Grace Transforms

Why does God allow suffering? Hardly a day goes by when we don’t come across suffering. Devastation caused by earthquakes and tsunamis… millions living in poverty… children being abused… family breakdowns… bullying… people suffer. We suffer. So it’s right to wonder: “God, if you’re there, why don’t you do something about it?”

Well, imagine we could actually tell God what to do. Where would you suggest he starts? How about God gets rid of the terrorists and the murderers. That would mean a lot less suffering for many people—but suffering hasn’t been eradicated yet. How about God deals with the paedophiles and the drug dealers and the thieves? We can see the world’s getting a much better place, but it’s still not perfect. How about God gets rid of the unkind, the gossips, the liars, the selfish—oh, but that’s actually me.

You see, when we ask God to get rid of suffering, we’re actually asking him to get rid of us. We do suffer, but we actually cause loads of suffering ourselves. That time when we lost our temper with someone… when we trod on someone to get to where we wanted to… when we ignored our kids because we were just too tired or busy… when we gossiped about a work colleague… when we were just plain nasty to someone. We cause much suffering.

So if we demand that God throws suffering out of this world, we’re actually demanding that he throws us out too. God is delaying the day when he will deal with all suffering so that we can realise that we’re part of the problem, and we can ask him if there’s any way not to be thrown out of his world.

That’s an answer—but the Bible offers us much more than that. I don’t know you—and maybe you’ve clicked on this…because you’re really struggling with something at the moment. When I’ve struggled in the past, what I need more than answers is hope – I need to know that I’m going to get through this suffering, and I need to know that there’s something beyond this suffering.

And the amazing thing is that God knows what you’re going through when you suffer—because he himself suffered. God lived on earth as a man, Jesus, and Jesus suffered and even died in agony on a cross. He promises to be with those who trust in him, comforting them and helping them through their suffering.

But even more amazing than that promise is that God promises that one day he will put an end to all suffering. Those guilty of causing suffering will one day have to answer to him, and justice will be done. He promises that he’ll make a perfect world, a world of “no more death or mourning or crying or pain”, for those things will be gone forever. And God says that because Jesus died you, me, anyone, can ask for a place in his perfect world instead of being thrown out of it.

You know, when I’m going through suffering, knowing that God is with me, and that one day I’ll live with him in his perfect world, are two amazing hopes that keep me going. (Above post copied from ChristianityExplored.org /tough-questions /God and suffering click the link to see it in video form or explore the issue in greater depth).

Related Posts:

I this 4-minute clip, Don Carson addresses this question and shares what helps him worship God despite the difficulties suffering and evil present:

In this longer talk, Don Carson gives a more detailed response to the question of how a good God could allow suffering:

Related posts: Trusting God in Suffering

The problem of tragedy, suffering, and injustice is a problem for everyone. It is at least as big a problem for nonbelief in God as for belief. It is therefore a mistake, though an understandable one, to think that if you abandon belief in God it somehow makes the problem of evil easier to handle. (Tim Keller -  The Reason for God )

Below are links to some free talks by Tim Keller you can download or listen to online related to suffering and evil:

1)  Suffering: If God  is good why is there so much evil in the world? In the midst of evil and suffering, abandoning your faith will neither help you handle suffering nor understand God. By looking back to Jesus’ death on the cross and looking ahead to the hope of a new heavens and new earth, we can understand God’s overwhelming love for us and the promise that victory will swallow up evil and death.

2) Born into hope We need a living hope to get through life and endure suffering.  A living hope enables us to have both sorrow and joy.  Our living hope is an inheritance achieved for us by Christ.

3) Truth, tears, anger and grace A recording of the Sunday service after 9/11.  Jesus experiences both anger and grief in the face of human suffering. But he also brings about a resurrection; according to the Bible, everything bad will come untrue.  Jesus is the perfect Counselor who gives us grace even when he has to suffer for us.

4) Cross: the way to endurance No one knows better than Jesus that life is full of suffering.  What does it mean to rejoice in our sufferings, or even grow from them? There is only one thing on which you can build your life and not be shaken – your love for him and his love for you.