How Can a Loving God Allow Suffering?

Intro

Open by referring back to peace being found in between the pillars of God’s love and God’s control

Leads to the inevitable question: How can an all-loving and all-powerful God still allow suffering?

This question requires theodicy (what did you call me?)

Theodicy: explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil. The term literally means “justifying God.” (Britannica)

The problem is, the Bible doesn’t give much information on “justifying God” and answering this question

Instead, it focuses much more on what God does in light of evil and suffering

That will be our focus as well

Perhaps we can have a firmer understanding on how God can allow suffering by the end of our time together

Suffering is a Reality

Everyone suffers in some way, shape or form in life

You don’t need me to tell you this; our experience is why this question is raised all the time

Personal experience; others we love; what we see in our communities; global events, etc.

The world is broken and suffering is the result

Suffering can be:

Of our own making (direct consequences of our actions)

i.e., car accident from distracted driving

Of other peoples’ making (direct consequences of others actions)

i.e., spouse being unfaithful

Of no discernable reason at all (consequence of the brokenness of the world)

i.e., losing someone to cancer of an unknown origin

This is where the question pops up the most: “Why?”

Christians are not immune to suffering

There is NOWHERE in the Bible where you will see God promise to keep you from experience suffer, loss and hardship

ANYONE that teaches otherwise is not teaching from the Word of God

Not only is the idea unbiblical, but it doesn’t match our experience

If we have created a theology of believing our faith keeps us from hardship, we will shatter when hardship comes

Instead, the Bible clearly teaches that Christians should EXPECT to suffer

Cf. 1 Peter 4:12-13; 19.

Therefore, suffering is not a lack of faith; if anything it is a sign of faith

But does this mean that God wants us to suffer? That he is uninterested in helping us?

No; the reality of suffering is our starting point

God does not make His people immune, but He is invested and interested in our lives and in our hardship

God Limits our Suffering

For all the suffering we see, there is much more held back

Cf. Psalm 121:1-8.

Remember, we should not read this as an escape from suffering

But we can read it as God protecting us from much suffering

And keeping us in the midst of suffering

Visualize God “holding back” evil and suffering, yet getting blamed for what is allowed through

When suffering breaks through, we will not always know “why”

This was the heart’s cry of Job

Dramatic irony: We as readers know the “cause” of Job’s suffering (due to his righteousness, not sin)

Job doesn’t know why, and he can’t find answers

His friends don’t know why either, and end up giving him terrible advice

Bad advice = Job must have done something to deserve his fate

Eventually, God shows up (in a whirlwind) and speaks to Job

But does NOT answer the question, “why?”

Instead, He reminds Job that He is God, and Job is not

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4)

Job’s response is one of confession and repentance

Cf. Job 42:1-6.

Like Job, our comfort comes from trusting in who God is, and not in knowing “why”

In God’s sovereignty, He very well may have a reason for the difficult things we go through

Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one. (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God)

Part of what we can do during times of trial is to shift from needing answers to receiving the comfort and care God promises to provide

God Comforts us in our Suffering

He is present with us in the valley of the shadow of death

Cf. Psalm 23:4. (maybe joke about John reading Psalm 23?)

There is something profound to having God with you in your darkest moment

Refer to the day of Selah’s birth

He offers us comfort in our mourning and grief

Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.

God promises comfort to us

Hard to define; but it is tangible (what we felt on Selah’s birthday)

Shows that God is not sitting far away, uninterested in our suffering

We are comforted to turn around and comfort others

Heard so many stories of infant loss; we want to comfort others in the same way, too

God uses others to comfort us, we comfort others, etc.

God Redeems our Suffering

Doesn’t mean that evil and tragedy is good, but that good can come out of it

Last reference to Selah; make me a better pastor; I would rather be a worse pastor

I get it; it doesn’t make suffering “okay” or any less difficult

But it takes a BIG God to reach into the brokenness of our life and draw out something good in the middle of it

“If you have to go through hell, don’t come out empty handed” (Rabbi Steve Leder)

Suffering is necessary for our emotional and spiritual development

Cf. Romans 5:3-5.

There is a deep call to lean into the suffering in our lives and allow God to comfort us and build us up

Refer to Roland’s statement of not wanting to lose the lessons he learned through his 1.5 years of depression

God Will Fix our Suffering

In Him there is justice for evil done in this world

Use the story of 2 people visiting the Holocaust museum

There is ONLY justice if we believe in an eternal God who is perfectly just

The alternative provides no hope for wrongs being made right

In Him there is HOPE for a time when all wrongs will be made right

Just after the climax of the trilogy Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee discovers that his friend Gandalf was not dead (as he thought) but alive. He cries, “I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer of Christianity to that question is - yes. (Tim Keller, The Reason for God)

Cf. Revelation 21:3-4.

Their is a time when suffering will be no more; we have this hope!

Allow your present suffering to help deepen your hope in Jesus, not take it away

Share story of “funeral” sermon for chronically ill mother in my Hermenuetics class *time permitting*

All of This is Proven by Jesus

Suffering is a reality = As God-in-flesh, Jesus experienced the fullness of human suffering

God limits our suffering = Jesus healed, reached out to the marginalized and taught His followers to bring “heaven to earth”

God comforts us in our suffering = Jesus promises to abide with us and provide His peace that passes all understanding

God redeems our suffering = Jesus is our true Redeemer; His suffering on the cross redeems us all (suffering servant?)

God will fix our suffering = Jesus also rose again is our way to having all wrongs be made right (eternal life)

We don’t have an easy answer to suffering, but we have a Saviour who endured it all to limit, comfort, redeem and fix everything we go through