Suffering of the innocent
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· 21 viewsScripture does not teach that the wicked will suffer, whereas the innocent and blameless will prosper. It offers insights into the place of suffering in the lives of the innocent, and the apparent injustice of this situation.
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The apparent injustice of suffering
The apparent injustice of suffering
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,
And You can not look on wickedness with favor.
Why do You look with favor
On those who deal treacherously?
Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
See also Job 19:7; Job 24:1; Job 24:12; Ps 59:3–4; Ps 74:1; Ps 74:11; Ps 88:5; Ps 88:14
The wrong answers to suffering
The wrong answers to suffering
The concept that those who suffer must be sinners:
The concept that those who suffer must be sinners:
Job 4:7; Jn 9:2–3
Eze 18:25 the idea that God is unjust
The wrong reactions to suffering
The wrong reactions to suffering
Job 2:9–10 resentment against God; Job 23:13–15 being terrified of God; Job 40:2 arguing with God; Ps 73:3 envying the wicked; Ps 73:13 disillusionment
The right reactions to suffering
The right reactions to suffering
Reverent submission
Reverent submission
He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
See also Job 28:28; Job 34:12; Job 36:26; Job 37:19; Job 40:4; La 3:40; La 3:49–50; Mt 10:28
Trust in God
Trust in God
Ge 18:25; Ps 55:22–23
See also Ex 2:23; Ps 56:3–4; Ps 59:16; Ps 62:5; Ps 70:2; Ps 107:6; Ps 107:13; Ps 107:19; Ps 107:28
Ps 119:50; Ps 119:153; Da 3:17–18 the trust shown by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; Hab 3:17–18; 1 Pe 2:23 the example of Jesus Christ; 1 Pe 4:19; 1 Pe 5:7
God’s reaction to suffering
God’s reaction to suffering
Concern for those who suffer
Concern for those who suffer
For He who requires blood remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
See also Ex 2:25; 2 Ki 14:26; Ps 1:6; Ps 33:18–19; Jas 5:4
Anger at the wicked
Anger at the wicked
Ps 11:5; Ps 59:8; Eze 36:6–7; Hab 2:9; Hab 2:12
God’s response to suffering
God’s response to suffering
Deliverance for those who suffer
Deliverance for those who suffer
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
See also Job 42:10–12; Re 7:16; Re 21:4
Judgment for the wicked
Judgment for the wicked
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.
See also Ex 3:19–20; Ps 73:16–18; Ps 141:10; Am 1:3; Na 3:1; Na 3:19; Hab 2:16; Mt 25:41–46; Jas 2:13; 1 Pe 4:18; Re 18:6–7