Quotes on Suffering & the Question of God

Christian quotes on Suffering & the Question of God — with author, dates and source, from two millennia of Christian thought.

In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.

Henri Nouwen

Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.

Henri Nouwen

But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

C.S. Lewis

When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.

Henri Nouwen

He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.

Joni Eareckson Tada

May I be the thinking heart of this barrack. I would like to be it again. I would like to be the thinking heart of an entire concentration camp.

Etty Hillesum

God writes straight even on crooked lines.

Paul Claudel

God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

And if you hand us the heavy cup, the bitter one, of suffering, filled to the very brim, then we take it thankfully without trembling from your good and beloved hand.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We must learn to look at people less in terms of what they do and fail to do, and more in terms of what they suffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Where reason is outraged, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps its distance — there, precisely there, God loves to be.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Providence is wonderfully intricate. Ah! You want always to see through Providence, do you not? You never will, I assure you. You have not eyes good enough. You want to see what good that affliction was to you; you must believe it. You want to see how it can bring good to the soul; you may be enabled in a little time; but you cannot see it now; you must believe it. Honor God by trusting Him.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

We are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the form of a true human. The blows of His chisel that hurt us so much are also what make us perfect.

C.S. Lewis

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand your ways, but you know the right path for me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God gives us in every time of need as much strength of resistance as we need – but not in advance.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The worst hunger can be the hunger to be noticed and loved.

Mother Teresa

The bells sound, they sound quite differently than usual, when one knows of a dead person whom one loves.

Martin Luther

No greater sorrow than to recall a time of happiness in misery.

Dante Alighieri

Christianity is the only religion whose God bears the scars of evil.

Os Guinness

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King Jr.

As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.

Martin Luther King Jr.

In our own ways, we are all broken. Out of that brokenness, we hurt others. Forgiveness is the journey we take toward healing the broken parts. It is how we become whole again.

Desmond Tutu

Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.

Charles Dickens

We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world--the company of those who have known suffering.

Helen Keller

Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.

William Shakespeare

If you can't see His way past the tears, trust His heart.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A suffering person does not need a lecture—he needs a listener.

Billy Graham

Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.

Thomas Merton

Such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives.

Sophie Scholl

Afflictions are but the shadows of God’s wings.

George MacDonald

The Lord Jesus understands us to the depths. When others cannot share our sorrow because they do not understand it, the Lord Jesus still comes down to us into the deepest depths and understands our bitterest heartache, because he has experienced it himself.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

You cannot see the stars by day, except when you are deep down in a shaft. Likewise you often see the stars of promise only when God has sunk you deep into the shaft of suffering.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Trials are embraces of God.

Martin Luther

God's hands are soft, even where his ways are rough.

Corrie ten Boom

Everything that happens to you must first pass by God.

Paul Deitenbeck

Father, I don't understand You. But I trust You!

Paul Deitenbeck

I have no idea why I have to suffer so much. But what I do know is that God is determined to make masterpieces out of you and me.

Richard Wurmbrand

Help me to see that the darkness is really the shadow of your lovingly outstretched hand.

Catherine Marshall

People quoted here

Henri Nouwen, C.S. Lewis, Joni Eareckson Tada, Etty Hillesum, Paul Claudel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, Dante Alighieri, Os Guinness, Martin Luther King Jr.

Related

God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Grace & Redemption, The Bible & the Word of God, Doubt & Hard Questions, Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Fear & Anxiety, Grief & Comfort, Illness & Weakness, Loneliness & Abandonment, Meaning & Identity, Time & Transience, Work & Vocation, Money & Possessions, Faith & Trust, Hope & Confidence, Joy & Gratitude, Peace & Rest, Humility & Pride, Patience & Waiting, Courage & Strength, Wisdom & Understanding, Freedom & Truth, Love, Relationships & Family, Guilt & Forgiveness, Service & Love of Neighbour, Justice & Commitment, Ethical Questions, Church & Congregation, Witness & Mission, Prayer & Silence, Discipleship, Growth & Character, Temptation & Struggle, Guidance & God's Will

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