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What does the Bible say about suffering?
The Bible does not explain every wound. It gives lament, the cross, and a hope that suffering is not the last word.
Scripture context and classic commentary notes below. For a live, retrieval-grounded conversation, Ask Bible.
Job and the Psalms
Job refuses cheap explanations. His friends moralize; God eventually speaks from the whirlwind without handing Job a formula (Job 38–42). The Psalms complain, accuse, and still address God (Psalm 13; 22; 88). Lament is faith that God is there to be argued with.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary · Matthew Henry
Henry on Job warns readers not to play Eliphaz: we do not know the secret reasons of providence, and we must not wound the sufferer with theory.
The cross and the letters
Jesus is the man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3; the Passion narratives). 1 Peter addresses exiles who suffer for doing good and points them to Christ’s example and coming glory (1 Peter 2:19–25; 4:12–19). Romans 8 promises that present sufferings are not worth comparing with coming glory, and that the Spirit groans with us (8:18–27).
This is not a reason to call evil good. Ask Bible can sit with a particular psalm or with 1 Peter when the question is personal.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary · JFB
JFB on 1 Peter 4 distinguish suffering as a Christian from suffering as an evildoer, and refuse to treat fire as strange.