Biblical Theology and Suffering

Dr. Peter Enns, from Westminster Seminary (Philly), has started a blog that you might want to check out. I have just read one post, but I can already tell I am going to like this guy. Here is his concluding remarks on what Biblical Theology (the grand narrative of God's working in history, basically the big picture of the Bible) has to do with suffering. He writes:

What is also very important here is not so much what we might say in certain circumstances, but what churches teach their people day in and day out. What I would like to see is God’s people, who through years of preaching and teaching, are so immersed in the grand narrative, who have a Biblical Theological foundation laid already, so that when the rough times come, they are prepared to see their very painful, very real, very horrible suffering not apart from God, but in him. Such a perspective should not lead us to minimize the pain, but should, I think, enable us to look the person squarely in the eye and, without flinching, say “Remember now, especially now, who you are. We will walk this together and remind each other.”

Maybe that is a lot to ask, and I am not there yet. But, too bad. I do feel that this is a model amply demonstrated throughout the NT, and it requires tremendous maturity and wisdom. The degree to which we are not captured by the enormity of this biblical model is an indication of how very far we have to go on our journey to reflect the image of the risen Christ.

At any rate, a young girl is dying. We all have so many chances to minister God’s love to people every day, if we just take the time to look around. And what we say, if given the opportunity, will reflect God’s story to the extent that we ourselves are captured by it.

Read the whole thing.