Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 179:713 (Jan 2022)
Article: Three Roadblocks To Suffering Well
Author: M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall

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Three Roadblocks To Suffering Well*

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall is Professor of Psychology at Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, California.

* This is the first article in the four-part series “Suffering and the Christian Life: The Hard Road to Glory,” delivered as the W. H. Griffith Thomas lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, February 2–5, 2021.

Thank you for the honor of being invited to speak to you on the topic of “Suffering and the Christian Life: The Hard Road to Glory.” Although I have been doing research in this area for a few years, the topic seems particularly appropriate given our present cultural moment. Globally, we have all been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused massive disruption to our day-to-day lives. Over two million people worldwide have lost their lives, and many more have experienced the loss of family and friends. Economies have been disrupted and many people have been threatened with poverty, with huge social and political consequences that may persist for years. The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable in our society uncovered fault lines of longstanding inequities. Suffering touched all of our lives. And when this happens, it disrupts our sense of meaning in life.

The universal human need for meaning is widely accepted; we all feel the need to understand our experiences and to feel that the world makes sense and our lives have significance and purpose. Suffering challenges our sense of meaning, disrupting deeply-held assumptions about the world and our place in it, and often significantly interfering with our goals and desires. The loss of meaning is distressing, causing us to engage in a form of coping known in psychology as meaning-making. As Christians, we look to our faith to try to understand what is going on around us—to find meaning. This is what this lecture series is all about: understanding how God uses suffering to work for the good of those who love him and

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have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).

As part of the research in which I’ve been involved, we have interviewed almost a hundred Christians of various backgrounds about their experiences with cancer. It has been a privilege to be let into the minds and hearts of some very thoughtful people who clearly walk very closely with God. There are a handful whose stories have stood out to me. An intelligent, physically fit man in his fifties who has terminal cancer and who feels that it was given to him by God to make him finally dedicate his time to his calling in lif...