I’ve read many books on suffering.
The reasons are varied and complicated. I’m drawn to books that address the role of suffering in this world, because of my ever-present pull toward doubt and questioning, and toward my intellectual struggle with the concept of theodicy. I gravitate to books on this subject to help me answer questions from those whom God places in my path to minister to. I often read words and articles and chapters and books about suffering because so many of my favorite authors have written about it – C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Tim Keller….the list is long.
And, at the soul-level, where research intersects with pain, I grasp at these books to try to gain insight and find hope in the midst of the grief and suffering I have experienced in this world.
I would never, ever say that I am well-versed in the biblical, theological or academic treatment of the subject.
However, I would say that I am well-read.
Oftentimes, I come away from my reading with the proverbial “missing jigsaw piece” sensation – the information is solid, strong…helpful, even. But there’s a a detachment to it; as if the authors are stepping outside of the gritty, raw and suffocating reality of suffering to study it much as a scientist studies a virus through a microscope.
Not so, in Paul David Tripp’s book “Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense”.
Tripp not only has experienced jagged suffering; he is still in the throes of it, as he is currently learning to live the new normal of dealing with very painful and life-altering health issues. As such, the words he pens are written through gritted teeth suffering, as opposed to being written through a theologians or counselors lens only. The truths he has counseled hundreds and thousands of others in over the past many years, he is now having to preach to himself on an entirely new level.
What this real-ness does is amplify the hope for those of us reading Tripp’s words – he continually, beautifully and confidently points us to Christ, the only real answer to our darkest days. He teaches scriptural truth in the context of when it was written and then how it can be rightfully applied to our lives today. And, throughout it all, we are reminded that Tripp is living what he is writing. That viewpoint gives readers the assurance that the author is not just writing words without understanding, but instead if writing words soaked in understanding – and therefore we would do well to sit up, listen, and apply.
And, in his honesty, he invites us to be honest with our God:
God’s honesty about life in this broken world is a welcome to each of us to be just as honest. In fact, an entire book of the Bible (Psalms) is a script of the honest cries of God’s people—cries of confusion, doubt, and fear in the midst of the painful trials of life. God never reprimands us for being afraid. He never mocks us in our weakness. He never minimizes what we’re going through. He never turns his back on us when we wonder what he’s doing or why we’re facing what we’re facing. Not only can your Lord handle every bit of your honesty, but his Word is a welcome to be honest. – Tripp
Reading “Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense” was a little bit like my experience of reading C.S. Lewis’ book “A Grief Observed”. I had read Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain” – devoured it, really, as I did all Lewis texts. But it wasn’t until I read “A Grief Observed” that I truly appreciated his words in “The Problem of Pain.”
Tripp has achieved a similar balance; however, within one book as opposed to two, because he has written about suffering as he is suffering. That speaks volumes to the ever-present ache that simmers just below the surface in my own soul, plus gives me the confidence to share this as a resource to others in their own seasons of suffering.
