{"id":85985,"date":"2025-03-23T16:28:54","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T21:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=85985"},"modified":"2025-03-23T16:28:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T21:28:54","slug":"but-it-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/but-it-hurts\/","title":{"rendered":"But It Hurts!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by David Gibson<\/p>\n<p>Why we suffer may be the most troubling of all questions. Atheists&#8217; strongest argument is: How could a good God permit suffering? It is important to know what the Bible says about this so we won&#8217;t lose faith or grow bitter.<\/p>\n<p>Suffering is a complex issue. It has no single cause.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sometimes we bring suffering on ourselves (I Peter 4:15).<\/li>\n<li>Often, we suffer when another person chooses to do wrong (II Timothy 4:14).<\/li>\n<li>Sometimes, God lets us suffer to bring about a greater good for others (Genesis 50:20).<\/li>\n<li>Or He may allow us to suffer to prevent us from sinning (II Corinthians 12:7-10).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When we suffer but do not know the reason, it is then especially important that we trust God. Suffering is a required course in the Christian curriculum (Hebrews 12:4-11). Some lessons we never learn otherwise (Psalms 119:67, 71; II Corinthians 1:8-10).<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a comforting thought: Jesus came down here to suffer with us and for us. He understands like no one else (Hebrews 4:14-16). He showed us how to suffer (Hebrews 12:1-3; I Peter 2:18-23). And to suffer nobly.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by David Gibson Why we suffer may be the most troubling of all questions. Atheists&#8217; strongest argument is: How could a good God permit suffering? It is important to know what the Bible says about this so we won&#8217;t lose faith or grow bitter. Suffering is a complex issue. It has no single cause. Sometimes&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[182,188],"class_list":["post-85985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55600,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/comfort-for-the-depressed\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":0},"title":"Comfort for the Depressed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny Felker In II Corinthians 1, Paul discusses what must have been one of the lowest points in his life, a time filled with deep feelings of anxiety and despair. He reports that in Asia he was \"burdened excessively, beyond... strength\" so that he \"despaired even of life\", having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/depressed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-benefits-of-suffering\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":1},"title":"Some Benefits of Suffering","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Waldron Via Guardian of Truth December 19, 1996 There is no problem in life more universal, more common, and more unique than that of suffering. It is a common malady of mankind; if we live long enough, we will experience some type or degree of suffering. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/suffering-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44453,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unashamed-of-the-shame\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":2},"title":"Unashamed of the Shame","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name\" (I Peter 4:15-16). There are many reasons why people suffer, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/willing-to-suffer\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":3},"title":"Willing to Suffer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ is not a bug, but a feature of the Christian's worldview. We realize that this is not, in itself, a selling point that would immediately cause people to flock to Jesus Christ. No one likes to suffer, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/hard-word-2-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-suffer-as-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":4},"title":"How to Suffer as a Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Since Christ calls us to suffer for Him (John 15:18-20; Acts 14:21-22; II Timothy 3:12), we do well to prepare ourselves spiritually and emotionally for this. One of the best sources for equipping Christians for suffering is First Peter. Peter writes from personal experience, having already been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/suffering-in-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":85985,"position":5},"title":"Suffering in Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Amid Peter discussing suffering and judgment, he mentions, \"baptism now saves\" (I Peter 3:21). Contextually, what baptism saves us from is God's judgment on a sinful world. The context from 3:14-4:19 is \"Suffering and Judgment.\" However, there are many ways baptism cannot save us from suffering because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}