We know from the Bible that we used to live in a
paradise without pain and suffering. When Adam & Eve sinned, everything
changed, and pain and suffering entered the world. We chose this. We are going to experience pain and suffering,
Holocausts, genocides, and natural tragedies, because this fallen, broken
world is under the curse of sin, and satan has a lot of authority (for now
but justice will come).
Here are 12 reasons I have found why God does not stop pain and suffering:
1) Free will inherently requires evil to exist. God did
not want slaves or robots worshipping Him. Would you want to force others to
love you or would you want them to choose to love you? Once God created humans with free
will, it was up to them, rather than God, whether they would exercise their
freedom by having a choice: good or evil (including pain and suffering).
That's what free will means: having a choice. It is impossible, and a
contradiction, to create a world where people have free will and genuine
freedom, but they are not free to choose evil or make bad decisions because
that other choice does not exist. What alternative can you suggest? If God
enslaved the human will, squelching wrongdoing by forcibly preventing us
from indulging in our favorite sins, we’d be the first to shake our fists at
him. It would be the height of hypocrisy to dare criticize God for not
always interfering when tragedy looms. Time after time we have
each proved by our actions that we don’t want his love and wisdom cramping
our style. There would not even be love in that world because true love is a
choice. Love for God and love for each other must involve a choice.
2) What do you expect God to do? To intervene and stop
it all? And where would the line be drawn since good comes out of so much
pain and suffering? Surely a holy God would yearn to wipe out every cause of
pain, right? And if he eradicated everyone who has ever caused pain by
selfishness, cheating, lying, gossiping or hurtful remarks, who would be
left? Oh, you mean just the big stuff? And if your pain or suffering didn’t
get prevented you would still complain!
3) He has limited Himself in some ways, including
banishing satan to earth where he has some authority for a time. Satan is
the cause of much pain and suffering, but it started with our fall, and even
before that, his fall. If a person suffers and is angry with God, frequently
that is misplaced anger. God is the giver of life. Satan is the destroyer,
the one who tears down life. Often pain is not the direct result of sin, but
rather the handiwork of Satan. Paul, for example, wrote to the Corinthians,
"There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment
me" (2 Cor 12:7).
4) God knows better than us (Suffering and pain works
for good). Look at the death of God Himself, Jesus suffering and being
crucified! Try telling his parents, his family and all of his followers that
his death was a good thing; and yet out of this gruesome event, came the
most beautiful gift of love: the ultimate eternal life. And what about the
parent, the doctor, etc. that has to cause temporary pain for the better of
the child or patient? What about the times in your life that you had pain
and suffering but good came out of it?
5) Suffering typically draws us to God/Leads to
repentance. This is the most important reason for pain and suffering,
although we may not see it, and many wouldn't agree. It's clear from testimony that many people who endure suffering
do not curse God but rather cry out to Him. Only after suffering, only after
disaster, did Old Testament Israel, do nations, do individual people turn
back to God. To quote C.S. Lewis, the author of an excellent book called
The Problem of Pain, ”God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our
conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf
world.” And of course, repentance leads to something wonderful – to
blessedness, since God is the source all joy and all life. However,
according to Psalm 59:1-3, our sins separate us from God and He "will not
hear us" unless we resolve that first. We are all evil and have the
inherited disease of sin. We are born diseased and will a death sentence.
That doesn’t change until we find Christ. Suffering is compatible with God’s
love if it is medicinal, remedial, and necessary; that is, if we are very
sick and desperately need a cure. And that’s our situation. Jesus said, ‘It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… I have not come to call
the righteous, but sinners.’” It’s important to note that according to the
Bible, “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “All of our
righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Our righteous acts are
never purely for God but always contaminated with self-interest and our
demands for justice are mixed with lust for vengeance. Suffering brings us
to that crossroads where we choose to trust Him or not. The Bible reveals,
"The Lord... is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone
to come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9). He is patiently waiting for us to humble
ourselves before Him and to receive his forgiveness and eternal life. Now is
the time to choose. When he returns, judgment will begin. Pain and suffering
are frequently the means by which we become motivated to finally surrender
to God and to seek the cure of Christ. The greatest Christians in
history say that their sufferings ended up bringing them closer to God and
was worth it, and the Bible has a lot to say about suffering (i.e. read the
book of James, 1 Peter 4, Phil. 1 and 2, and 2 Cor. 1, 4, 6, 7, 11 and
12)... We are to become more Christ-like through our suffering. Paul wrote a
lot about this (see Scriptures above) and he suffered more than most people.
