“If You call His Name” featuring Lucy Rutherford from the album “The Season of Singing” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

In Romans 8: St Paul tells us “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Now I am not suggested that God causes us suffering in order to bring out good from it- no what I am suggesting is that in this imperfect world bad things will happen but that God can bring good out of them. For example if we suffer bereavement we will be in a better position to have empathy for others who are bereaved. It is the same with illness – if we have suffered from an injury or complaint then we are better positioned to help and support others who find themselves in a similar position.

In comforting others we ourselves may find comfort, but can suffering actually help us become better people? When we go through bad times can this, in fact help us learn the importance of perseverance, make us stronger characters and help us appreciate more fully the good times in our lives?

I read somewhere that life is not about what happens to you but how you deal with what happens to you. It is going to be pretty much impossible to get through this life without having to endure some pain and suffering – somethings will happen beyond our control, however what we do have control over is the way in which we react. We can react positively or negatively to the bad things that come our way. On the loss of their baby Matt and Beth Redman wrote the song “Blessed be Your Name”

Blessed be Your Name when the sun’s shining down on me,

When the world is all that it should be,

Blessed be Your Name

Blessed be Your Name on the road marked with suffering,

Though there’s pain in the offering,

Blessed be Your Name

Selwyn Hughes says something similar in Monday’s Every Day with Jesus

The Christian faith is the most joyous faith in the world. It is not a Pollyanna type of religion that sees no evil; it sees the evil and recognises that God can turn evil into good. Buddhism looks at life and says “Life is suffering.” Christianity looks at life and says “Life is suffering- glory Hallelujah. Suffering can be transformed when God is invited into it.

I can appreciate that some will feel that this is unrealistic – it is looking at life through rose coloured spectacles- it is almost patronising to those who are suffering. I suppose it is back to what I said earlier – “Life is not about what happens to you but how you deal with what happens to you.”

One thing I would like to make clear and that is suffering is not easy to explain – there are no definitive answers and all I have been attempting to do in the past weeks is to try and make the issue less black and white – i.e. the only way to look at it is to say “How can there be a God if He allows suffering in the world?