How Could A Good God Allow Suffering (2025)

Introduction:

A. There is a movie scene in which a young brother and sister experienced the death of a beloved kitten.

1. The children had prayed fervently that the cat would get well, but unfortunately, it had died.

2. The children couldn’t understand why this had happened, so they decided that the next time they were at church they would ask their preacher about it and they found him in his office.

3. They asked the minister, “Why did God let our cat die?”

4. The minister launched into a long, complex, theological answer to their question.

5. The children listened intently and when he finished his explanation the children thanked him.

6. As the children left his office, the little boy said to his sister, “Well, I think the minister is just as confused as we are about why God allowed our cat to die!”

B. Answering the “why” of suffering is rarely a simple or concise answer.

1. This week, we have suffered alongside the Myers family as they lost their only two children in a car accident and the why question has been heavy and persistent.

2. A week ago, a helicopter accidently ran into a passenger airplane and 67 people died – Why?

3. There are so many situations that lead to the “why” question:

a. Why do couples remain childless when they desperately want a baby?

b. Why do children get cancer?

c. Why does a father or mother died of cancer leaving young children without a parent?

d. Why do house fires or forest fires reap such destruction and devastation?

e. Why do people lose their jobs or lose everything to scammers?

f. Why do car accidents take place or drunk drivers take the lives of innocent people.

C. “Why” is the question that hits first and lingers longest.

1. Why? Why this? Why me? Why now?

2. Why do bad things happen to good people?

3. How can a good God allow so much suffering to occur?

D. This morning as I wade into the question of suffering and the goodness of God, I want to be very careful that I don’t talk to glibly about this age-old question.

1. I wish I could stand in God’s shoes and completely answer this question, but I obviously can’t.

2. As you will see, I think there are many good ways to answer the question, but none of them completely answer the question.

3. In the end, we will have to realize that in this world, we will never fully understand all the mystery surrounding suffering.

E. In case I go too long or lose you along the way, let me give a general and brief answer to the question of God and suffering.

1. I have become a fan of a Christian mathematician and apologist, John Lenox, who says this about suffering: “At the heart of Christianity, there’s a cross and on it, Jesus died, as you know. But the big thing is that He claimed to be God… Do I believe it? Yes, I do. As a scientist, yes, I do. But that’s another story. So the question in this context is, what is God doing on a cross? And my answer to that is, it shows me at the very least, that God has not remained distant from the problem of human suffering, but has Himself become part of it. Now, at the pragmatic level, I’ve seen that bring healing to many, many people, if they begin to see that God actually understands our suffering… Now, you see, ladies and gentlemen, let me go one step further. If that was the end of it, it would be nothing. But the God that suffered on the cross rose from the dead. And that opens up a whole world of possibility.”

2. So, God’s general answer to suffering is that He took on suffering and death, and provides eternal life; a perfect heavenly existence where justice and perfect life is experienced forever.

3. Bad things happen to good people and the worst things happened to the best person – Jesus!

F. Today, as we try to answer the question: How could a good God allow suffering, I want us to consider several other questions.

1. We will consider the question of who – Is God All - Powerful and Good?

2. We will consider the question of why – Are there good reasons for suffering?

3. We will consider the question of how – How can we cope with suffering?

I. The Question of Who – Is God All Powerful and Good?

A. As people struggle with the question of why suffering occurs, many people conclude that either God doesn’t care enough to stop suffering, or He isn’t powerful enough to stop it, or He doesn’t exist.