Why Does God Allow Suffering?
John 16:33
02/05/06
(with help from author Lee Strobel)
When a doctor prescribes medication, it is supposed to be for our good and to help us with whatever may be ailing us. But have you ever noticed all the side effects that come with the prescriptions? You take a pain reliever for a head ache which will help ease the pain, but the side effects may be nausea, dizziness, weakness, night sweats, etc…Makes you wonder if it’s worth it. Life should come with a list of side effects as well. I think 5 minutes before the delivery of a baby, every mother should be given a slip of paper that says something to the effect of: this baby will bring you great joy and pleasure but the side effects may be illness, abuse, betrayal, sorrow, heartache, disappointments, injuries and death. Actually, life did come with a warning. Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this life, there will be trouble. But the question that millions of people want an answer to is why? Why does there have to pain and suffering?
That question was first asked thousands of years ago by Job, and it’s repeated through out the Psalms. Why God? Why is this happening? Throughout the wars, the Holocaust, the famines of Africa, the emergence of AIDS, 9/11, the tsunami, the hurricanes, and this week, a ship sank on the Red Sea where at least 1000 lives were lost. Why God? Why would a God who is good and full of love allow these things to happen?
In a recent survey, the question was asked: if you could ask God any one question, what would it be? The number one response was “why is there suffering?”
All of us have had personal times in our own lives of disappointment and tragedy and we too have wanted an answer to that question. I wish I could stand before you today and give you a complete and accurate answer but I can’t. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says that in this life, we only see dimly, and from our perspective, we don’t understand life or God at times. And it’s probably because we’re not supposed to.
Yet there are some things that we CAN understand and I’d like to discuss with you some possibilities for why God allows suffering in our lives.
Have you ever been driving on a foggy, rainy night and couldn’t see anything in front of you? Then all of a sudden, you notice tail lights on a vehicle in front of you and you begin to follow those tail lights to guide you in the right direction.
The same is true for our understanding of life-there are some things that are foggy and unclear and we feel lost and disoriented. But there are some key biblical truths that provide enough light for us to find the right direction. And as long as we have those truths to shine in our life, we may not clearly understand everything, but we know we’ll eventually get to the right destination where “we’ll understand it better bye and bye.”
So when we’re lost in the darkness and can‘t understand why, what are those biblical truths that will help to illuminate our paths?
1) God is not the Creator of evil and suffering-
The question has been asked- “Why didn’t God create a world where suffering and evil did not exist?” The answer is simple: He did. Genesis 1:31 “ God saw all that He had made and it was very good.”
So if God is not the author of pain and suffering, where did it come from? God created humankind with a free will, which is necessary if we are to be able to express our love to God and to one another. We are all created, not like puppets on a string, but with a free will. We have the choice that we can love God or we can reject Him. We choose to be kind and generous or selfish. We choose to be good or bad. God gave us that ability with a free will. If you pull a string on a Barbie doll, she may respond by saying “I love you”. It’s not because she means it or has any choice to love you, she has been programmed to say those words. Real love always involves a choice.
And because humans have made a choice to reject God and His way of life, evil exists. There are two kinds of evil: moral and natural. Moral evil exists when we choose to be selfish, arrogant, uncaring, hateful and abusive and the results are pain and suffering. Some have estimated that at least 90% of the world’s suffering is due to our choices of selfishness and sin. For example, people look at famines and wonder why God allows starvation. But there is enough food in the world to feed everyone at least 3000 calories a day! It’s our own self centeredness and lack of caring that causes this suffering. Then there is natural evil. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc…The pain and suffering from these is astronomical. Why would a God of love allow this to happen? Genesis 3:18 says it’s because of sin and selfishness that the world got corrupted and “thorns and thistles” entered the world. The earth and all of nature was cursed when sin entered our world. Mosquitoes, sticker bushes, horse flies, weeds in your yard, tornadoes and hurricanes are a result of natural evil. Romans 8:22 says “ creation groans with pain like the pain of child birth.” Because of sin, not only do we as people suffer in pain, but all of creation is in pain as well. All of us, including God’s creation, long for the day when we will be redeemed with no more pain or suffering.
So from a biblical point of view, we must understand that God did not create evil or suffering. But couldn’t He have foreseen that evil would happen? There’s no doubt that He did but think of it this way. As parents, before you had children, didn’t you know that there was a real possibility that your children might suffer disappointment, pain, heart ache, that they might even endanger themselves or you?
Even so, you had them because you knew of the even greater potential for love and real meaning in life. It’s the same with God, He knew that we would rebel against Him but He also knew that many would choose to love Him and follow Him and live eternally with Him. And it was worth it to Him, even though He would have to go through the great pain of giving up His Son on a cruel cross.
So the first truth that sheds light on our understanding of suffering is that God did not create evil or suffering. The second truth to help us is knowing that:
2) Although suffering isn’t thought of as good, God can use it to accomplish good.
There are several ways that God uses our suffering for our good:
a) He uses our pain to draw us to Christ
Throughout the OT, we recall how the people of Israel would turn back to God only after a period of suffering. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” In our own lives, how often do we drift away from God when things are going our way? It is during those times of adversity that we are drawn back to Him and realize how dependant we are on Him. Joni Eareckson Tada, who has suffered for more than 30 years due to an accident which left her a quadriplegic, said “I’d rather be in this wheelchair knowing God than be on my feet without Him.” Our sweetest moments with God are often during painful times. b) God uses our pain to sharpen our character- We become more Christ like as a result of our difficult times which is God’s intended purpose for our lives. Romans 5:3 “ We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance-character and character-hope.” Often times broken bones heal and are even stronger after they have been broken. Likewise, after we have been broken, we become stronger in our faith as we depend on God for our needs. c) Our sufferings are sometimes a way of God disciplining us so that we’ll mature in our faith-
In the book of Hebrews, we read “our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good…no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace”
Discipline is an act of love in which we correct someone’s behavior in order for them to have a better future. As parents, we use something we don’t particularly like (discipline) to accomplish something we love, which is protecting our children from harm if they don’t change their ways. God does the same thing with us. With our children, we aren’t allowed to see their futures and how our discipline was good for them. But God sees the big picture, He is very aware of how His discipline will be for our good. Not having His perspective of seeing the good in the future, we often can’t understand why we’re having to suffer.
