Poor health, death & job losses: What does our suffering teach us?

Through the ages, people have wrestled with the problem of pain and suffering. But what does the Bible say about the subject?

My four‑year‑old daughter sat beside me, her long, silky hair draped over my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Daddy,” Emma said comfortingly. “We’re not poor! Look, I’ve just found 10p on the pavement. And see those beautiful flowers growing over there? We can sell them to anyone who goes past!”

It was 2010 when, within the space of three months, my father had died of non‑ Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I’d been told that my position as Managing Editor at OMF International was coming to an end, and my wife’s job as a teacher at Bromley College was ending because of the recession.