Every small church congregation contains people who are suffering. The woman whose husband has been sick for three years. The farmer who lost his crop. The couple whose marriage is falling apart. The parent whose child has walked away from faith. They sit in the pew on Sunday morning and listen to sermons that often have nothing to say to their actual situation.

Preaching on suffering is one of the most important things a pastor can do. It is also one of the most commonly avoided, because it is genuinely hard to do well.

What Not to Say

Before addressing what to say, it is worth naming what not to say, because these phrases appear in sermons on suffering with alarming regularity:

• “God will not give you more than you can handle.” This is not in the Bible. The verse people are thinking of (1 Corinthians 10:13) is about temptation, not suffering. And it is demonstrably false. God regularly gives people more than they can handle, so that they will depend on him rather than themselves.
• “Everything happens for a reason.” This may be theologically true in a broad sense, but it is not helpful to say to someone in acute pain. It minimizes the suffering and implies that the person should be able to figure out the reason.
• “God is teaching you something through this.” May be true. Is not always true. And even when it is true, it is not the first thing to say to someone who is suffering.
• “Just trust God.” True, but unhelpful as a response to specific suffering. It sounds like a dismissal rather than a pastoral response.

The Biblical Framework for Suffering

Suffering is real and it is not always the sufferer’s fault

Job’s friends assumed his suffering was the result of his sin. God rebuked them. Jesus explicitly rejected the assumption that suffering is always the result of personal sin (John 9:1-3). Preach this clearly. The person who is suffering does not need to be told that they must have done something wrong.

Lament is a legitimate biblical response

The Psalms contain more lament than any other genre. Psalm 22 begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 88 ends without resolution. The book of Lamentations is exactly what it sounds like. The Bible gives God’s people permission to express their pain honestly, including their anger at God. Preach this. Give your congregation permission to lament.

God is present in suffering, even when he feels absent

The cross is the definitive statement about God’s relationship to suffering. God did not watch suffering from a distance. He entered it. He suffered. He died. The resurrection does not erase the suffering of the cross. It redeems it. Preach the cross as God’s answer to suffering, not as a theological argument but as a story of genuine solidarity.

Suffering will end

The New Testament is clear that the suffering of this present age is not the final word. Romans 8:18-25, Revelation 21:1-5. Preach this hope, but not as a way of minimizing present suffering. The hope of future redemption does not make present suffering less real. It makes it bearable.

Texts That Preach Well on Suffering

• Job 1-2, 38-42: The full arc of Job’s suffering and God’s response
• Psalm 22: Lament that moves toward trust without denying the pain
• Psalm 88: Lament without resolution, the darkest psalm
• Romans 8:18-39: Present suffering in light of future glory and the Spirit’s intercession
• 2 Corinthians 1:3-11: Paul’s theology of suffering and comfort
• 2 Corinthians 12:7-10: Paul’s thorn in the flesh and God’s sufficient grace
• Revelation 21:1-5: The end of suffering in the new creation