Pastoring People Through Suffering

By John Wilthew
County Church, Northumberland, UK

• Wisdom literature reminds us that our starting point when we are out of our depth will always be to get on our knees. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'

• The book of Job in our Bible is testimony to our need to teach on suffering. It should be one of many themes in our ongoing Bible ministry. Maybe we don't do this enough and some then have a crisis of faith when they encounter prolonged suffering.

• God, in Christ, knows all about human suffering. Redemptive suffering is at the heart of our gospel. Jesus is the Servant familiar with suffering, the Saviour who suffered for our sins, and the Son whose high priestly ministry has been perfected through suffering. He understands our struggles and offers mercy and grace in time of need.

• Satan is a malignant reality who delights to see people suffer. His vicious powers are dedicated to challenging God, destroying all that is good and inflicting pain on humanity. But we know that nothing can separate us from God's love and that God has triumphed and will triumph over Satan!

• We also know that, while God permits suffering, He never abdicates sovereignty. There is no nook or cranny in the universe where He is not Lord; there is no catastrophic circumstance over which He has lost control. Therefore God's people can trust Him even when they do not understand, and believe that He can turn any tragedy into triumph.

• Sometimes the best thing we can do is to sit silently with those who are suffering. We are called to weep with those who weep. Sharing people's suffering is part of our ministry and of their healing.

• People who are suffering need us to be friends not professionals. They want someone they can trust and open their hearts to. Jesus shows us the way: compassionate, honest, sensitive to people's needs and always looking to fan sparks of faith.

• Let's listen before we speak, tuning in to what sufferers are finding difficult instead of being over-eager to tell them what they need. When we do speak, God's truth sets people free; it may sometimes challenge but it never condemns; and we have the Holy Spirit actively giving us spiritual gifts to comfort, strengthen and encourage.

• On occasions sufferers will be negative and withdraw. They may even turn their hurt and anger on us. This then becomes another way in which we help carry their burden. It can test relationships to the limit, but good shepherds don't abandon their sheep.

• We will often feel inadequate and think we've not done enough. I look back on occasions where I know I have failed people. Even the most loving pastor will find his tank empty at times. Draw from the Chief Shepherd's heart of infinite love and grace.

• Be aware that suffering causes people to reassess their lives and ask: What do I really value? What do I really believe? When everything else is stripped away, what does this reveal about me and my relationship with God? Suffering turns people's world upside down; but sometimes it turns it the right way up and casts them on God as never before.

• Believers may be troubled by theological questions when they are suffering. It is OK to admit when we don't know an answer - much better than bluffing or giving trite replies. Above all, don't attack people if they challenge your cherished doctrines, and watch out that you are not more concerned about how their suffering makes you look.

• Sufferers frequently display more wisdom and dignity than their ‘comforters'. At 26, Frank Gamble was struck down by an incurable disease which gradually bent him double. Occasionally someone would tell him he must have sinned. Frank wrote, ‘If God tells me that there is something that needs to be sorted out, I will respond immediately. In fact, I would do as He said even if I didn't have my illness. I am not obeying Him because I want to be healed but because I love Him' (Frank Gamble, Being Frank, Word, 1992).

• The steadfast faith of suffering saints glorifies God. Often we come away from such people feeling strengthened ourselves. We can encourage our people with this. Their trials, like Job's, may be serving God in ways they cannot comprehend now.

• Suffering can test people to the limit, but God doesn't desert His children. Job could say, ‘He knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold' (23:10). Many people point to episodes of serious suffering as times when they were aware of God as never before and their relationship with Him became stronger as a result.

• Don't take the burden of care all on yourself. The church is the body of Christ, a healing community where those in anguish can receive practical love. And the whole church can be mobilised in prayer.

• Remember Job's wife! We can easily overlook the suffering of carers, until they crash out, forgotten heroes. Pray for them and with them. Practical support will often be as much for them as for the primary sufferer.

• Don't be more ‘spiritual' than God who took Job for a walk and showed him the beauties and wonders of creation. Sometimes people need relief from the intensity of their troubles. Do we even detect some humour in God's mystery tour? Laughter is good medicine. Those suffering or caring often feel guilty about this, but shouldn't.

• The book climaxes with the glory of God. In their suffering people can be lifted with a vision of God's grandeur. John Piper writes, ‘People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. Our people need God-entranced preaching' (John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, Kingsway, 1990).