More Tim Keller--the role of pain and suffering in a Christian's life

I'm working my way through Tim Keller's book Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering. Here's the latest:

After discussing the first aspect of suffering as revealed in the Bible (that suffering is both just and unjust), Keller moves to the second point--the sovereignty and suffering of God. Christians believe God is completely in control of what happens in history, yet he allows humans to have freely chosen actions. God's plan works through our choices, not around or despite them. Suffering is not outside God's plan for part of it. Many texts in the Bible weave free will and divine sovereignty together. At the most practical level, we have the crucial assurance that even wickedness and tragedy, which we know is not part of God's original design, is nonetheless being woven into a wise plan.

In Chapter 7  Keller covers the other side of the sovereignty of God: the suffering of God himself. The main reason that Christians insist that God can be trusted in the midst of suffering is that God himself has first-hand experience of suffering. This goes back to many verses in the Old Testament. Of course, the gospels show Jesus experiencing the difficulties of normal human life. Because God is both sovereign and suffering, we know our suffering always has meaning even though we cannot see it. It is not just that he is sovereign and all-powerful. We should also trust him because he earned our trust on the cross. The book of Revelation promises more than judgment. It is accompanied by the coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, and the renewal of heaven and earth. Without the suffering of Jesus, evil wins. It is only Jesus' suffering that makes it possible to end suffering – to judge and renew the world – without having to destroy us. So while Christianity never claims to be able to offer a full explanation of all God's reasons behind every instance of evil and suffering, it does have a final answer to it. With the new heaven and new earth in Revelation, Christianity holds out hope unlike any other religion or secular response. The secular view sees no future good of any kind, and other religions believe in an eternity or heaven that is a consolation for the losses and pain of this life and all the joys that might have been. But Christianity offers not merely consolation but a restoration – not just of the life we had but of the life we always wanted but never achieved.

Great book and good answers from Keller. More to follow in another blog.