Did you know that 10 of the 12 disciples died excruciating deaths because of
their faith in Christ? Do you think they would have died for a lie? Would
they have gone through that if they had questioned God’s goodness, allowing
it to happen?
6) When we go through suffering and pain, yet trust in
God, He is glorified and we will be rewarded for our faith when we get to
heaven. We may not see this now but this is clear from several books in the
Bible, including the Words of Christ. Jesus himself endured pain and
suffering to glorify the Father. Jesus said, "Father, the time has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him
authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you
have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on
earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me
in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" (John
17:1-5).
7) Those who commit evil are not getting away with it.
Evil people are hurting others all the time. Certainly God can’t consider
that fair. But justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. As you
know, there is a day coming called Judgment Day, where we will all stand
before God and He will settle accounts and people will be held responsible
for the evil they’ve perpetrated and the suffering they’ve caused.
Criticizing God for not doing it right now is like reading half a novel and
criticizing the author for not resolving the plot. God will bring
accountability and justice at the right time. In fact, the Bible says one
reason he’s delaying is because some people are still following the clues
and have yet to find Him. He’s actually delaying the consummation of history
out of his great love for them.
8) God desires to bring good out of all pain and
suffering. Not all of us learn and benefit from our suffering; that’s where
free will comes in. Everyone reacts differently to a situation or
experience. Include all types of affliction, and it is no exaggeration to
say that literally millions of people have suffered without it diminishing
their devotion to Jesus. On the contrary, they insist it was God’s comfort,
love and inspiration that empowered them to endure. Again, it’s a matter of
perspective. Is God going to be on the throne of my life or am I, with my
understanding of everything that happens. He wants to be on the throne. As
hard as this may be to understand, if we find Christ and go to heaven, we
are going to be thankful for our pain and suffering.
9) In light of heaven, the pain and suffering is
insignificant. Mother Teresa
said, “In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the
most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than
one night in an inconvenient hotel.” Keep in mind, Mother Teresa didn’t
speak from the insulated bubble that so many of us live in; she spoke from a
life full of suffering. And on top of this, Christ said He will reward us
for everything we endure for his glory. The apostle Paul, one of the most
qualified persons ever to broach this subject, discovered that no tragedy
could ‘separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39).’ For nearly 2,000
years this has been put to the test by the torment of thousands of Christian
martyrs who have agonized in triumph, rejoicing in the goodness of God. Paul
also said “…our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed to us.” and “For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Cor.
4:17).” On one side of the scale, you can have the ultimate pain and
suffering, and on the other side of the scale, you have God – the God
available to all who seek Him in the midst of their pain. The good of God,
the joys of God, is going to outweigh all of the possible pain and
suffering, and even the joy, of this world.
10) Even when the cause seems beyond human influence,
all pain and suffering can be traced not to God’s will, but to rebellion
against God’s will. We spurn God’s laws, hurt each other, and then have the
audacity to blame God for the resulting disaster. All suffering can be
tracked back to human wrong-doing – not necessarily the action of anyone
presently alive, but to someone’s deliberate disregard of God and his ways
(including Adam and Eve).
When we human beings told God to shove off, he partially honored our
request. Nature began to revolt. The earth was cursed. Genetic breakdown and
disease began. Pain and death became part of the human experience. The good
creation was marred. We live in an unjust world. We are born into a world
made chaotic and unfair by a humanity in revolt against its Creator. And why doesn’t God strike
a person dead before others could be hurt?
