Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller
Week 10: Chapter 9 — Learning to Walk
Read Chapter 9 of Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.
Previewing Week 10 of Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Part Three shifts from theology to practice — and this is where the rubber meets the road. Keller now asks: given everything we've explored, how do we actually walk through suffering? Come to this chapter ready to be both challenged and helped.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller opens Part Three with the honest acknowledgment that good theology, by itself, does not automatically translate into a transformed experience of suffering. There is a gap between knowing and enduring. Have you experienced this gap? What has it felt like?
2.Keller draws on the metaphor of "learning to walk" — suggesting that suffering is a skill that can be developed, not just a crisis to be survived. What are the specific practices and dispositions he identifies as essential to walking well through suffering?
3.Keller emphasizes the importance of the Christian community — the local church — in bearing suffering together. He critiques the modern tendency toward radical self-sufficiency in grief. Have you experienced the church as a genuine community of suffering and support? What has worked, and what has fallen short?
a.What is the most helpful thing anyone has ever done for you in a time of suffering?
b.What is the least helpful? (What should people stop doing or saying?)