A good God and the problem of suffering

“God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Since both God and what He made are good (Luke 18:19; Genesis 1:31), then why suffering? The book of Job wrestles with this. Job is righteous, but his suffering is not for wrongdoing, as his friends would have it (Job 42:7). Certainly we reap what we sow, bad choices have bad consequences (Galatians 6:7). But not all  suffering is for our sin! When we suffer, we might think God is punishing us, or that He's unjust. Have you ever cried out “Why?” Many people who say they don't believe in God, nevertheless seem to be mad at Him.

I'm not sure what people mean when they say “there's a reason for everything!” It seems to imply God sends the bad, and that He has a reason for sending it. He gives a child cancer to teach him or her something?  That would be child abuse, and that's not the God of the Bible, nor the One I trust! We can suffer from our own, or other people's sin, but also because of seemingly random happenstances. The Bibles says that “God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). It's not that evil is good,  rather that God is at work for good, in the evil that He allows. It's not so much then, that everything happens for a reason, but rather that for disciples,  He uses what He allows for good.

The Bible is silent concerning any reason for earthquakes, tsunamis and the like. And as with Job, we are left to wrestle with the 'why' of our suffering. Life is not fair, nobody said it was! But the greatest injustice ever,  was the perfect Son of God crucified. To me, the bigger question is about how we deal with suffering?  On the day that I knew was going to be the most difficult in my life, the day I knew my wife was going to take the four children and leave, the Lord brought this verse to mind “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). I felt I was being told suffering is a barrier the other side of which is joy, and if, like Jesus we endure it, there will be “joy in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

In fact our response to suffering is something of a crossroads. You either go the way Job's wife suggested, and curse God (Job 2:9), or you wrestle through, and keep wrestling though until you get an answer that satisfies you (Genesis 32:26). And if you do it properly you will, like Job, find yourself being humbled, and acknowledging that you know nothing,  move from knowing about God, into having a personal, loving, intimate relationship with Him (Job 42:3b, 5). Nobody is saying it's easy!

Lord Jesus,  in the world we will have tribulation, but we are to rejoice, because You have overcome the World (John 16:33). Thank You Lord that with every trial or temptation, You provide a way to stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13). Thank You for Your invitation to come boldly to the throne of Grave to find mercy and grace to help in time of need  (Hebrews 4:16).  Thank You Lord that You not only suffered for us (1 Peter 3:18), You suffer with us,  in Your precious Name Amen