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On Suffering & Providence

The problem of evil is the question that sends more people away from faith than any other. How Christians answer it reveals everything about what they believe about God.

Last updated: April 17, 2026

TL;DR

Evangelicals hold different views on whether God ordains or permits suffering. Reformed traditions emphasize God's sovereign ordination of all events for redemptive purposes, while Arminian and Open Theism perspectives stress God permits suffering due to human free will and spiritual warfare, working redemptively within it without directly causing it.

Theodicy — the defense of God's goodness in the face of evil and suffering — is not an abstract philosophical problem. It is a question that pastoral ministry confronts every day. Why did God allow this cancer, this abuse, this war? The evangelical answer begins with affirming both God's sovereignty (nothing happens outside his governance) and God's goodness (he is not the author of evil). What it means to hold both commitments together is where the real work happens.

For many believers, the doctrine of providence can feel like cold comfort in the moment of crisis. But it is precisely in that moment that the cross becomes clear: a God who entered suffering alongside us, who did not stand apart from it or simply explain it, but bore it. The resurrection promises that suffering does not have the final word. The evangelical conversation on suffering, then, is fundamentally a conversation about Jesus — his death, his resurrection, and the redemption of all things.

Key Questions This Topic Addresses

  • What does the Bible actually teach about why God allows suffering?
  • How does the doctrine of providence relate to specific experiences of pain?
  • What is wrong with the prosperity gospel's answer to suffering?
  • How should local churches care for suffering members?
  • How do Job, the Psalms of lament, and the cross shape a Christian theology of suffering?

The Evangelical Debate

Three Evangelical Approaches to Divine Sovereignty and Suffering

Evangelicals agree that God is sovereign and good. They disagree — sometimes profoundly — about what his sovereignty means, how it relates to human freedom, and why he governs a world containing such suffering.

Position 1
Meticulous Providence / Compatibilist Freedom
Augustine · John Calvin · Jonathan Edwards · John Piper · D.A. Carson · Paul Helm
God governs every event — including evil — without being its author. The evil and suffering of this world serve his sovereign purposes without diminishing his goodness. Human freedom is "compatibilist" — real but operating within God's sovereign decree. The suffering of this age will be seen, from eternity, as serving God's purposes of glory, redemption, and justice.
Key Resources
Ten Aspects of God's Sovereignty Over Suffering Providence and Suffering (TGC)
Position 2
Open Theism / Greater Freedom
Gregory Boyd · Clark Pinnock · John Sanders
God's sovereignty is real but self-limited — he has given humans genuine libertarian freedom, which means real evil and suffering are not decreed by God but permitted within a framework of genuine freedom. God "takes risks." The future is partly open even to God. This view takes the reality of evil more seriously — God is not the hidden author of tragedy — but is contested among evangelicals for its implications for divine omniscience.
Key Resources
Open Theism and Divine Omniscience God of the Impossible: A Reflection on Open Theism
Position 3
Lament Theology / Pastoral Theodicy
Nicholas Wolterstorff · Kathleen O'Connor · Michael Card · Walter Brueggemann
The most biblical response to suffering is not a philosophical defense of God but lament — joining the tradition of the Psalms and Lamentations in bringing grief and protest honestly to God. The book of Job resists easy theodicy. God does not always explain; he shows up. The evangelical church needs to recover lament as a theological category before offering explanations.
Key Resources
Lament and Suffering (TGC) What Is Lament? (Crossway)

What the Conversation Adds Up To

The pastoral encounter with suffering demands both intellectual honesty and profound comfort. The Calvinist framework offers the deepest account of divine sovereignty; the lament tradition offers the most honest emotional engagement; and all three traditions agree that the cross is God's definitive answer to suffering — not by explaining it away but by entering into it. To confess that God governs all things is not to have solved the problem of evil; it is to have relocated our faith from abstract philosophy to the crucified God who arose and reigns.

The resurrection promises that suffering does not have the final word. This is not comfort for this life only, but the foundation for real hope: that God is not indifferent to our pain, that nothing falls outside his sovereignty, and that he will one day wipe away every tear. Until that day, the church's call is to lament together, to confess the cross together, and to refuse to abandon those who suffer alone.

The Evangelical Conversation, Curated

1
Ten Aspects of God's Sovereignty Over Suffering
Desiring God
A foundational essay articulating the Reformed vision of God's comprehensive governance. This piece carefully distinguishes God's sovereignty from fatalism, showing how divine control over suffering can coexist with the reality of free human choice. Essential for anyone wanting to understand how classical Calvinism addresses theodicy.
2
Pastor, Don't Quit—Learn to Lament
Crossway
A passionate call for evangelical pastors to recover lament as a spiritual discipline. The author argues that pastoral burnout often stems from suppressing grief and protest, and that honest lament in community—modeled after the Psalms—is not a failure of faith but its deepest expression. Powerful for those in ministry or working through their own suffering.
3
Strong Churches Speak the Language of Lament
The Gospel Coalition
An argument that congregations that teach lament are more resilient in crisis than those that skip over it. The author surveys how lament functions in worship, prayer, and preaching, and shows why one-third of the Psalms being lament calls for a major recalibration in evangelical churches. Practical and theological at once.
4
What Comfort Does the Doctrine of Providence Bring During Difficult Times?
Ligonier Ministries
A concise theological reflection on how the doctrine of providence actually functions pastorally, not just philosophically. The author connects God's meticulous care with the comfort of knowing that nothing escapes his attention. Good for those who find abstract providence language difficult to apply to their suffering.
5
Dare to Hope in God: How to Lament Well
Desiring God
A beautiful meditation on lament as genuine spiritual confidence masked as complaint. The author shows how biblical lament always contains both honest anger and stubborn trust—neither suppressing grief nor descending into despair. For those wrestling with how to pray when prayer feels hollow.
6
Why Suffering for Christ Is More Than Just a "Necessary Evil"
Crossway
An argument that Christian suffering is not merely something God permits but a call he issues. The author distinguishes between the suffering that is consequence of living in a broken world and the suffering that comes from following Jesus. Reframes theodicy around discipleship rather than just theodicy.
7
The Problem of Evil
The Gospel Coalition
A comprehensive theological essay mapping the major evangelical approaches to the problem of evil. Excellent for understanding how different denominations and theological traditions approach theodicy differently. Neither dismissive of any position nor uncommitted to classical Christian conviction.
8
Scripture and Neuroscience Agree: It Helps to Lament in Community
Christianity Today
A fascinating integration of neuroscience and biblical theology showing that communal lament isn't just pastorally wise—it's neurologically healing. The author draws on trauma research to show why prayer communities that make space for grief are actually helping people process trauma more effectively.
9
Openness Theology and Divine Omniscience
The Gospel Coalition
A careful exposition of open theism's central claim: that God knows all possibilities but not all actualites, especially regarding free human choices. Balanced in tone, this article clarifies why some evangelicals find open theism necessary to reconcile God's goodness with genuine human freedom—and why others find it theologically problematic.
10
Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy
The Gospel Coalition
A review of a leading academic work on theodicy that surveys the major philosophical and theological responses to the problem of evil. Accessible and thorough, it helps readers understand not just evangelical approaches but also how Christian theodicy engages with broader philosophical conversation.