“David sure seems to complain a lot.” These were the words of thirteen-year-old yours truly after reading through the Psalms for the first time. Even in my unsophisticated (and apparently unsympathetic) reading, it was obvious that many of the Psalms contained lament. In over two decades since my initial foray into the Psalter, I have come to realize that suffering is a real and even constant part of life, even for Christians. Physical pain, grieved memories, regret for things done or left undone, pressure or even persecution for the sake of Christ—the list could go on and on. In the words of my seminary professor Dr. Bryan Estelle, sometimes it is harder for Christians to suffer because we know that our Father is both all-powerful and good. What is his purpose for us in suffering, then? This is the focus of Kenneth Berding and Keith R. Krell in their new book God’s Purposes in Our Pain: 10 Ways God Uses Suffering for Our Good. This book focuses on ten of the apostle Paul’s statements in his second epistle to the Corinthians, which especially brings suffering into focus.
Main Argument and Overview
In this book, Why do Christians suffer? is the equivalent of asking To what end do Christians suffer? It is a book about “God’s future-looking purposes” in bringing his children through trials and tribulations (2). The authors realize that God’s purposes are multifaceted and cannot be explained completely in a short (or even long) book (4). Therefore, they focus on ten explicit statements from 2 Corinthians where the “so that” of suffering is made clear (1). (It should be noted that the appendix lists a number of other reasons for suffering from both the Old and New Testaments.)
Berding and Krell argue that this book will give the reader a much-needed “clear biblical answer to the problem of why Christians suffer” (1, emphasis original). The reader should keep in mind that these authors are not confessionally Reformed, and I do not agree with everything they write, but they seek to be faithful to Scripture, so there is much to learn and be reminded of in this volume. As Berding and Krell progress through these ten passages, four main overarching themes for God’s purposes in our suffering begin to emerge. First, God uses suffering to help you help others (chapters 1 and 7). Second, God uses suffering to help you trust him more (chapters 2, 5, and 8). Third, God uses suffering to glorify himself in your eyes and the eyes of those who are watching (chapters 3 and 4). Finally, God uses suffering to sanctify his children (chapters 6, 9, and 10). The authors have crafted a number of memorable lines that drive home the main point of the passage, such as “Instead of comfort making us comfortable, Paul emphasizes that God’s comfort makes us spiritually strong” (14), or “Sharing in another’s suffering draws people together” (81). Chapter 5 is my favorite, where the authors tackle 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:10, noting that God will often use suffering to increase our yearning for the future glory of the life everlasting.
Assessment
This book has a number of strengths. Berding and Krell write on a popular level that all believers can understand, even though the content of the various chapters is often deep and profound (and sometimes heavy). As mentioned above, no single book can adequately explore the topic of suffering, but in these 142 pages you will find much comfort and edification.
This book is not a commentary or even a collection of sermons, but it does follow the logic of each Scripture passage under consideration. You will not walk away as an expert in the nitty-gritty details of these sections of 2 Corinthians, but you will come to a greater understanding of their main points, which is what you really need in the face of suffering. The authors do a good job of interspersing examples from their own lives and the lives of other Christians to illustrate these points.
Berding and Krell do a fine job of offering practical applications in situations of suffering. For example, I appreciated their list of the type of things not to say to a sufferer (16), as well as their caution about how to walk with a friend who may be suffering in order to repent of sin (75). They also preemptively ask and answer some thoughts and objections their readers will have and spend time pastorally walking through tough questions. One example is their discussion about why God glorifies himself (45–47).
Most helpful of all, this book will point you to your God and Savior even as you walk through the adversity of this vale of tears (Heidelberg Catechism 26). When suffering, we are often left overwhelmed by doubt and pain, since that is what we are experiencing. Berding and Krell pastorally remind us that there is more than just our lived experience: God is at work in us by his Son through his Spirit, bringing us ever closer to the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting where he will wipe every tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4).
Each chapter also ends with reflection questions. This is helpful whether you are going through this book with a group or on your own. There can be a temptation to speed-read through a book like this when you are suffering since you are often simply trying to find an answer and feeling desperate. Thinking through these study questions forces you to take a little more time and slow down, really wrestling through what Scripture teaches you about some of God’s purposes in your suffering.
As far as weaknesses, this book, I believe, could use more gospel comfort and assurance before asking things like, “How’s your trust?” (26). In fairness, this question (and those like it) probably strike readers differently depending on whether or not they are experiencing profound suffering as they are reading this book. Those who are currently suffering probably could have used a bit more couching in the gospel and the realization that the Lord will sovereignly use this trial to increase their trust, even as they have a responsibility to trust their Savior more.
This volume also misses some biblical-theological concepts, such as the discussion of “tent” and “house” from 2 Corinthians 5 (55–56), which I believe implies tabernacle and temple notions. God’s Purposes in Our Pain is not meant to be a biblical theology of suffering, but some more redemptive-historical connections might have strengthened the points the authors were making by bringing in the larger scriptural context in which 2 Corinthians was written.
Recommendation
God’s Purposes in Our Pain is a book that would benefit every Christian, no matter their vocation or stage in life. If you are someone who is currently suffering, this book will give you a better understanding of what God is doing through your painful trials, and it will also give you greater confidence in your Father’s sovereignty and his grace to you in Christ. If you are a pastor or elder, this book will help you better sympathetically shepherd suffering congregants, and it is also a good book to have in your arsenal of recommendations as you will doubtless be bringing Christ to sufferers in this vale of tears.
©Christopher Smith. All Rights Reserved.
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Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith is originally from Bellevue, Nebraska. A graduate of Westminster Seminary California (MDiv, 2019; MA in Historical Theology, 2020) and Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (ThM in Systematic Theology, 2026). He is associate pastor of Phoenix URC in the United Reformed Churches of North America.
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