Why Does Humanity Suffer?

One of the many benefits of Scripture is that it helps us evaluate everything more clearly. An event we might view in our limited thinking as an apparent curse could in reality turn out to be a real blessing.

Suffering and God

Suffering is a highly emotional topic.

The problem of suffering goes back way further than our personal angst, further than any national crises of our day, all the way back to the beginning of history itself.

It is one of the leading arguments made by skeptics for refuting God’s existence.

They use the problem of suffering as a way to show that Christianity is logically inconsistent. And if Christianity could be proved logically inconsistent, then it would have to be false.

Yet the problem of suffering goes beyond being an academic argument. It is highly emotional, and we are emotional beings.

And those emotions are stimulated when we experience physical pain or when we have to watch others we care for go through worse pain than ourselves.

So I don’t shake my head over those who wrestle w/the problem of suffering, atheist or otherwise.

This is not just an issue for atheists; some of the most faithful of God’s people wrestle w/it.

And even though this study is designed to answer a lot of the questions that come up about suffering, we can’t answer every question.

We just don’t know the reason behind every single circumstance of suffering that we experience or observe.

But we can know our God.

– this is the point that should always be the goal of a lesson on suffering, that by understanding who God is and who we are not, that should give us the trust and faith that God is still in control, He still loves us, despite the awful atrocities that sometimes occur in our world.

Arguments against God using Suffering:

“Why does a good God allow evil to exist?”

This was C. S. Lewis’ biggest gripe when he was an atheist. In his book called “The Problem of Pain”, he said, “If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, power, or both.”

In other words, what he concluded was either God wants to prevent evil, but He doesn’t have the power to do it, or He has the power to do it, but does not want to do it. And so God cannot possibly be the God of the bible, if He in fact exists.

“Why are evil-doers allowed to prosper?” Psalm 73:3–9

In other words, here I am trying to live a decent life. I don’t bother anybody, I don’t steal, I try to be useful and benevolent. But here’s this person over here doing evil and getting away with it. Or as Asaph put it:

Psalm 73:3–9 NKJV

For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth.

This is not a problem solely for the skeptic. God’s people struggled w/this and continue to struggle w/it.

A Skeptic’s explanation of suffering:

“Suffering is more consistent to the ‘tooth and nail’ principle of evolution than creationism.”

In other words, the fact this is a dog-eat-dog world explains everything. It’s just Darwinian natural selection w/either one species proving their superiority to another, or those within a species doing away w/the weaker.

Ironically, the atheist is going to find problems taking this idea to its logical conclusion., we’ll discuss in just a bit.

But suffice it to say, the problem of suffering comes in many forms and many questions and they deserve the best answers we can give.

Challenges for the Skeptic

So, before we attempt to answer the question of suffering, let’s pose our own challenges to the skeptic:

It is self-refuting to claim that evil means that God cannot exist.

Because in order to admit that there is such a thing as evil, by necessity, God must exist.

Claiming there is truly is “evil” implies an ethical standard against which moral value is determined, and to argue from this standard implies the penultimate example of goodness itself – God.

Now often their reply to this is, “What I mean by evil is what is best for society.”

Fair enough, but then you’re going to have to explain why if another society decides to take a radically different approach to its application of what you call “evil” for this society, why it is we have the right and obligation to speak out and even intercede.

Should we speak out and intercede against forced child labor? Human trafficking? Was Hitler and his genocide right or wrong? He did what he deemed best for his nation, yet we went to war against him. Were we right or wrong for that?

BTW, Hitler was an avid believer in Darwinian Evolution and used its principles as the foundation for his ideas.

So going back to the idea that suffering is more consistent to the “tooth and nail” principle of evolution, a skeptic is going to have a hard time taking this “survival of the fittest/tooth-and-nail” argument to its ultimate conclusion.

See, we all agree that there is an objective standard of right and wrong, a moral law in which we all ought to agree.

If that moral standard exists, though, it begs the question who put that within us. Only God, who is Goodness personified, could be the measure for such a standard.

General prohibitions against evil such as murder, stealing, lying, and rape were written in the bible 3500 years ago, so it is not as if God has been idle.

These things were summarized in the 10 Commandments, epitomized in the very person of Jesus Christ, taught further by His Apostles in their writings to us, and yet 2000 years later are still admitted as the moral standard to which all of mankind should aspire, even if mankind is not practicing them as they ought to.

So what I try to encourage skeptics to do before they just up and deciding to cancel God because there is evil and suffering is to maybe check out the specific revelation that He has left us. In doing so, it’s going to answer a lot of their questions, if they actually want answers.

