Justin Taylor
Most of the chapters in this book originated as talks given at the 2005 Desiring God National Conference on “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God.” The contributors have graciously agreed to convert their oral presentations into written chapters in order to serve a wider audience.
All of the authors of this volume have addressed, in one way or another, the issue of how God’s sovereignty relates to human suffering.
But they have done so by addressing different questions such as: In what ways is God sovereign over Satan’s work? How can we be free and responsible if God ordains our choices? What is the ultimate reason that suffering exists?
How does suffering help to advance the mission of the church? How should we understand the origin of ethnic-based clashes and suffering?
How does God’s grace enter our sufferings? Why is it good for us to meditate upon the depth and pain of severe suffering?
What is the role of hope when things look utterly hopeless?
Though some very deep and difficult truths are imbedded within these pages, this is not an academic book. The authors do not write as mere theoreticians, waxing eloquent about abstract themes. No, this is a book of applied theology.
Its theology has been forged in the furnace of affliction. Two of the contributors are paralyzed and deal with chronic pain. Two experienced the death of a parent when they were young.
Two had children who died in the past few years. Two are currently battling prostate cancer. The point of mentioning this is not to portray them as victims or to elicit your sympathy, but rather to reiterate that they are fellow soldiers in the battle, fellow pilgrims on the journey. Think of them as friends who are taking the time to write to you
about what God has taught them concerning his mysterious sovereignty in the midst of pain and suffering.
