Suffering Is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot
Week 2: Chapter 2 — Suffering and Love
Read Chapter 2 of Suffering Is Never for Nothing. Key Scripture: John 3:16; Isaiah 53:3–5.
Previewing Week 2 of Suffering Is Never for Nothing
Read 3 of 8 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 8-week guide when you’re ready.
Elliot makes one of her most striking moves in this chapter — insisting that suffering and love are not opposites but are, in fact, inexplicably linked. Sit with that claim as you work through these questions.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.What is Elliot's central argument in this chapter about the relationship between love and suffering? Put it in your own words.
2.She points to the cross as the supreme demonstration that love and suffering are intertwined. How does the cross reframe the question 'If God loves me, why am I suffering?'
3.Elliot suggests that a love that never costs anything is not really love at all. Do you agree? Can you think of a human relationship in your own life where love and suffering have proven inseparable?
a.How does that experience — loving someone through or into pain — help you understand what God did in sending Jesus?
b.Is there a way your own suffering might be an expression of God's love rather than evidence of its absence?