“I’m not reading no bible” – that is ignorance masquerading as competence.

You wonder why there is evil and suffering, but you won’t seek out the answer? Does that sound intellectually honest?

It sounds like a person who won’t be convinced even if you show them the evidence.

Don’t waste your time w/such a person – Matt 7:6 . There are billions more that need the gospel; move on to the next prospect.

Matthew 7:6 NKJV

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Could it be that God has reasons for evil to exist that we cannot understand? Is. 55:8-9; Hab. 2:4

After all, He is God – Isa 55:8-9 – He is God, we are human. If we seek to bring God’s thoughts and ways down to our lesser thoughts and ways, can He really be God?

The very fact He is the Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of our universe means His understanding and His intellect are infinitely beyond out own. Given this, any honest person, at the very least, ought to admit that it is possible I simply just don’t understand.

And the fact that I don’t understand, that it doesn’t make sense to me, shouldn’t detract from God’s existence or His character.

Isaiah 55:8–9 NKJV

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

But part of the problem is we’re a prideful people – Hab 2:4 – The idea I could be wrong, that I could be mistaken in my assertions, that suffering could be a part of a much bigger plan by God to bring more people to Him, that thought will never occur to a proud person.

Because if a proud person thinks it, it must be true. If a proud person doesn’t get it, the problem is not with him but someone else. This is why it’s important we don’t waste our time continuing to how show evidence to someone who is not actually seeking. It’s an exercise of futility.

Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV

“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

How much evil should God stop?

They’ll say, “Well, for starters, He should stop all murders”.

Ok, but He’d also have to stop all the liars because both are an abomination to Him, both are forbidden in the 10 Commandments.

So, I may not be a murderer, but if God had to stop all liars, then who else would He have to stop? You and me. Is that what we want?

“Ok then how about if He just stopped all evil before it happened.” But then He’d have to stop all thoughts.

And you know what He would have to do to stop all thoughts? He’d have to remove our free will.

Now, many skeptics are not going to like this answer because to them lying is way further down the totem pole of evil than murder, and actions are way different than the desire to facilitate those actions.

But whose standard are we interested in, God’s standards or the standards we’ve conjured up? You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

How Evil Entered the World

Creation was “very good”. Gen. 1:31; 2:16-17; 3:1-6

What we know from scripture is that God has often put a stop to evil, proving He is fully capable of doing so whenever He wishes.

The question we need to ask is if He chooses not to in a particular instance, could there be a compelling reason why?

If we’re going to do justice to the question, it would help to understand how evil came into this world – Gen 1:31 – That includes “all” that He made. It was all “very good”.

Creation was perfect, there was not a scratch or a blemish anywhere within it.

And who did He make it for? Us.

He placed man in this perfect paradise w/everything he needed to sustain himself and to enjoy, including woman, and He gave them just one law – Gen 2:16-17 – Oh if only there but one and only one thing we did not have to do – that alone would be paradise.

However man was not content w/all the blessings God gave; he wanted more – Gen 3:1-6 – Thus sin and evil entered the world and has remained since. And who caused it? God? No, man.

“How could God allow for this?” Gen. 3:15; Eph. 3:11

A person reading this for the first time might ask, “Why did God allow such a situation?

Surely God would know that these people would sin.

Why didn’t God make it so that there was no prohibition so man/woman would do the right thing instead of choosing what was wrong?”

Well, freewill is a rather inconvenient thing in some ways, as everyone who is a parent recognizes.

Yet the Lord from the very beginning understood that in that cluster of characteristics referred to as “being made in the image of God”, that for God to have children who could be like Him in choosing between moral alternatives, He had to choose to limit His own power by allowing us the opportunity to choose.

And so God had a plan since the foundation of the world that even if man should sin, there’d be a strategy in which He’d make redemption possible – Gen 3:15 – And this seed was Jesus Christ – Eph 3:11 – So God did not leave us here to dig ourselves out of the mess we caused. He provided a solution. But in the meantime, we live in a broken world where man’s freewill has gone rabid and its ripple effects are felt by everyone.

This broken world is “unfair”. Heb 2:10

Yeah? Tell that to Jesus.

No one suffered like He did. And this is God coming down from heaven to suffer for us – Heb 2:10 .

Hebrews 2:10 NKJV

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

I may not like the suffering and evil I see around me, but it was nothing compared to the suffering and evil done to the greatest man that ever lived on this planet.

No one was more innocent and undeserving of the evil done Him than our Lord Jesus Christ and if there is any suffering done that should cause disgust and angst in me, let it be the evil shown Him and the unjust suffering He experienced.

