Why Should Righteous People Suffer?

By James Quansah, Pastor

PEOPLE WHO fail to do what is generally accepted as right are made to suffer punishment for their actions. Thus, it is not strange to see or hear about a thief, murderer, adulterer or rapist being punished for their actions.

But why should righteous people, those who fear God, do what is right, obey the laws of God and their states also suffer many things in life? For example, the Lord Jesus Christ lived a sinless and righteous life when He walked the earth. In fact, He only went about doing good to humanity, yet Jesus suffered many things.

People who personally walked with Him testified that Christ Jesus committed no sin and broke no law deserving punishment (1 Peter 2:22). Pilate, a Roman governor, could not press any incriminating charges against Christ when He was brought to his court.

Yet, our Lord suffered physically, mentally and emotionally through hunger, thirst, betrayal, beatings, rejection, false accusation, insults, humiliation and eventually painful death by crucifixion.

We can also talk about Job, a man God Almighty Himself described as “the finest in all the earth, blameless – a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil” (Job 1:8). Despite Job’s approval as an upright man, he faced serious troubles including suffering terrible sickness, death of his children, loss of wealth and mockery from his wife and friends. We can also talk about the suffering of righteous people like Zecharia and Elizabeth.

These should lead us into seeing that life on this earth is a mystery in which trouble or suffering cannot be avoided. Everyone, whether educated or uneducated, rich or poor, rural or urban dweller is bound to suffer some form of troubles in their lives irrespective of skin colour.

The truth which Christians who are righteous in Christ Jesus must know is that life in this fallen world is a life of troubles and suffering. Job understood this so he wrote: “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).

Moreover, when Jeremiah, the prophet, suffered intense persecution after giving prophecies, he said: “Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame” (Jeremiah 20:18)?

Also, the Lord Jesus makes it clear to all His disciples that they will suffer troubles in this world (John 16:33). If He, the Righteous One, suffered, who are we to be spared. This should remind us to brace ourselves to face troubles that hit us camouflaged differently.

In the Part Two, we will discuss the various ways troubles come to make us suffer. We will also look at what must be done to make its impact on us less severe.

James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.