Because to be fair he should do the same to you and me. Only a maniac or an
ego-maniac would dare demand justice from God. Though we are too trapped in
our own mud to have a hope of seeing ourselves as we really are, if we could
remove ourselves a little, we would realize we all stand guilty before a
holy God. We have each added to humanity’s pain. For example, how can you
blame God for starving babies in Ethiopia when the best-selling books in the
United States are on dieting, on how to take the extra fat off? It is not
God's fault that people are starving today. The earth produces enough food
right now to give every person 3,000 calories a day. The problem is that
some of us hoard for ourselves so that others of us go to bed starving at
night. It is a cop-out to blame God for human irresponsibility. If a person
gets drunk, drives his car across the median, and sends your friend to an
early grave, will you blame God? Do you blame God for Hitler's seven million
murders? That would be escapism. The vast majority of human evil and
suffering is a direct result of human irresponsibility
11) Did it happen to you? It’s significant that most
objections to the existence of God from the problem of suffering come from
outside observers who are quite comfortable, whereas those who actually
suffer are often made into stronger believers by their suffering. After
wide-ranging research into the topic of suffering, Philip Yancey wrote, “As
I visited people whose pain far exceeded my own… I was surprised by its
effects. Suffering seemed as likely to reinforce faith as to sow
agnosticism.” James S. Stewart said, “It is the spectators, the people who
are outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it
is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the
inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world’s greatest sufferers who
have pronounced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith.” Have you
read Job, the all-time classic on the problem of suffering? Do you remember
what happened with Job and his three “friends?” God shows up and speaks out
of a storm (no one can see God and live) and asks, “Who is this that darkens
my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will
question you, and you shall answer me.” The next four chapters detail God’s
answer and Job’s reply. In chapter 40, it says “The LORD said to Job: ’Will
the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God
answer him!’ Then Job answered the LORD : ‘I am unworthy—how can I reply to
you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice,
but I will say no more.’ Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: ‘Brace
yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you
discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?’” God goes
on for two chapters and Job is satisfied. Forget the fact that God did this
partially to prove something to the devil, Job doesn’t know that. God didn’t
let Job suffer because He lacked love, but because He DID love, in order to
bring Job to the point of encountering God face to face, which is humanity’s
supreme happiness. Job’s suffering hollowed out a big space in him so that
God and joy could fill it.
12) God is a suffering God. He suffered in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God
stepped into this world marred by human rebellion and destruction of Satan.
When Jesus was confronted by pain and disease, he brought healing through
the use of a miracle. He did not use his supernatural power to feather his
nest but rather to heal the sick and raise the dead. Jesus commanded his
followers not only to trust him in all circumstances but also to love those
who bring them pain. Jesus said, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also....Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you" (Mt 5:39, 44). This type of trust in God and love for all
people produces Christlike character. Paul writes, "Suffering produces
perseverance; Perseverance, character: (Rom 5:3-4).
God is not a philosophical notion floating in space. God is a personal
being who became man in Jesus of Nazareth. He died on a cross to provide the
ultimate solution for suffering and death. His solution is forgiveness and
eternal life. Christ rose from the dead. Over a period of forty days he
appeared to over five hundred people. He ascended to his Father in heaven.
He promised to come again to destroy all evil, suffering and death. He will
transform this chaotic, unjust world into an orderly, just world. "He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passes away"
(Rev 21:4). If there is no all-knowing, all-powerful, God who stands at the
end of human history, justice shall never ultimately win. The wrongs will
never be made right. Evil, suffering and death triumph. But Christ taught
that history was ultimately God's story.
The question is, "Have I accepted God's solution to the problem of
suffering? Have I accepted Christ?" I cannot hide behind the question, "Why
does God allow suffering?" But I can embrace God's solution for suffering by
putting my trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life and allowing Christ to
thrust me into a hurting world to administer his love, forgiveness and
healing.
I admit that this is a feeble attempt to explain God’s
thinking, which the Bible says is much higher than ours. But please keep in
mind, every excuse you hide behind will evaporate when you stand before the
Almighty Judge. Life is not a joke and you could die at any time. I hope
this helps and leads you to humble repentance.