Example- Let’s say you’re in the woods and see an animal caught in a trap. Out of your goodness and love for the animal, you try to help it. But it is scared that you’re gonna hurt it, although you only mean good. So you have to tranquilize it, but it only thinks you’re even causing it more pain. Then after the animal is semi-conscience, you have to move the leg in order to free it, causing it even more pain. You know that causing the animal pain is for it’s long term good, but it can’t see it that way, it only wants to know “Why are you hurting me?” If we could see the big picture, we would know that pain is sometimes a way of God disciplining us for our long term good. d) God can accomplish something positive out of our negatives. “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” If we are committed to following Christ, He will take the pain that we can’t understand and turn it into good. We saw that in the life of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused and falsely imprisoned. After many years, he was put into a role of authority and was able to save the life of his family. He said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done”. When you are in a loving, committed relationship with God, He will take your pain and use it to bring good to your life and glory to His name.
He took the worst event in the history of man and brought forth the most wonderful thing that has ever happened for man. God, in the form of His son Jesus, died upon a cruel cross so that we could be forgiven and redeemed. His death seemed like the end, it seemed like the worst thing that could ever happen. But on the 3rd day, He defeated death by rising from the grave giving us the opportunity of eternal life, which is the best thing that could ever happen. God will take our suffering and bring good out of it even though we don’t understand it in the midst of our pain.
So let’s review-God didn’t create evil and suffering; and He will use our suffering for our own good.
3) Suffering will one day end and evil will be judged- The question may be asked, “if God is all powerful and loving and good, why doesn’t He do away with evil in the world?” The answer is just because He hasn’t yet, doesn’t mean that He won’t. It’s kind of like reading half way through a book and wanting to know why the author hasn’t made things better before we get to the end of the book. The bible clearly teaches that one day all suffering will end and people will be held accountable for the evil they’ve done. So when is that day coming? Why does God wait so long?
One of the answers is that we as people are delaying God from doing away with evil.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” The day for suffering and evil is coming to an end, but out of His great love for us, God is patiently waiting and giving us opportunities to turn to Him. Have you turned to Him? Don’t wait until it’s too late.
The final truth that sheds light on why there is suffering is:
4) There is no comparison between our suffering and the good God has in store for those who love Him.
I don’t won’t to minimize anyone’s pain but it helps if we take a long term perspective on our sufferings. Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” This said by a man who went through more suffering than most of us will ever know. He also said, “For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Paul had a long term perspective on pain, he looked at things from an eternal point of view and we need to get in the habit of doing that as well.
Look at it this way- Let’s say that on the first day of this year, you had the worst day of your life. You had a root canal and came home and found that your house had burned down and you lost everything. Then you discovered that your best friend betrayed your trust and was found guilty for burning your house. That’s a pretty bad first day of the year isn’t it? But imagine that the rest of 2006 turned out to be wonderful-you inherited 25 million dollars and bought a new house, you got a new car, you paid off all your debt and gave your family and friends money they needed. You gave much of your money to charity and helped many who were in need. You were named Person of the Year by Time magazine and rewarded with a free month long vacation in Hawaii. 2006 was a wonderful year for you. On the next new year’s day, someone asked how was last year for you? You say absolutely wonderful! But what about that first day? Wasn’t it a bad one? Yes, but compared with the other 364 days, there was no comparison and you hardly even remember that painful day.
And the same will be true for us in heaven, we may have suffered for 80 years on earth but when compared to the goodness and joy of eternity, we won’t even remember the pain we had on earth. One particular Christian, who lived a life full of pain said, “In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.” Galvin Reid tells the story of a young man who had fallen down some stairs as an infant and had shattered his back. He had been in and out of hospitals his whole life with one surgery after another. But at 17 years of age, this young man made the comment that He thought God was more than fair with him. When Galvin Reid reminded him that he had practically lived his whole life in hospitals, he asked the young man, “How can you say that God is fair?” He smiled and said, “God has all of eternity to make it up to me.” In our sufferings, it helps to see things from an eternal point of view and know that our pain has no comparison with the joy and glory of living eternally with God.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
No one wants to suffer and we often don’t understand why we do but God’s word sheds light and provides a way for us to find direction in the midst of our pain.
God didn’t create evil, man did. He will take our suffering and pain and turn it into good when we love Him and trust Him. Suffering and pain will be over soon and there will be no more of it. And all of our suffering and pain can’t compare with the goodness and joy we’ll experience in eternity one day.
In the midst of our pain, we can turn bitter or we can turn better. May we remember that God is with us during those painful moments and He understands pain and suffering, He understands brokenness and sorrow, He understands betrayal and forsakenness. For He went through all of these things on our behalf when He suffered and died on the cross simply because He loves us.
When going through difficult times in life, we have basically two options, we can turn away from God and try to handle it on our own or we can turn to God and trust in His love for us. Are you hurting today and don’t understand why? Turn to God and let Him assure you that He loves you and that one day, you will indeed “understand it better bye and bye.”
