What is taught must be in accordance with the locally agreed syllabus; (If your school is outside of Cambridgeshire: the S.C.A.A Model 2 syllabus has been included to help in matching this lesson plan with your local Agreed Syllabus).

RESOURCES: Optional: internet.

STARTER:

We all live in a world that experiences pain & suffering.

We can't wake up & say, "From now on I am never going to feel any pain, nor am I going to suffer anymore!" That's impossible. It is part of our lives, whether we like it or not.

The Bible tells us that right back at the beginning of the world, God made everything perfect. There was no suffering, no pain, no tears & no death.

But because the human race disobeyed God, that opened the door to all kinds of sin & bad things, which also included pain, suffering & death.

MAIN TEACHING:

We will be looking at this subject of suffering now.

There are many reasons why people suffer in this world, but here are 6 for us to look at:

1) Suffering caused by natural disasters & accidents:

 

Q. Can you think of an example of this?

 

a) Situation: Many people get injured & killed by an earthquake.

Reason behind it: Their village was on an area where there was a fault line in the earth's crust.

We live in a world that is not perfect & sometimes these sort of things happen.

 

b) Situation: A mechanical part breaks on the car whilst driving along, the car skids into a wall & one of the passengers gets hurt.

Reason behind it: The mechanical part was getting old & was wearing out. It just suddenly broke.

Again we live in a world that is not perfect & occasionally these sort of things happen.

 

2) The actions of one or more people, cause others to suffer:

 

Q. Can you think of an example of this?

 

a) Situation: A young man beats up an old lady to get her money.

Reason behind it: The young man is greedy & doesn't care how much he hurts someone to get what he wants.

The old lady has to suffer pain from the injuries because of the young man's sin.

 

b) Situation: Thousands of people are starving & dying in at least one country in Africa.

Reason behind it: The greed & pride of various African leaders which causes them to make war against other countries or groups.

This destroys the food crops & disrupts the supply of food aid. The residents of that country have to suffer from starvation because of the sin of their leaders.

 

3) Suffering caused by your own irresponsibility:

(THERE IS A GREAT DANGER IN LOOKING AT THESE EXAMPLES THAT WE SEE EVERY SITUATION THE SAME WAY. WHAT IS BEING SAID HERE IS THAT IT COULD BE FOR THIS REASON... AND NOT THAT IT IS BECAUSE OF THIS REASON)

 

Q. Can you think of an example of this?

 

a) Situation: A boy is larking around on a push-bike & he crashes straight into the parked car & brakes his arm.

Reason behind it: He was not behaving responsibly, therefore he had to suffer the painful consequences.

 

b) Situation: Various things keep going wrong.

Reason behind it: The Bible tells us that God disciplines those who believe in Him.

In other words God, the Heavenly Father, disciplines His children. A parent may 'ground' you for several days because you have done something wrong. Your parent disciplines you to help correct your bad attitude or actions.

In a similar way the Bible tells us that God uses situations to discipline & correct people. All those things that kept going wrong for that person was because they weren't behaving correctly, so God as their Heavenly Father disciplined them.

 

An example of this from the Bible is Jonah, who was a Prophet. (From the book of Jonah).

At times he would receive a message from God, so he would then tell the people what he had heard. But on one occasion Jonah had a problem.

God told him to go & preach in the city of Nineveh which was hundreds of miles away.

But Jonah didn't want to do that, so he got in a boat which was going in the opposite direction!

God was not pleased at Jonah's disobedience, so He caused a huge storm.

The sailors were terrified at the dangerous, huge waves, so they started to ask among the passengers whether any of them had made God angry!

Jonah said that he was disobeying God so the sailors were even more afraid.

Jonah said that the only way to stop the storm was to throw him overboard!

He couldn't have been very sorry because God caused a large fish to swallow him & for several days Jonah laid in it's belly until he admitted his disobedience.

Then the fish spat him out!

(All that may sound very far fetched, but some years ago in a newspaper report, a man went missing on a whaling trip. Several days later, when they cut open one of the whales, they found the man alive & well inside it's belly! That's not saying that the man was being disciplined by God, but it does show that it is wrong to doubt the Bible stories!)

 

c) Situation: Someone's investments suddenly lose their value, & so a lot of money is lost.

Reason behind it: The Bible tells us that God will punish those people who wilfully turn away from Him & who keep on in this way for a long time.

In effect that person makes themselves an enemy of God. The saying then comes true that says: "It will catch up with you in the end."

There is also another saying which applies to this as well: "You reap what you sow".