“Well then I’d prefer not to have freewill”.

Well, skeptics don’t act like it. They constantly flaunt their so-called right to choose to kill unborn babies under the delusion of “choice”. They engage in pornography and slander under the guise of “freedom of expression”.

All this is done because free moral agency is seen as a glorious and valuable thing. But the bible shows us repeatedly that when we use our freedoms to go against God’s will, it always leads to consequences, only for them to then blame God for giving them that very freedom? Tell me another whopper.

No one with free moral agency is innocent. Rom. 3:23

Here’s the bottom line. Because of choices we humans make, no one w/free moral agency is truly innocent – Rom 3:23

We have proven time and time again that when we’re given free will, we tend to gravitate toward sin, which inherently brings suffering.

And this evil has had ripple effects throughout nature, because though He is a God of love, He is also a God of justice and part of the consequence of sin entering the world is that God had to curse the land – this world we live in is now decaying.

And this has resulted in earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc. because this world we’re living is falling apart, and no climate change laws are going to ultimately prevent that – this world is going down.

And the saddest part of our free will is that when we choose to do evil, it creates ripple effects throughout society that pierces even those that I love.

Evil is unfortunately not discretionary. When I choose to do wrong, it will negatively affect those within my sphere of influence. We cannot sin in a bubble. Anyone we bring into our life will be harmed by our personal sin. This is the world we live in. It’s no longer paradise.

God Has Done Much to End Suffering!

But besides Jesus Christ coming to die for our sins, we need to be reminded that God hasn’t just sat idle and allowed evil to run rampant. He has put in place many things to prevent the spread of evil while at the same time allowing us to keep our free will.

God allowed for human government for the promoting of social order. Rom 13:1-4

God has made this world and humanity such that there will always be “rulers” of some sort. Mankind constantly creates government to enforce laws and provide order.

Romans 13:1–4 NKJV

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

God provided the marriage covenant to control sexual desire and disease. 1 Cor 7:1-2

Think about all the emotional trauma that comes from rampant sexual abuse. Not simply rape, but even sleeping around. How many women are emotional wrecks because of insensitive men? How many children grow up w/severe self-esteem issues because of selfish parents who divorced for unscriptural reasons? And who do these children become? Would STDs be an issue if God’s marriage law was obeyed? God knew what He was doing in marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:1–2 NKJV

Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

God provided moral standards for developing proper relationships between people. Ex 20:12-17

The last 6 of the 10 Commandments were all written to inform us how we should an shouldn’t treat one another – Ex 20:12-17 – Would there be more or less evil if we followed these guidelines?

Exodus 20:12–17 NKJV

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

God created the church to restrain evil by acting as a light to spiritual truth. 1 Tim 3:15

Morality can only be legislated to a point. There are certain issues of the heart that one cannot simply “punish away”. One of the functions of the church is to ring out the message that will not only solve this problem but every other spiritual problem on this planet for whosoever will.

1 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

God has limited and governed Satan’s power over us. 1 Cor 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Sometimes it feels like I can’t stand up to a temptation.

Sometimes it feels so strong, there’s a sense of inevitability that comes w/it, “I must see this temptation through, I can’t stand it, I can’t withhold.” Yet Paul tells us very plainly that God is faithful and will not allow temptation to be impossibly strong.

Think about it like this: if temptation is as powerful as it is and God governs it, how strong do you think it would be if He didn’t?

Isn’t that scary thought? When you think that Satan has pulled out all stops out on you and you’re in the midst of some sinful passion and you don’t think you can stand up to the temptation, think about the fact that God has governed it and you don’t even think about it as strongly as you could.

What if He stopped governing it and told Satan, “Go get him”? We can’t even begin to realize how ugly Satan can get, how powerful he is. God has muted/governed that power. And in that moment, I need to trust in God that it is so, otherwise I might reason that there’s no way I can stand up to it. And if/when we do give in, its because we didn’t trust in God that He could govern it.

God gave us a conscience to encourage us to do what is right Rom 2:14-15

Romans 2:14–15 NKJV

for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)

Our conscience acts like an umpire that positions us to view life situations in a moral and ethical light.

Our conscience judges and determines that some actions are right and some actions are wrong. When we do what is right, our conscience commends us and we can go throughout our day guilt-free and clear of blame.

But when we go against our conscious, it causes us to feel guilt and even keeps us up at night reminding us over and over again that we knew better but we did wrong anyway.

God designed consequences to go along with sin that we might change paths – Prov 13:15

Proverbs 13:15 NKJV

Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.

