What does the Bible say about suffering?
The Bible does not explain every sorrow, but it gives us words to lament, a Savior who suffered, and a promise that pain will not have the last word.
The Bible does not give a neat formula that explains every sorrow, but it says a great deal about suffering, and all of it is honest. Its answer comes in four parts. First, suffering was not part of God’s original good creation; it entered the world through sin and the brokenness that followed. Second, not all suffering is punishment for something a person did, and Scripture warns against assuming that it is. Third, God has not stayed at a distance: in Jesus he entered human pain, suffered, and died, so that no sufferer prays to a God who does not understand. Fourth, suffering will not have the last word. God can bring good out of it now, and one day he will end it completely. In the meantime, the Bible gives suffering people permission to lament, to ask why, and to lean on others.
If you are in pain right now and it feels too heavy to carry, please do not carry it alone. There is a note near the end of this page with places to reach out.
Suffering was not part of the original design.
Genesis begins with a world God called very good. Pain, frustration, and death come in only after humanity turns away from God, and the curse that follows touches work, relationships, and the ground itself (Genesis 3:17-19). Paul describes the whole creation as affected:
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
— Romans 8:22 (BSB)
Notice the image. Childbirth pains are real pain, but they are also pains that lead somewhere. The world’s suffering is the groaning of a creation waiting to be made new. That is why the Bible can call suffering an intruder while still holding out hope.
Not all suffering is punishment.
One of the oldest instincts in the human heart is to assume that suffering must be deserved. Job’s friends argued this at length, and at the end of the book God said they had not spoken rightly. Jesus confronted the same idea when his disciples saw a man born blind:
1 Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, 2 and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him. 4 While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
— John 9:1-5 (BSB)
In another place, people told Jesus about a tragedy in the news, and he asked whether the victims were worse sinners than everyone else. His answer was no (Luke 13:1-5). Sin does sometimes bring painful consequences, and Scripture says so. But the Bible forbids us from reading someone’s pain as a verdict on their character, including our own.
The Bible gives suffering people words to pray.
Much of Scripture was written by people in anguish, and God kept their words for us. The Psalms include more laments than any other kind of song. Lamentations was written in the ruins of Jerusalem, yet in the middle of the grief, the writer holds on to this:
22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
— Lamentations 3:22-23 (BSB)
The prophet Habakkuk faced the prospect of invasion and famine, and his book ends with a remarkable confession of faith:
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, 18 yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
— Habakkuk 3:17-18 (BSB)
These prayers do not skip the pain. They name it in detail, then look to God anyway. That is what lament is: faith that complains to God rather than walking away from him. Even Jesus, on the cross, prayed the opening words of a lament psalm, crying out and asking why he had been forsaken (Matthew 27:46).
And Scripture promises that God draws near to exactly these people: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
God entered suffering in Jesus.
The center of the Bible’s answer to suffering is not an argument but a person. Seven centuries before Jesus, Isaiah described a servant of the Lord who would suffer on behalf of others:
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4 Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
— Isaiah 53:3-5 (BSB)
Christians read this as a portrait of Jesus. He was a man of sorrows. He wept at a friend’s grave, was betrayed by a friend, was mocked, beaten, and crucified. The book of Hebrews draws out what that means for us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) The cross does not answer every question about suffering, but it answers the most painful one: whether God cares. He cared enough to suffer with us and for us.
God can bring good out of suffering without calling it good.
Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, looked back years later and said that what they intended for evil, God intended for good (Genesis 50:20). Paul expresses the same confidence in a verse many Christians hold onto in dark seasons: “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
That verse does not say that all things are good. It says God is at work in them. Paul also describes the kind of good he means:
3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
— Romans 5:3-5 (BSB)
Suffering can produce endurance, character, and hope. It is not the only way God grows his people, and no one should go looking for it. But when it comes, it is not wasted.
Paul knew this personally. He pleaded three times for God to remove a painful “thorn in my flesh,” and God answered not by removing it but by promising that his grace would be sufficient and his power made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Suffering will not have the last word.
The Bible looks forward to a day when suffering ends. Paul weighs present pain against future glory and concludes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) Elsewhere he calls present troubles “light and momentary” compared with an eternal weight of glory, not because they are small, but because what is coming is so much greater (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The final picture in Revelation is of God himself wiping every tear from his people’s eyes, where death, mourning, crying, and pain are no more (Revelation 21:4).
What the Bible does not say.
The Bible does not say that faithful people will be spared hardship. Peter told believers not to be surprised by fiery trials, as though something strange were happening (1 Peter 4:12).
The Bible does not say you must be cheerful about your pain. Lament is part of Scripture, and God received those prayers.
The Bible does not say every suffering has a reason you will understand in this life. Job never learned why he suffered. What he received instead was God himself, and he said that where he had only heard of God, now his eyes had seen him (Job 42:5).
What this looks like when you are hurting.
Tell God the truth. Pray a lament psalm such as Psalm 13 or Psalm 42 in your own words. You do not have to tidy up your feelings first.
Let others carry some of it. Paul told the church to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Let a friend or your church know what you are facing.
Look after your body. Sleep, food, and medical care are gifts from God. If pain, grief, or low mood is overwhelming you, please see a doctor. Scripture is not a substitute for a doctor or a pastor.
Reach out if you are in danger. If you ever feel that you might harm yourself, reach out right now: in the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123; in Australia, Lifeline on 13 11 14; in Canada, 988; or find your country’s line at https://findahelpline.com. Asking for help is not a lack of faith.
Where faithful Christians differ.
Christians agree that God is good, that he is sovereign, and that he will end suffering. They differ in how they describe God’s relationship to evil and pain in the present. Reformed Christians emphasize that God ordains all things, including hardship, for wise purposes. Others emphasize that God permits suffering as the cost of a world with real human freedom, while working to redeem it. Christians also differ on how often to expect God to heal or rescue in this life. All agree that God is never the author of sin, that he is present with sufferers, and that the cross and resurrection are the ground of our hope.
Bringing your suffering to God.
If you are suffering today, you do not need to understand it before you pray. Begin with a lament and let the psalmist lend you words. Read Isaiah 53 and look at the Savior who carried sorrow. Find a local church that will sit with you rather than hurry you along. The Bible’s steady promise is that the God who suffered for you will not let your pain be the end of the story.
For more, see Romans 8:28 explained, what the Bible says about death and grief, and what the Bible says about prayer.