Why do God’s children undergo pressures, suffering, and deadly peril? Paul answers clearly: “that we might not rely on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:11). God uses our weakness and inadequacy not only to build our character, but also to manifest His strength and grace to us and through us.

God’s Word contains countless expressions of concern and anguish about the hard times people experience and the fact that they sometimes don’t feel God’s closeness. In this fallen world, “Why?” is a common question.

The fact that we really don’t know what Paul’s thorn was turns out to be both merciful and instructive to us. It’s merciful because, given the various possibilities, we all can identify with Paul to some degree in our afflictions. It’s instructive because what Paul’s thorn was isn’t the point. The point is what God’s purpose was for the thorn.

Some Christians constantly assign this mishap to Satan, that one to evil people, another to themselves, still others to God. Sometimes they are right, but how can they be sure which is which? Second Corinthians 12 makes clear that God works through everything that comes our way, no matter whom it comes from. 

Recently, I was interviewed on The Thinking Out Loud Podcast with Kevin and Kyle. In our conversation, which centered around my book If God Is Good, we discussed evil and suffering, faith, healing and much more. The last year and a half have been tough on many people in many ways, (including for us as Nanci battles cancer), so the subject of suffering feels especially pertinent right now.

Randy was interviewed on the For the Gospel Podcast with Costi Hinn. In this clip, Randy talks why he wrote If God Is Good.

It’s not so much the burdens themselves that automatically lead to reward. It’s our heart response to them that matters: the character-byproducts produced and the heart of faith that trusts Jesus even when things don’t make sense from our perspective.

Tim Challies, one of my favorite writers, recently wrote some reflections about Psalm 23. He and his family have walked through a dark valley after the sudden death of their 20-year-old son Nick last year. Like many before him, he has found deep comfort in this psalm.

In times of crisis we try to make sense of life. We crave perspective for our minds and relief for our hearts. We need our worldview realigned by God’s inspired Word: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).