The crux of the human problem, according to Israel's faith, is not the fact of suffering but the character of man's relationship to God. Outside the relationship for which man was created, suffering drives men to despair or to the easy solutions of popular religion. Within the relationship of faith, suffering may be faced in the confidence that man's times are in God's hands and that “in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).