Dear Friend, We Know You’re Hurting
You have probably found this page because you are deeply hurting or know someone who is. Some storm has arisen in your life, and you long for an anchor, for light, for a new day, for courage to weather the waves, and for someone to shout at the fury surrounding you, “Be still!”
We don’t know where you are in your journey—numbed by frozen waves crashing over you that you didn’t expect, or rowing with all your might while longing for rest, or out of a storm and into in the calm while wondering how to understand what has happened to you. But we do know that for every emotion you feel, for every stage of your journey, and for every dimension of your pain, God has offered counsel and comfort in his Word, the Bible.
We have prayed that as you engage with our site’s content, God will minister to you by his Holy Spirit, which is something only he can do. We are confident that God “is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:19 NLT).
Will You Do This One Thing Before You Explore?
But before you read these pages, we ask you to pray, to take a moment to ask God for help. Even if you have never prayed before, that’s alright. God hears all who call upon him in sincere faith (Romans 10:13).
Here’s why we ask that you pray: We need God’s help when thinking about such serious and difficult things.
In the Bible, God responds to our questions about pain and suffering wholistically. He addresses our pain clearly and coherently, he gives us examples of other believers who have been in pain, and he provides us with words to express our pain, and with comfort to permeate our deepest hurts.
But sometimes we can’t bear emotionally all that the Bible says. For God’s ways and his thoughts are higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8), and some mysteries in the Bible are beyond our understanding (Deuteronomy 29:29). Sometimes God doesn’t answer all of our questions, and we must choose whether to trust him or not.
But God’s Word does give us hope as we weather life’s storms. And so we ask him to do for us what only his Spirit can do—to give us the joy and peace of trusting what he says so that our hope may abound (Romans 15:13).
Why Do We Open the Bible in Life’s Storms?
We also pray to God for help because he is the best person to help. He is the ultimate Comforter and the Wonderful Counselor (2 Corinthians 1:3; Isaiah 9:6). The Bible says many practical things, but its answers to our suffering are unlike what we can find anywhere else. Dealing with suffering biblically is about entering into a personal relationship. The Bible is not primarily a manual for how to sail through life’s storms. It’s primarily a story about the God of the Seas, about our Lord, Jesus Christ, who personally knows the ocean’s overwhelming power because he has sailed it himself. Having come through a storm worse than any we can endure for our sake, he offers to come and captain our ships—not only to get us through life’s storms, but so that we may know him personally.
Would You Open Your Ear to Scripture?
No matter what you think right now of the God of the Bible, are you willing to consider the possibility that he exists, that the Bible is his Word given to you out of his love, and then hear what he has to say? If you are willing to take up that challenge, then please pray before engaging in these pages on suffering. Ask God to make his truth, his goodness, and his glory known to you, and to help you understand what he says in his Word.
“May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word.” (Psalm 119:169 NIV)