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The Challenge of Preaching on Suffering

Preaching with balance in a world that brings suffering.

The Challenge of Preaching on Suffering

Why do good people suffer? Why does God allow cancer to exist? Why are Christians being persecuted around the world? These are questions every preacher is asked again and again. Over the course of church history there has been countless perspectives on the subject of human suffering. I have been a preacher of the gospel for three decades and in that short amount of time I have personally witnessed many preachers swing from one extreme to the other on this issue. Many preachers declare messages that would lead one to believe that if you live a certain way, make specific positive confessions, and give faithfully you can virtually lead a life without suffering. Typically the messages they preach begin to drastically change right around the time a particular illness or tragic event occurs in their personal life or to someone in their family. Others seem to believe that God wants all people to suffer extreme hardship and that this somehow is the key to absolute faith and higher levels of maturity. ...

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