How Should I Approach Suffering? by R.C. Sproul. Ligonier Ministries. 87 pages. 2025
*** ½

The Crucial Questions booklets by R.C. Sproul provide a quick introduction to definitive Christian truths. These booklets are adapted from previous writings and teachings by Sproul. All of the Crucial Questions booklets are free in the Kindle edition, and available for a small amount in the print edition. You can see all of the ebooks in the series here.
Sproul tells us that suffering is one of the most significant challenges to any believer’s faith. He tells us that the promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear. What is difficult to bear without Christ is made far more bearable with Christ.
Scripture admonishes us not to think that it is a strange or unusual thing that we should suffer. Our suffering has a purpose. For the Christian, suffering is never an exercise in futility.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Truths We Confess by  R.C. Sproul
I’M CURRENTLY READING….

Jesus Himself promises His people that they will have tribulation. They will have afflictions. Sproul tells us that God uses tribulation, He uses our pain, not simply to punish us but to polish us, to sanctify us. God doesn’t promise that we will never go through the valley of the shadow of death. What He does promise us is that He will go with us. Whatever God summons us to endure, will fall far short of what Jesus experienced.
Sproul writes that we are given both the duty and the privilege to participate in the suffering of Christ. Because we suffer with Him, we will also be raised with Him. Because of Christ, our suffering is not useless. It is part of the total plan of God, who has chosen to redeem the world through the pathway of suffering.
God has promised that all things that happen in this world—all pain, all suffering, all tragedies—are but for a moment, and that He works in and through these events for the good of those who love Him. Those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.
Sproul tells us that God does not always will healing, and that ultimate healing comes through death and after death. His promise is not only that He will go with us into the valley. Even more important is His promise of what lies on the other side of the valley.
The book ends with a look at dying in faith and the final judgment. Sproul tells us that according to Christ, the worst possible thing that can befall us is to die in our sins. And the only possible way for an unjust person to stand in the presence of a just and holy God is to be justified. If we remain unjustified, we die in our sins. The only way that we can be justified is by the righteousness of Christ, and that righteousness is received by faith.
Sproul tells us that there are only two ways of dying. We can die in faith or we can die in our sins. There are no second chances after death, and the urgent focus of Scripture is on the necessity of repentance before we die.
I recommend the Crucial Questions booklets for a quick (two hours of less) look at many important topics from R.C. Sproul, who was known for communicating in a clear and easy to understand manner.

Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold. My wife Tammy has published a book about HOW to study the Bible. The book is available on Amazon in both a Kindle and paperback edition. She writes “Maybe you have read the Bible but want to dig deeper and know God and know yourself better. Throughout the book I use the analogy of making a quilt to show how the Bible is telling one big story about what God is doing in the world through Christ. Quilting takes much patience and precision, just like studying the Bible, but the end result is well worth it.”A Little Theology of Exercise. Tim Challies reviews A Little Theology of Exercise by David Mathis. He writes “There is lots I appreciate about A Little Theology of Exercise.”

Won’t you read along with us?

We are reading through Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by R.C. Sproul. From the Ligonier description:

“The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most precise and comprehensive statements of biblical Christianity, and it is treasured by believers around the world. R.C. Sproul has called it one of the most important confessions of faith ever penned, and it has helped generations of Christians understand and defend what they believe.

In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone’s a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible—from creation to covenant, sin to salvation—fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and answer the question, What do you believe?”

This week we look at WCF 32: Of the State of Men after Death, and of the
Resurrection of the Dead. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

As we enter into glory, we enter into the state of sinlessness. There will be no sin there.The beatific vision is the ultimate joy and delight for which we were created in the first place.Some define hell as the absence of God. But the Bible teaches that the most tormenting thing for the sinner in hell is not the absence of God but His presence.All people will have their bodies raised in the last judgment. The redeemed will have their bodies raised so that they may enjoy the glorious, honorable resurrection for all eternity. The bodies of the unjust will also be raised by Christ, but to dishonor.Jesus warns that there will be a last judgment and that every human being will appear before the throne of God and be held accountable for his life. God will judge each one of us according to the standard of His own righteousness.