How does doctrine help me in times of suffering?
Question 11073
When suffering comes—and it will come—what we believe about God, about His purposes, and about His promises becomes either an anchor or an afterthought. Doctrine is not abstract theology for comfortable times; it is the solid ground beneath our feet when everything else gives way.
Job understood this. After losing his children, his wealth, his health, and the support of his wife, he declared: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26). This was doctrine sustaining him—the truth of resurrection, the certainty of vindication, the reality of a living Redeemer. His emotions were devastated, his circumstances incomprehensible, but his doctrine held.
Doctrine Tells Us Who God Is
In suffering, our first instinct is often to ask “Why?” But before we can process the “why,” we need to know “who.” Who is this God in whose universe suffering occurs? Doctrine answers that question.
Scripture teaches that God is sovereign—He rules over all things, including our suffering. Joseph, after years of betrayal, slavery, and imprisonment, could say to his brothers: “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). This is profound doctrine. The same event had two meanings—human evil and divine purpose—and God’s purpose prevailed. This doesn’t minimise the evil; it puts it in a framework where it serves something greater.
Doctrine also tells us that God is good. James 1:17 declares: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” When suffering tempts us to doubt God’s goodness, doctrine reminds us that His character is unchanging. Our circumstances have shifted; He has not.
And doctrine assures us that God is present. Psalm 23:4 says: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” The Hebrew here is striking—the phrase “shadow of death” is צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmaveth), the deepest, darkest shadow imaginable. Yet even there, David’s confidence rested not on feeling God’s presence but on the doctrinal certainty that God had promised to be with His people.
Doctrine Provides a Framework for Understanding
Romans 8:28 is often quoted in times of trial: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” But notice that this is a statement of doctrine, not a feeling. Paul says “we know”—this is settled truth, not emotional optimism.
What follows in verses 29-30 provides the doctrinal framework: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” The purpose of all things working together for good is conformity to Jesus. Our suffering is not random; it is part of God’s refining work.
Peter makes this explicit in 1 Peter 1:6-7: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The doctrine of future glory and present refining gives meaning to present suffering.
Doctrine Guards Against Destructive Conclusions
Without sound doctrine, suffering can lead us to devastating conclusions. We might conclude that God doesn’t exist, that He doesn’t care, that He’s punishing us, or that we’re outside His favour. Doctrine corrects each of these.
When Job’s friends suggested his suffering was divine punishment for hidden sin, they were theologically wrong. God Himself rebuked them at the end of the book: “My anger burns against you… for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7). Bad doctrine led to bad counsel. Good doctrine recognises that suffering in this fallen world has multiple causes, and direct correlation between personal sin and personal suffering is not always valid.
When the disciples asked Jesus about a man born blind—”Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”—Jesus rejected the premise: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3). Doctrine frees us from the trap of assuming suffering is always punishment.
Doctrine Points to the Cross
The greatest comfort doctrine offers in suffering is the cross of Jesus. Here is God Himself entering into human suffering, taking upon Himself the weight of sin and death. Isaiah 53:3-4 prophesied: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
The Greek word for “sorrows” in the Septuagint translation of this passage is ὀδύνη (odynē), signifying deep anguish and pain. Jesus knows suffering from the inside. Hebrews 4:15 affirms: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
This is doctrine with pastoral power. We do not cry out to a distant deity who observes our pain from afar. We cry out to a Saviour who has walked through the valley Himself.
Doctrine Gives Eternal Perspective
Paul wrote some of his most profound words about suffering in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Paul calls his afflictions “light” and “momentary”—and this is the man who was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, stoned, and left for dead. How could he say that? Because doctrine had given him an eternal perspective. The “eternal weight of glory” so vastly outweighs present suffering that the comparison renders our trials light by comparison.
In Romans 8:18 he puts it even more starkly: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This is mathematical impossibility from a human standpoint, but it is doctrinal reality from an eternal one.
Doctrine Anchors Our Hope
The doctrine of resurrection is particularly precious in suffering. Jesus told Martha at Lazarus’ tomb: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). This is not sentiment; it is doctrine. And it transformed how early Christians faced death.
Revelation 21:4 promises: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” This future reality is doctrinal certainty, and it enables endurance in present affliction.
Conclusion
If you are in a season of suffering right now, let me encourage you to fill your mind with doctrine. Not as an intellectual exercise, but as survival. Read Romans 8. Meditate on Psalm 23. Recall the promises of Scripture. Let the truths about God’s character, His purposes, and His promises become the solid rock beneath your feet.
Feelings will fluctuate. Circumstances may not change. But doctrine remains. And the God whose character is revealed in that doctrine remains faithful.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”Romans 8:18