GOD ON TRIAL : PART 4 ( Why does God allow suffering? )

People today ask me why a good God, a loving God, allow suffering to occur? Surely a loving a God, who sends his own son to die on the cross for the human race would not allow these same humans to suffer?

The problem with this question, is that it is a statement that is actually asking two questions in one, and both need completely different answers to be answered properly.

The first question should be : “why is their suffering?” or “what causes suffering?”
The second is : Why doesn’t God do anything about it?

The problem with the problem

Just because we suffer doesn’t automatically mean that it is from God! Most of the suffering we experience today is because of our own sinful nature. The fact that we aren’t perfect is exactly why we suffer. Suffering is but a reminder of the fact that we do live in a fallen world, where broken relationships are the norm, and the nicest people might die first. The state of the current world is but the aftermath of what happened in the garden of Eden, and until we are reunited with God, suffering will be a daily thing, exactly because we are not with God. God doesn’t cause suffering, he stops it!

But this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t allow us to suffer. Just like Joseph ( Genesis 37-50 ) where God allowed certain things to happen to Joseph so that he may become second in charge of Egypt and save the entire North Africa from starvation, so God has his will and plan that we might not fully understand. Just because we don’t understand the plan, doesn’t mean their isn’t one.

The definition of love isn’t “An end to all my suffering”, it is God works for the good of those who love him. What is that good thing good works towards you might ask? It is to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. Romans 8:28-29

See God wishes us to become more like Him, to be saved! To come to know him! He will do what HE thinks is best for us, not what we think. Turning away from sin, and following Christ is not an easy road and God, through his love will be looking after you all the time, but like a child who is naughty, so we too must be punished for our sinful ways!

God would not be loving if he didn’t let us suffer, and gave in to our whim’s and pleas, we would become like spoilt children!

It is a mistake to assume that getting rid of God will make the problem of evil easier to handle!
Or as Philip Yancey puts it ” We either suffer with God, or without him. Suffering with God is infinitely better than suffering without him”

So who is the problem? Is it us?

Think about this for a second.. If God put an instant end to all evil.. What would happen to you? Oh, but you might say, I’m not evil! Look at all the Good I’ve done in my life. What does that count for? The answer : Nothing, when we compare it to our sins! God doesn’t judge sins differently. Gluttony, swearing, homosexuality is on the same level as  murder, rape and stealing.

Or as Jesus puts it in Mark 7:20-23

He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ ”

If God was to pour  out his rightful anger upon us, we would all be killed.
Romans 3:23 : “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

But Jesus pays for our sin so that one day He can put an end to evil without putting an end to us! See, that is the awesomeness of Jesus. It isn’t for all the good he did, or for his teachings, or for the “love” culture he left behind. But it was because God came down, in human form and died on a cross (fulfilling all the prophecies regarding this matter) so that we may be saved from our inevitable death and separation from God, and instead join him in heaven one day.

The God who suffers
I would like to end with showing that our God is a God who suffers with us. He understands our suffering, and is not separate from all we are going through.
This can be seen when Jesus came down to earth, He was tempted, and faced the same pains we did. But he resisted!

Hebrews 2:17-18
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Because of all of this, our God as not only saved us from our ultimate death and separation from him, but he is also preparing a place for us :
Revelations 21:21-24
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

For all those who suffer for Christ now, and bow the knee to him will inherit the city in Romans 21.

It seems we have gone from an “unfair” and “abusive” God who looks to torture us for the fun of it, to a God who not only hates punishing us, but does it because he loves us, but a God who also understands our suffering and experienced it himself, and is busy preparing a place for each of us in heaven! All we need to do is accept his invitation.

Our God is good God, and a loving God, even though we suffer, and this is more comforting than anything money can buy.

Don’t believe me?
Look at Job, Joseph, Jesus, Paul. Read the stories of these men and you will see how through all their suffering, not only did they come out stronger, but they also gave all the glory to God!

I suggest we stop blaming God for all the suffering in the world, and start pointing fingers our ourselves.

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