It’s unfortunate that we tend to not think about this very much when we’re at the point of making some decision.

Usually what we’re thinking about is how this is going to benefit me short term. “This is going to satisfy my flesh short term. This is going to give me a financial advantage in the future. This is going to make me feel good”. And then later on, as we mature, we begin to see the reality of our sin, and we start experiencing the trauma and the pain, and we’ll throw our hands up in the air saying, “I didn’t know it was going to be like this!”

But why didn’t we know? God said that there would be consequences to our sins. He said it a long time ago! Why is it that the consequences that come with our sin seem to catch us off guard when God told us that the way of the transgressor is hard?

When sin is knocking on our door and we are in the heat of the moment and about to sin against God or against our fellow man, we need to know in that very moment that decisions we make are going to have consequences.

And so, when we are at that point where we’re rationalizing and reasoning away our sin, we better keep in mind that the proverb writer says that the way of the transgressor is hard.

He sent Jesus to live such an amazing life and die such an important death so that we might be compelled to change – 2 Cor 5:14-15

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NKJV

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

What Jesus did for us should be so compelling, that even the mental image of His cruel death on that cross should stop us in our tracks anytime we’re thinking about sinning.

Good Things about Suffering

There is no argument that evil causes suffering. But there are also benefits to God allowing evil to remain for a time on this Earth, even if it is at the expense of suffering.

Even though we make horrible choices, freedom is a wonderful thing, as it gives an opportunity for real love to be expressed.

If God had made us robots, how could we possibly love and desire Him and benefit from the joy of that kind of relationship?

Remember the movie, “The Stepford Wives”? The men turned their wives into robots so they would always do their bidding. To them, that sounded like a good idea, but only on the surface.

See, the great thing about love in the marriage relationship is that my wife could have chosen to love anyone she wanted to, yet she chose to love me.

And when she chooses to “do [me] good and not evil all the days of her life”, as Prov 31:12 says, and I treat her the same, this makes for a relationship so much more fulfilling and joyful and nurturing than if one of us were forced to love the other.

God could have made us pawns on a chessboard, puppets, robots, but the only way He could take people and make them in His image, was that in giving us the ability to choose, also giving us the ability to choose incorrectly. This makes the presence of evil a sad but necessary consequence in this world.

God sees the big picture after suffering. We don’t. Acts 8:3; Rev. 6:10; 1 Tim. 1:12-16

Consider the example of Saul of Tarsus.

Acts 8:3 tells us that he was ravaging the church, entering house by house, dragging off men and women and putting them into prison. How many of those Christian men and women prayed to God that justice might be done toward Saul of Tarsus for what he was doing to the church?

“No way, that’s too vindictive.” Yet even the martyred saints in heaven are shown to be doing that in Rev 6:10 – “and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’”

You don’t think any of those Christians Saul imprisoned prayed to God about him? Now, fast-forward 2000 years, what if God answered their prayers and zapped Saul of Tarsus into oblivion before he ever set out on that road toward Damascus?

Would we be better off or worse off if Saul of Tarsus had never been graced by God to become the Apostle Paul? We know the answer. Patient love won Saul over, and he himself acknowledged it - 1 Tim 1:12-16

If you were a 1st century Christian being dragged away by Saul, and God told you what would become of Saul and how many people would eventually be saved by him, would you sacrifice yourself for that cause?

Suffering shapes us – Prov 23:13-14 ; Heb 12:1-3, 11; 5:8; Rom. 5:3; 1 Pet. 5:10

Proverbs 23:13–14 NKJV

Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.

But not just children are rescued from Sheol are they? Us too – Heb 12:11 . It’s almost as if God knew that many would not choose to do right, but that their evil that would be a catalyst to help those who do want to do right grow even when they become collateral damage.

Hebrews 12:11 NKJV

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Even Jesus Himself went through this – Heb 5:8 – this is an important point. Those who reject God because of questions surrounding suffering don’t seem to get the fact that Jesus came down here as God in the flesh to partake of human suffering far beyond what we’ve ever experienced. God knew that despite how much suffering hurts, it transforms us into better people if we let it – Rom 5:3 .

Hebrews 5:8 NKJV

though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

Romans 5:3 NKJV

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

And part of that shaping has to do w/providing the motivation to depart this decaying, suffering world for a better place – Heb 12:1-3 .

Hebrews 12:1–3 NKJV

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

And Peter says this – 1 Pet 5:10

1 Peter 5:10 NKJV

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

Peter’s hopeful words underscore two aspects of suffering:

its inevitability; not “if” you suffer, but “after” you have suffered

and its relative brevity in the context of eternity.

