How can God allow suffering and evil in the world? from A Passion for Life on Vimeo.

• Making Sense of Suffering – Part 1 (1 hr 12 min)
• Making Sense of Suffering – Part 2 (57 min)
• Making Sense of Suffering – Part 3 (1 hr 8 min)
• Gospel Reflections on Trials and Tribulations (52 min)

What Dr. Carson is attempting to do in these lectures is to prepare us in advance to suffer and to help us make sense of suffering sometime after the fact. This is an excellent series that is quite comprehensive and will make you think. Dr. Carson is an excellent speaker who combines  intelligent thought with a Gospel infused tender mercy. If you can only listen to one lecture I encourage you to listen to the fourth lecture entitled Gospel Reflections on Trials and Tribulations (52 min)

Dr. Carson’s book  How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006.) is  an outstanding book on the subject and I can’t recommend it enough.

Carson hits the nail on the head when he says that we must prepare for suffering ahead of time.  When we are in the midst of suffering we should cling to the Jesus Christ, the promises of God that we find in the Bible, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Genesis 37:31-33

Accordingly, God humbles those who are His to exalt them; He kills them to make them alive; He confounds them to glorify them; He makes them subject to raise them up. This is the art of arts and science of sciences which is not usually learned or discovered except with great toil and by a few; but it is nevertheless sure and certain, as this example testifies, for what is stated in Psalm 105:21 is true: “The Lord appointed Joseph king of Egypt and lord and savior of many.” How? By having him sold, cast off, killed. These are works of God which are not understood unless they are fulfilled and completed. In the meantime, however, while they are being carried out, they cannot be grasped except by faith alone. For it is necessary simply to hold fast to this: “I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, Maker of heaven and earth, etc.”

In the same manner, when I am about to depart from this life, I support myself with this consolation that I believe in God’s Son. And yet I am buried; I am eaten by worms; I am consumed by the most foul rottenness, as Job says (Job 17:14): “I said to the rottenness, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worms, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister.’ ” Here I do not discern God’s plan, that although I die and rot away, I must at some time be revived. But God has promised and said (John 14:19): “You will live, for I live, and you will live. I am the Lord your God!” How? In eternal life and with a more beautiful and brighter body than the body of the sun. At present I do not see or feel this, but I believe it and suffer this very short delay. For this life has already been prepared, and in the meantime the crown of the kingdom and glory is being prepared “which the Lord will give me on that Day, the righteous Judge,” as Paul says (2 Timothy 4:8), “and not only to me, but also to those who love His coming.”

But all these things are done in a hidden manner, and so the wonderful concealment of God must be borne and endured. Jacob and Joseph do not see the crown of the kingdom, nor do the brothers adore him on bended knees, as will happen later in Egypt, but by this selling future events are being prepared, and before God they are regarded as past and over. With our God this is as if it had already taken place. It certainly comes to pass!

Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 6 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 31-37, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s Works (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1970). 6:401.

If you have been following along in the sermon series on 1st Peter you know that the Apostle worked diligently to keep disciples of Jesus Christ attuned to how God was at work in the midst of their struggles.  I know that for most Christians it’s relatively straightforward to acknowledge, at least at a theoretical level, that God is conforming us to the image of Christ through difficulties (Romans 8:28-29). For most of us the discouragement comes when we cannot see tangible signs of how our hardships fit into the “big picture” of God’s plan to redeem the universe (Ephesians 3:7-13) . John Piper has written a recent blog post that is relevant to this issue which reads in part….

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God cannot make plain all he is doing, because there are millions and millions and millions and millions of effects of every event in your life, the good and the bad. God guides them all. They all have micro purposes and macro purposes. He cannot tell you all of them because your brain can’t hold all of them.

Trust does not demand more than God has told us. And he has given us immeasurably precious promises that he is in control of all things and only does good to his children. And he has given us a very thick book where we can read story after story after story about how he rules for the good of his people.

Let’s trust him and not ask for what our brains cannot contain.

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Read the whole thing and see an illustration of this point by clicking HERE

This week’s section is central to our understanding of the entire letter and for understanding how we are to live honorable lives in dishonorable times. Peter focuses our attention on living honorably before unbelievers and before other believers.

1 Peter 2:11-12 is the pivotal passage in 1 Peter so it might be helpful to see it in several different English translations.

(ESV) Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

(GNB) I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.

(HCSB) Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do evil, they may, by observing your good works, glorify God in a day of visitation.

(TNIV) Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

1. When you are wronged, are you more likely to let it go, fight for your rights or get even?

2. Check out how the phrase “day of visitation” is used in the Old Testament: Isaiah 10:3; Jeremiah 27:22. Check out how this phrase is used in the New Testament: Luke 1:68; Luke 7:16; Luke 19:44. How does the visitation/return/judgment of God effect your perspective on the evil done by others? Does is give you comfort? How does it make you think and feel about your own destiny? How does it make you think and feel about what will happen to oppressors?

3. The word Submit (1 Peter 2:13) is a military term meaning “to arrange in military fashion under the commander,” “to put oneself in an attitude of submission.” See how this theme of humble submission is found in Proverbs 24:21; Jeremiah 29:4-14; Matthew 22:21; 1 Timothy 2:1; Hebrews 10:32-34. Compare Peter’s exhortation to the Apostle Paul’s message to the Christians living in Rome found in Romans 12, Romans 13:1-10. How do you generally react to commands to obey? What factors contribute to your response when others exercise authority over you?

4. In relation to suffering, 1 Peter 2:21 says, “To this you were called.” What is your reaction to this?

5. How can Christ’s example (1 Peter 2:21-23) help you when you are mistreated? Beyond his example, what benefits has Christ’s suffering produced (1 Peter 2:24-25)?