Adapted from a message given at the 2024 ACBC Annual Pre-conference
by Pastor Nathan Currey, ACBC Fellow
I can tell you from personal experience that sickness and suffering have done more to grow my hope in Christ than anything else.
In 2015, we started hearing from our daughter Rebekah that she was having stomach pain, headaches, and various other ailments. By 2018, the symptoms were bad enough to warrant consulting specialists and physicians of all sorts—over fifteen.
Rebekah couldn't function at college anymore in 2021. We brought her home, where she stayed in a dark room battling a constant headache, insomnia, and pain.
Finally, we got a proper diagnosis and she began treatment, which has continued for almost five years since.
Looking back at this journey, I can tell you that I was in the kindergarten class of giving hope to sufferers, although I had become an ACBC certified counselor in 2006 and a Fellow in 2014.
By 2020, in the throes of Rebekah’s suffering, I had preached a series of five sermons titled "Lamentations for Today: Honestly Facing Suffering and Sorrow in the Light of God’s Sovereign and Steadfast Love." The first sermon was from Lamentations 3:15–24. This passage, beginning with verse 15 below, demonstrates that Christian hope in suffering is not based on wishful positive thinking but in God Almighty’s character and track record.
Lamentations 3:15–24 (ESV)
"He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with wormwood.
"He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, "My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord."
"Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
Christian hope for suffering is not based on wishful positive thinking but on the character and track record of God Almighty.
Hope in God’s Sovereignty Over Our Suffering
Leading up to verse 15 of the Lamentations passage, we read the word "He" seventeen times. "He" brought some sort of suffering. Then, beginning with verse 15, the count climaxes to three more, for a total of twenty.
What does it mean that God is sovereign over suffering?
It means that nothing ever happens in the universe outside of God’s perfect plan. The Westminster Confession of Faith III:I says:
God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
What does the Bible say about what God is sovereign over?
Seemingly random things:
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33).
The heart of the most powerful person in the land:
"The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1).
Our daily lives and plans:
"A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?" (Proverbs 20:24)
Our salvation:
"‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:15–16).
Life and death:
"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand" (Deuteronomy 32:39).
Disabilities:
"Then the Lord said to [Moses], ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord’" (Exodus 4:11)?
Evil things:
"‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. . . . Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips" (Job 1:21–22; 2:10).
"[God] had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave" (Psalm 105:17).
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:20).
The death of Jesus:
Jesus, [who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men" (Acts 2:23).
All things:
"[God] . . . works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).
God’s absolute sovereignty is undeniable.
If He were not sovereign, He would not be God. I know I’ve belabored this point, but it’s the critical foundation for our responses to suffering, pain, and sorrow.
The absolute sovereignty of God is what the prophet Jeremiah was confessing and trusting in (Jeremiah 18:1–11). He was putting into practice Ecclesiastes 7:13, "Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?" Verse 14 of Ecclesiastes 7 says, "In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other."
Providence is God working out His sovereign plan in a day-by-day way. God orders our lives and steps moment by moment, and from our perspective, we can view His providence (His working) in different ways. "God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions" (Westminster Shorter Catechism). John Murray has a picturesque way of describing this. He wrote, "There are favorable or smiling providences and there are what appear to be dark, cross or frowning providences." [1]
Our lives resemble the making of a tapestry. The back of it seems to be a mass of tangled and purposeless threads, while on the front, a beautiful picture is taking shape.
"The Weaving"
Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand,
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned. [2]
—Anonymous, as quoted by Corrie Ten Boom
Call Out to God to Remember You
"Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me."
(Lamentations 3:19–20)
Honestly call out to God with your complaint. Put words to your feelings of hopelessness.
I thought we were supposed to do all things without complaining. That’s biblical right? Yes, but it can easily turn into a kind of stoicism that is just out of touch with reality in a broken and fallen world. Feelings such as grief, sorrow, and sadness are diagnosed as "disorders" today when, in most situations, those feelings are honest, realistic, and, dare I say normal.
God wired us to grieve over loss. Jesus did. We grieve over our sin when the Holy Spirit convicts us. The unbiblical "Pretend like everything is okay" attitude is vanity and deception. The attitude "Put on a stiff upper lip; tough it out; no pain, no gain" is not being ultra-spiritual.
Laments often start with some expression of despair.
Jeremiah gave voice to his trouble; he spelled it out and called God to remember his complaint. Lamenting is calling God’s omniscience and infinite wisdom to action. He knows all things beginning to end, inside out, backward and forward; He knows all things visible and invisible. This is God’s omniscience. Jeremiah was so bold as to tell God to remember. Forgetful human beings that we are, yet we are called to call God to remember!?
God told us to boldly approach the throne of grace with our prayers and petitions, our cares and our sorrows (Hebrews 4:16). Even though God already knows everything, He desires to hear from His children about all our needs, cares, and concerns.
Application
Spoken or written prayers of lament are so useful. They allow us to hear and think through what is actually going on. They help to bring definition and clarity. They give color and shape to what we’re feeling in our hearts. They allow us to notice sin and confess it if necessary. They help us biblically refine and inspect our reactions and responses to pain and suffering.