These words may sound cheap to the person in the middle of hardship, because who among us doesn’t feel like our difficulties drag on forever? Who among us doesn’t wish and pray for our pain to end as quickly as possible?

But if you consider the context into which these words were spoken, when people’s very lives were being threatened, you realize how remarkable and genuine Peter’s attitude was. His was an eternal perspective.

When we begin to look at suffering in light of God’s character and promises, we can catch sight of its eternal purposes.

That shapes us for eternity. If we let Him, God can use hardship to pry our fingers off that tight grip we have on our expectations and turn our attention to a living hope that won’t let us down.

Suffering revives our love toward others – 2 Cor 1:3-4; Job 38:1-3

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Remember, part of the reason for those last 6 of the 10 Commandments, among other laws, was to instruct us on how we are supposed to treat one another. But we don’t.

When a great disaster occurs, we sometimes see the best in humanity helping each other out. But once that disaster has subsided, we go back to the same hate and distrust that characterizes our “typical” existence in this world. Maybe the question is not “why does God allow suffering?”, but rather, “why does it take suffering to bring the best out of humans?”

So then what about unresolved questions? The truth is, since we are not God, we will never know all the reasons why some suffering happens, just as Job didn’t understand why those things were happening to him. But as he questioned God about this, notice God’s response – Job 38:1-3

Job 38:1–3 NKJV

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

And it’s at this point that God took him on a virtual tour of the wonders of creation and He put Job on trial.

He asked him all kinds of questions about the origin of the Earth, its structure, the boundaries of the sea, the design of the heavenly bodies and whether or not he knew how to control the weather.

He asked him if he knew how to provide food for all animal life, the intricacies of their birthing patterns and nesting patterns. Well of course he didn’t.

But God did. He has His eyes on it all. And that was exactly God’s point. See, Job and his friends made all kinds of assumptions about how God runs the universe according to justice, because in their foolishness they thought they had a broad enough perspective about Creation to make such assumptions.

But God deconstructs these assumptions by reminding them of something they should have already known – God’s creation is awesome and massive and complicated and mysterious.

And yet God is wise and powerful enough that He has His eyes on it all. But Job? All he had to go on was what God chose to reveal to him as well as the small horizon of his life experiences – and that means his outlook on things was severely limited, just like ours.

If we do not have the knowledge or wisdom to understand the mystery that is God’s Creation, how can we ever expect to understand the mystery that is suffering?

God never explained to Job why he was personally suffering. He didn’t tell him about Satan’s accusations and attacks against him or the reason for it. He didn’t tell him that his personal history would be written up and would encourage the faith of other believers until the end of the world, and He didn’t tell him that soon after, He would make everything alright. God merely reminded him that mankind lives in an amazing world of mysterious complexity and wonder, and as it is now, it is not designed to prevent suffering. But just because he was suffering didn’t put him in any position of wisdom to begin challenging the way God chooses to run things. And so what he learned from God putting him on trial is that in absence of a reason why things happen the way they do, he simply needed to trust Him; and so do we.

We are not going to force God to hold His breath by holding ours. Understand? Only a person too distracted by his own self-interest could ever allow the question of why we suffer to be a deal breaker with God. Faith demands so much more than that.

Job 19:25 – “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth”

Faith begins by considering the cross. Evil men crucified the Son of God. He allowed them to do so for us, because in His infinite wisdom God knew that this evil could be used for our good. And if He could design such a marvelous scheme of by which to redeem us back to Himself, I have to believe that even in the sufferings that occur that I don’t understand, there must be a reason behind that too.

Point: whatever unresolved questions we have about why God allows suffering needs to be looked at through who God is, who we are not, and what He accomplished for us at Calvary.

Suffering is helpful when:

· We turn to God for understanding, enduring, and deliverance

· We ask important questions we might not take time to think about in our normal routine

· We are prepared by it to identify with and comfort others who suffer

· We are open to being helped by others who are obeying God

· We are ready to learn from a trustworthy God

· We realized we can identify with what Christ suffered on the cross for us

· We are sensitized to the amount of suffering in the world

· We get serious about not causing others to suffer

Suffering is harmful when:

· We become hardened and reject God

· We refuse to ask any questions and miss any lessons that might be good for us

· We allow it to make us self-centered and selfish

· We withdraw from the help others can give

· We reject the fact that God can bring good out of calamity

· We accuse God of being unjust and perhaps lead others to reject Him

· We refuse to be open to any changes in our lives

· We are looking for a reason not to believe or an easy reason to give up