Excerpt
“So my prayer for this book is that God would stand forth and reassert his Creator-rights in our lives, and show us his crucified and risen Son who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and waken in us the strongest faith in the supremacy of Christ, and the deepest comforts in suffering, and the sweetest fellowship with Jesus that we have ever known” (p. 18).
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About the Book
In the last few years, 9/11, a tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and many other tragedies have shown us that the vision of God in today's churches in relation to evil and suffering is often frivolous. Against the overwhelming weight and seriousness of the Bible, many Christians are choosing to become more shallow, more entertainment-oriented, and therefore irrelevant in the face of massive suffering.
In Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, contributors John Piper, Joni Eareckson Tada, Steve Saint, Carl Ellis, David Powlison, Dustin Shramek, and Mark Talbot explore the many categories of God's sovereignty as evidenced in his Word. They urge readers to look to Christ, even in suffering, to find the greatest confidence, deepest comfort, and sweetest fellowship they have ever known.
First Edition 2006
Crossway Books (Wheaton, Illinois)
Table of Contents
Introduction by Justin Taylor
Part 1: The Sovereignty of God in Suffering
1. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God: Ten Aspects of God’s Sovereignty Over Suffering and Satan’s Hand in It by John Piper
2. “All the Good That Is Ours in Christ”: Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us by Mark R. Talbot
Part 2: The Purposes of God in Suffering
3. The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper
4. Why God Appoints Suffering for His Servants by John Piper
5. Sovereignty, Suffering, and the Work of Missions by Stephen F. Saint
6. The Sovereignty of God and Ethnic-Based Suffering by Carl F. Ellis, Jr.
Part 3: The Grace of God in Suffering
7. God’s Grace and Your Sufferings by David Powlison
8. Waiting for the Morning during the Long Night of Weeping by Dustin Shramek
9. Hope...the Best of Things by Joni Eareckson Tada
Appendices
Don’t Waste Your Cancer by John Piper and David Powlison
An Interview with John Piper by Justin Taylor
Translations
German
Publisher: Pulsmedien GmbH
Indonesian
Publisher: Momentum Christian Literature
ISBN: 6028165298
Portuguese
Publisher: Editora Cultura Crista
ISBN: 978-85-7622-234-7
Spanish
Publisher: Editorial Portavoz
Purchase: Deal Oz
ISBN: 978-0-8254-1586-9
Related Resources
- Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (conference messages)
- Called to Suffer and Rejoice (sermon series)
- Job: Five Sermons on Suffering (sermon series)
- Ruth: Sweet and Bitter Providence (sermon series)
About John Piper
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of more than 50 books including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. John and his wife, Noël, have five children and twelve grandchildren.
Endorsements
“John Piper and friends tackle some of the hardest and most significant issues of Christian concern, producing one of the most honest, faithful, and helpful volumes ever made available to thinking Christians. It is filled with pastoral wisdom, theological conviction, biblical insight, and spiritual counsel. This book answers one of the greatest needs of our times—to affirm the sovereignty of God and to ponder the meaning of human suffering. We need this book.” —R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky
“For all who don’t live a charmed life, for all who have given themselves to the point of exhaustion, for all who have been betrayed by pious backstabbers, for all who wonder if they can even go on, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God will be green pastures and deep, still waters.” —Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Senior Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee
"This is not another theological volume that complicates what appears to be an irreconcilable paradox; it is a book that grows out of practical experience and applies Scripture to a realistic world where we all live." —Jerry Rankin, President, International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
"This book will challenge you to believe that God is truly sovereign, not just in the safe haven of theological inquiry, but also in the painful messiness of real life. You will be encouraged to live more consistently by God's grace and for his glory." —Mark D. Roberts, Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence, Laity Lodge; author, Can We Trust the Gospels? ; Senior Pastor, Irvine Presbyterian Church, Irvine, California
