Preparing Believers to Suffer

Suffering is not a glitch in the Christian life—it’s part of it. In this conversation, Matt Smethurst and Ligon Duncan talk about how pastors can prepare their people to face pain with faith and endurance. They discuss what it means to view hardship through God’s providence, why the “victorious Christian life” often looks like just hanging on, and how preaching, hymns, and patient shepherding can help believers trust God when He seems silent.

Resources Mentioned:

• When Pain Is Real and God Seems Silent by Ligon Duncan
• Joni Eareckson Tada
• Mark Talbot, When the Stars Disappear
• John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life
• Psalm 88; Psalm 40; 2 Corinthians 4; Romans 8; Genesis 50:20
• Hymns: How Firm a Foundation, Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul, Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near

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