The Goodness of Affliction: Encouragement for Those Who Suffer

By David Paul McDowell and Margaret Diddams

Can anything good come out of suffering? Is there anything purposeful in the grief or pain you may be feeling right now? There are no easy answers to these questions and any attempt at an answer runs the risk of seeming trite or inappropriate to our unique situation. The author of this book has a terminal illness, which has produced in him not only an uncertainty about the future, but a deep sense of compassion for those who are also suffering. The book is his attempt to bring encouragement to those who feel helpless and alone by giving a perspective on affliction that is not ordinarily discussed. The book is not a daily devotional, but a compilation of the blogs he has written over the last three years that have been helpful to many. You may not be walking the path of affliction, but you could give the book a read and pass it on to someone who is on the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781725282100

David Paul McDowell

David Paul McDowell is the Senior Pastor of the Community Fellowship Church, West Chicago, Illinois. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, and Trinity Theological Seminary. He has served for twenty-five years as Senior Pastor of the College Church in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Book preview

Preface

A quick look at the get-well card section at CVS culled such messages as Hope it won’t be long at all until the day’s at hand, when you’re feeling perfect health and really feeling grand. Here is another one: You ought to get well so you can find, through carefree days ahead, the happiness that you deserve. And then there was a religious message on a very nice card that had a picture on the front of a beautiful country church: Since God hears every prayer that’s said and knows our problems too, then brighter days and better health are just ahead for you.

There is nothing wrong with such messages, apart from some interesting theological implications. I have sent cards like this to sick friends as a gesture of care and encouragement. What happens, however, when your sickness is beyond temporary and your pain goes down deep? All of a sudden these messages convey a completely different meaning. Is it really possible for me to ever enjoy perfect health again? What does perfect health really mean, anyway? If I am to get well soon, how soon is soon in order to enjoy the happiness I deserve? And if I deserve happiness, why has it been taken away? I know that God answers prayer and knows all my problems; why hasn’t he done anything about my situation? Perhaps he doesn’t care, or is punishing me, or isn’t able to help me.

I am sure that some people might think I am overanalyzing get-well cards. It could very well be, since I have cancer. Suffering, affliction, and terminal disease have a tendency to make you a little sensitive to what well-wishers say. Many become like Job’s friends, whose counsel was not so much wrong in theory, but wrong in application.

Ever since my diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in April of 2017, I have wanted to write a brief book on the general topic of suffering in order to encourage those facing dark times the way get-well cards cannot. I wanted to write something deeper, on the level of a booklet written by Thomas Brooks titled The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod: Comfort for Suffering Saints, originally published in 1659. It was not an easy read, because it reminded me of God’s sovereignty vis-à-vis my own sin, pride, and the desire to always be in control; and the need for repentance, humility, and submission in the face of my affliction. But it also greatly encouraged me by reminding me of God’s kindness and mercy, his constant and covenantal care, and an understanding of affliction as the discipline of a loving Father wanting to shape us more into the image of his beloved Son.

You may have picked up this little book because you are experiencing affliction of some kind. Or you may know someone who is and you think this volume will be helpful. Regardless of why you are reading it, I pray that you will find the same peace and hope that I have found as my journey of discipleship continues and new opportunities to serve others are born out of my own pain.

The chapters in this book are brief and are composed of the blogs I have written over the last several years on my website (davemcdowell.org), having to do directly or indirectly with the subject of suffering. They are not arranged in order, either by topic or by time, but more by flow. It is my prayer that these chapters will be an encouragement to you by helping you see that while God is sovereign and things do not happen willy-nilly, he is also your Father and nothing can ever separate you from his love.

David McDowell

Lancaster, PA, 2020

Introduction

The Goodness of Affliction

As much as we hate to admit it, there is a redeeming factor to suffering. In fact, we could say that in some cases suffering is positively life-changing. A classic example is Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose writings probably did more to reveal the corruption and emptiness of the Soviet Communist system than any single political factor. He said of his time spent in a Soviet prison camp:

It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts . . . That is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: Bless you, prison! I . . . have served enough time there. I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation: "Bless you, prison, for having been in my