Call to Mind
"But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope."
(Lamentations 3:21)
This is huge! This is so important! This is a turning point from hopelessness and despair to hope. We have to take notice! This is critically important. How does this miserable sufferer get hope?
He calls to mind the character and track record of his God!
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness."
(Lamentations 3:22-23)
"In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God," [3] —John Bunyan
You are not a victim of your circumstances and a slave to your feelings! You have a powerful God who indwells you so that by His strength you can call to mind.
You can exert intentional focus of your thoughts and attention off of your situation and onto God’s character.
God’s Steadfast Love
Hesed: kindness, lovingkindness in condescending to the needs of his creatures.
God’s New Morning Mercies
Racham: tender love, great, tender mercy, pity. In light of what we deserve we should be shocked that God saves us by his mercy. That mercy is new every day for the new sins I commit every day.
God’s Great Faithfulness
Emunah: literally firmness, steadiness, stability, trustworthiness, fidelity.
At this point, you are not telling God about your great pain and suffering. You are telling your pain and suffering about your great God!
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
(Lamentations 3:24)
Eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel were given allotments or portions of land in the promised land of Canaan. However, the Levites (the priests) were not. They were not tied down to an earthly plot; they had no land to work for produce or to graze livestock. They had to get everything they needed, down to their daily bread, directly from the LORD himself.
"The Lord said to Aaron (the Levites), "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel" (Numbers 18:20).
For any grief and suffering, we can be completely satisfied and fully supplied through hope in the Lord.
Not hope in myself, toughing it out. Not hope in a change of circumstances. Not hope in hitting the lottery. Not hope in getting a new girlfriend, a new wife, a new school, a new job, a new house, or a new church. Not hope in me finding the right doctor, the right medicine, the right procedure, the right therapy, the right diet, the right lawyer, or the right judge.
Those may be the secondary causes for God’s love, mercy, and faithfulness to flow, but realize the following, as the Psalmist did in Psalm 20:6–7:
"Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
Conclusion
Hope in the Man of Sorrows who suffered according to God’s sovereign plan: "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men" (Acts 2:23).
Hope in the Man of Sorrows who called to God in desperate lament to remember him: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46)?
Hope in the Man of Sorrows who sweated drops of blood, cried out, fail on His face, and prayed: "‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’" (Matthew 26:39).
Hope in the Man of Sorrows "who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin" (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).
Hope in the Man of Sorrows and boldly "approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16 NIV).
Isaiah 53:3–11
"He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
"Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows; . . .
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed. . . .
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?"
Even though Jesus knew this was God’s sovereign plan for Him, He called to mind this truth about his steadfast love, His new morning mercies, and His faithfulness to save a people by His sovereign plan, as stated in Isaiah 53:10-11:
It was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief; . . .
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
In August 2022, we called the church elders to pray for our daughter Rebekah. They came, laid hands on her, and prayed for her healing. Later that month, she was able to return to college, and with a testimony she shared. I was granted permission to share it with you.
She wrote:
Today was a big day for me. It may seem weird that I cried over a picture of my room, but there’s so much more to it. Within this room, this bed, and these four walls there has been so much suffering, so many tears, and so much grief.
Lyme disease and all that has come with it has been the hardest battle of my life that took everything from me. I spent every minute of every day stuck in my bed with constant pain and no light. It felt so freeing to finally open the curtains today and let the light in after 9 months of darkness and so much pain.
Over these 9 months, I have learned so many hard and amazing lessons that have changed me and have changed my relationship with God. I love the verse that says in God is no darkness, and that darkness is as light with Him. I now understand what that means on a deeper level. Even in the darkness of my room, God’s light was shining.
He gave me hope, joy, peace, comfort, and the greatest gift of a relationship with Him. It doesn’t make logical sense why I could have hope, joy, peace, and comfort, but I did. I had a lot of really hard days, but God gave me the strength and the courage I needed to keep fighting and to endure and lean on Him. It was anything but easy to not be constantly weighed down by the never-ending pain and suffering that I was going through, but I made the choice to continue to trust God and He gave me the strength to continue to trust Him and to surrender to Him and His plan for my life.
Sometimes I gave in to the pain and the deep darkness, but God used His Word and the people around me to shine a light into my life. Now I am headed back to college and starting the next chapter of my life after so much growth and I’m ready to continue growing. I’m ready to continue to always be growing closer to God. He is my joy, my hope, my peace, and my comfort no matter what comes in this next chapter of life. Nothing in all the world can separate me from the love of God. May His light shine bright through me so that He may be glorified.
by Pastor Nathan Currey, ACBC Fellow
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture was taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Underlining and bolding in Scripture verses is the writer’s emphasis.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1. John J. Murray, Behind a Frowning Providence, accessed March 31, 2025, https://www.withallthymind.com/biblestudy/readings/grief/Behind_a_Frowning_Providence2.pdf.
2. "Tramp for the Lord," Google Books, accessed March 31, 2025, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tramp_for_the_Lord/SKzPah180_MC.
3. "The Entire Works of John Bunyan," Google Books, accessed March 31, 2025, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Entire_Works_of_John_Bunyan/rYQxAQAAIAAJ
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