Suffering and Soul Care


Introduction

Suffering is unavoidable in a fallen world, and Baxter reminds us that it is also one of God’s most useful instruments for the care of our souls. Affliction, he says, is “a messenger from God” to awaken, humble, and refine us. It is not evidence of God’s hatred, but of His wise and fatherly discipline. Suffering, when received with faith, becomes a school of sanctification; when resisted, it often breeds bitterness. Baxter treated suffering as a providential means of drawing the heart off from the world and fixing it more firmly upon Christ and the life to come. Soul care in suffering means helping believers to interpret affliction through Scripture and to embrace it as a channel of God’s grace.


Scripture Focus

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:3–5, KJV)
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2–3, KJV)
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17, KJV)


List of Relevant Scriptures

  • Job 23:10 – “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
  • Psalm 119:71 – “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
  • Isaiah 43:2 – God promises His presence in waters and fire.
  • Lamentations 3:31–33 – The Lord does not afflict willingly.
  • John 16:33 – “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
  • Hebrews 12:5–11 – God’s loving discipline trains His children.
  • 1 Peter 1:6–7 – Trials refine faith like gold.
  • Revelation 21:4 – God will wipe away all tears.


Overview of the Biblical Teaching on This Issue

The Bible consistently teaches that suffering is not meaningless, but purposeful under God’s providence. Affliction is both corrective (turning us from sin) and instructive (teaching us dependence). It conforms us to Christ, who Himself was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The Spirit uses suffering to produce patience, endurance, humility, and longing for heaven. Scripture never denies the pain of trials, but it reframes them in light of eternity: what is bitter in the present may yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.


Pastoral Guidance

Baxter’s Counsel:

  • Interpret affliction rightly: Baxter warned against assuming all suffering is punishment for specific sins. Rather, it is God’s way of weaning us from the world and training us for glory.
  • Attend both body and soul: Baxter advised care for health and medicine where needed, but always with an eye to the soul’s profit: “Be more careful to be cured of sin than of sickness.”
  • Comfort the afflicted with God’s presence: Remind them that Christ walks with His people in the furnace, and that affliction is never endured alone.
  • Encourage profitable use of trials: Baxter urged sufferers to examine their hearts, confess sin, renew faith, and stir up prayer. Affliction should drive us closer to God, not further.
  • Avoid murmuring and despair: He called complaining under God’s hand “a quarrel with our Physician.” Instead, believers should learn to kiss the rod that corrects them.
  • Point always to eternity: Baxter taught that affliction is bearable when seen against the backdrop of everlasting joy: “What are our sufferings to one hour of the saints’ rest?”


Further Reading

  • Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, Part I, ch. ix (“Directions for the Afflicted and Persecuted”).
  • Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (esp. on the use of affliction to prepare for heaven).
  • John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence (on God’s wise hand in trials).
  • Thomas Brooks, A Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod (classic on patient submission in suffering).
  • Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.