Is My Pain God’s Punishment?

Is my suffering a punishment? That’s often our first question when suffering lands unexpectedly on our doorstep. We wonder what we did wrong. We assume that if we check all the boxes, attend church regularly, and read the Bible, we’ll be protected from tragedy. And when that doesn’t happen, we’re filled with questions — about ourselves, about God.We want suffering to make sense; that way, we can control it and keep it from happening to us. At the core of this thinking is an overly simplistic vie