Week 9: Suffering and Faith

Sooner or later most of us sit in a hospital waiting room at three in the morning and wonder where God is. Paul says we boast even in our afflictions, because affliction produces endurance, then proven character, then hope. He points to the cross as the place where God proves his love, whatever our circumstances say. Peter tells suffering Christians their faith is being tested like gold in the fire, and that it's worth more than the gold. The lesson closes at the cross, where Jesus prayed the first line of Psalm 22. That psalm goes on to say God did not hide his face.