NIV

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 NIV

To this you were called, because Christ 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 NIV

So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?

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

For the good of others

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

See also Ro 5:7; Phm 18