Our Unbiblical Thinking About Suffering
Much of our thinking about suffering is unbiblical.
We tend to think that spiritual maturity somehow inoculates us against the pain of suffering. We falsely imagine that the more spiritually mature we are, the less emotional pain we will experience when we suffer.
The Apostle Paul Would Like to Have a Word with Us
There are few human beings who we would consider more spiritually mature than Paul. Yet Paul did not glide through suffering on some super spiritual cloud of emotional invulnerability or invincibility.
Consider just a few of Paul’s candid descriptions of his personal, emotional, experiential responses to suffering.
Paul felt his suffering was far beyond his ability to endure (2 Corinthians 1:8). Paul responded to his suffering by despairing of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8). Paul’s inner response to his external suffering was so traumatic that he felt that he had received the sentence of death (2 Corinthians 1:9). Paul felt hard pressed on every side (2 Corinthians 4:8). Paul was confused and perplexed in the midst of his suffering (2 Corinthians 4:8). Paul repeatedly desperately pleaded with the Lord to take away his suffering (2 Corinthians 12:8). Paul experienced intense
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