Some really awful sort of suffering comes upon us.

Maybe it's chronic suffering.

Maybe it's something that goes on year after year after year, which can also be profound.

Or it may be a calamity.

Whatever happens, it comes upon us, and we find ourselves trying to cook up for ourselves the answer to that question.

Why?

We will virtually always get it wrong. The business instead

is to go comb through the scriptures and note all the incidents of suffering in scripture

and find out by those how we should posture ourselves to suffering.

Welcome to the Crossway podcast, a show where we sit down with authors each week for thoughtful interviews about the Bible, theology, church history, and the Christian life.

I'm Matt Tully, and today I'm talking with Mark Talbot. Mark currently serves as associate

professor of philosophy at Wheaton College and has written

or contributed to a number of books, including When the Stars Disappear, Help and Hope from

Stories of Suffering in Scripture from Crossway. Today, Mark and I discuss what the Bible has to say

about suffering and the question that we all come to so quickly. Why?

He shares some of what God has taught him through his own experience of profound pain,

reflects on what we can learn from the story of Job in the Bible.

And he offers wise advice for the person currently wrestling to understand

why God so often allows us to suffer in ways that push us to our limits and beyond.

Let's get started.

Well, Mark, thank you so much for joining me today on the Crossway podcast.

Glad to be here.

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