by Dennis Gladden, By Green Pastures, ©2025
(Jun. 12, 2025) — This is a brief guide about suffering with practical tips for handling it.
It is not an anthology culled from a library’s worth of material. Nor is it the concoction of ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence. These are my gleanings from Bible study and personal experience.
There are six sections. Each presents a cause of suffering, my brief observations, and advice about how to respond effectively. We often deal with suffering improperly because we do not trace its source.
So much has been written on this subject; why add to it? Each writer’s voice is unique, and I hope you hear something here in a way you haven’t heard before. Its brevity and simplicity may make this guide particularly helpful.
In releasing this, I pray the Lord will make it a table from which He serves His word according to your need, whether for strength, comfort, conviction, or patience to endure. Whatever your circumstance, may you discover the comfort David experienced at the hands of the Good Shepherd: Surely, goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.
1. Suffering when you do wrong
Root cause:
Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. (1 Peter 4:15).
What credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? (1 Peter 2:20).
Observations:
We have pretty much abandoned the principle that wrongdoing has consequences. Who adheres to the practice, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”? Another Substack writer said recently that “systems” that are contrary to natural law are what oppress us.
As I read the post, I wondered: And who devised these “systems”?
This promotes the popular notion that we are victims. You are squeezing me and I hurt. Whatever is wrong isn’t my fault. Blame my parents. Blame the government. Blame the schools. Blame you.
This contradicts the ancient wisdom: Do wrong, and you will suffer for it. God established it when He warned the first humans: Disobey, and you will forfeit the life I gave. Not only that, but sorrow will dog you all the days of your life.
God kept His word. We disobeyed and have suffered ever since. Every funeral reminds us that wrongdoing has consequences.
Until recently, generations understood Peter’s admonition: Don’t expect praise for taking it calmly when you are punished. Murder, stealing, conniving, meddling—any wrongdoing—reaps its just reward.
What to do:
- Discard the victim card. Own your misconduct and accept the punishment. Pay your just dues. (Suffering unjustly comes under the next heading.)
- Repent. Reverse what you think about the behavior that landed you in trouble. Don’t exonerate it, don’t excuse it. Stop what you are doing wrong and prevent the suffering it brings.
We smile at the joke, but it applies. A man went to the doctor complaining of sharp pain in his eye whenever he drank coffee. The doctor prescribed a simple remedy: “Take the spoon out of the cup before you drink.”- Take the Apostle Peter’s counsel to heart: Let none of you suffer for wrongdoing.
2. Suffering when you do right
Root cause:
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:22–23).
Observations:
Jesus is the best example of suffering when you do things right. He obeyed God explicitly and without fail, yet was subjected to the horrific torture of the cross.
I’ve heard people say, “Jesus tried to please everyone, and look where it got Him.”
Not true. Jesus looked to please only His Father. When you seek to live as He did, expect the same.
The question often comes up: Why do bad things happen to good people? I say it is because the worst happened to the best. We crucified the Son of God. Jesus endured suffering because He is like His Father: long-suffering.
Read the rest here.