Q. "You reap what you sow" what do you think that means?

If you sow the seed from thistles, you won't be able to pick (or 'reap') apples from from them. All you will get is prickly thistles.

If someone sows evil then they will 'reap' the consequences of doing that.

 

God does allows time for them to turn to Him & to be sorry, but if they refuse, they make themselves an enemy of God & so they experience His punishment.

The Apostle Paul says in the Bible:

"Can't you see that He has been waiting all this time without punishing you,

to give you time to turn from your sin?

His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

But no, you won't listen;

and so you are saving up terrible punishment for yourselves

because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin."

Romans 2:5 (The Living Bible)

4) Suffering caused by training:

 

Q. Can you think of an example of this?

Someone goes to an army training camp. They endure assault courses & their body suffers because of the long marches & physical training. The army trains the soldiers to become excellent, fit soldiers, but it does cause them to suffer for it at the time.

But once the soldiers have passed through their time of training, they can look back with appreciation at the experience.

 

Situation: Someone experiences an illness or a certain situation which causes them to suffer.

Reason behind it: God allowed them to pass through that illness or experience to train them to make their character better.

Many Christians who go through a difficult time can look back at it & say that their outlook on life has changed for the better. It wasn't very nice at the time, but it bore a lot of 'fruit' that they weren't expecting.

The Apostle Paul said:

"For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives

to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life.

We should never regret His sending it."

2 Corinthians 7:10 (The Living Bible)

 

5) Suffering due to helping other people:

 

Q. Can you think of an example of this?

 

a) Situation: A little girl falls into the river & a man nearby, who is a good, strong swimmer, jumps in to save her. He has to suffer being cold & wet for several hours until he gets home.

Reason behind it: He helped the little girl. At times the Police, Fire & Ambulance crews can suffer injuries whilst helping people.

 

b) Imagine that a member of your family has died.

It is likely that the person you will want to spend time with, is the one who has already experienced the loss of a loved one.

 

Q. Why is that?

They have been through a similar situation to you, so they know something of what you are experiencing. Someone who hasn't been through that may try to help you, but they may say some totally inappropriate things.

There is a saying that says: "It's better felt than telt".

Q. What do you think that means?

To feel something is to go through the experience of it.

But you can't learn so much about it by just being told about it.

 

Situation: A Christian suddenly finds themselves in a wheelchair. They've done nothing wrong so why has it happened?

Reason behind it: They find that they can encourage others who are in wheelchairs.

When they were fit & well they had no contact with disabled people, so now they are able to encourage & strengthen others who are experiencing the same or similar situations.

A good example of this is of God Himself, who came as Jesus Christ to this earth & He experienced the sufferings, the pain, & the hardships that people go through.

 

6) Someone suffers because they are a Christian:

 

Jesus told His followers that they would suffer, & for no other reason than they wanted to follow Him. But instead of causing them misery, this would give them an inner joy in serving Him.

Jesus said to them:

 

"Happy * are you when people insult you, persecute you

and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Rejoice and be glad,

because great is your reward in heaven,

for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV)

(Teachers note: * 'Happy' = The word used here in the NIV is 'Blessed' which actually means happy.)

 

Q. What does persecution mean?

To persecute someone is to be hostile towards them, especially in relation to their faith.

Q. Why should suffering as a Christian give joy?

They could look to their reward from God. The prophets who were good men & who did what God wanted them to do, could not avoid suffering, they still got persecuted.

The Apostle Peter said:

"Be happy if you are cursed and insulted for being a Christian,

for when that happens the Spirit of God will come upon you with great glory.

Don't let me hear of your suffering for murdering or stealing

or making trouble or being a busybody and prying into other people's affairs.

But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian.

Praise God for the privilege of being in Christ's family

and being called by his wonderful name!"

1 Peter 4:14-16 (The Living Bible)

PLENARY:

Having looked at 6 areas why people suffer, the question to ask is:

Q. What do we do when we see suffering going on?

We shouldn't try to guess why this person is suffering. We should help them.

There are many hundreds of charities which help other people who are suffering.

(Teachers note: Perhaps look at some charity websites, eg www.oxfam.org.uk www.tearfund.org)

 

We can give money to these charities to help them in their work.

 

Q. By looking at this subject of suffering, has this changed your thoughts about God?

 

Q. If you were to create the world, what would you put in & what would you leave out?

 

Either take a short time to discuss these questions, or leave it with them.

 

(Teachers note: There are 2 worksheets to accompany this lesson plan).

Back to menu