Keller on pain and suffering

Another in a series on Walking With God by Tim Keller. I hope you have read enough to go get his book. But if not, I hope this will give you a brief idea of how Christians can face times of suffering.

In this section, Keller talks about how God uses suffering. He says, first, that suffering transforms our attitude toward ourselves. It humbles us and removes unrealistic self-regard and pride. It shows us how fragile we are. Suffering also leads us to examine ourselves and see weaknesses because it brings out the worst in us. Our weak faith, sharp tongues, laziness, insensitivity to people… will all become evident to us in hard times. Secondly, suffering will profoundly change our relationship to the good things in our lives. We will see that some things have become too important to us. Third, and most important of all, suffering can strengthen our relationship to God as nothing else can. In prosperity God whispers to us, but in adversity he shouts to us (echoes of C. S. Lewis). When times are good, how do you know if you love God or just love the things he is giving you or doing for you? It can drive us toward prayer. Finally, suffering is almost a prerequisite if we are going to be of much use to other people. It makes us more compassionate. Suffering creates wisdom in people. See 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. We need to see suffering as a gymnasium – we strip out of our clothes and see the real us.  We are put through exercises which stress various parts of our bodies; this will lead to increased strength. We should neither be Stoics who just grit our teeth and refuse to see that suffering is God's training, nor should we become faint by giving up, despairing and walking away from God.

He says we have to prepare our minds and hearts before suffering strikes so that we are not surprised by it. The foundational doctrines of the faith help us endure suffering – creation and fall, atonement, and resurrection. We need to know the Bible and have a strong prayer life. We need to do some theological reflection – bad things can happen to good people (Jesus Christ is a good example), the world is filled with disease/death/natural disasters because of sin, God is infinite in majesty and wisdom, so we expect not to understand all his ways.

We must also prepare our hearts for suffering. We must have a rich prayer life. It's one thing to know in our minds a lot about suffering. It is quite another to know how to apply them to our own heart, life, and experience in such a way that they produce wisdom, endurance, joy, self-knowledge, courage, and humility.

OK, enough for now. This is rich material, so take your time reflecting on it.