What about suffering?

One of the most commonly asked questions we are asked as Christians is: How can God allow Suffering?

This is a hard question and I don’t think there can ever be an answer that satisfies us and leaves us happy with an answer. If we do have a God that allows suffering then we have a problem as to why he doesn’t stop bad things from happening. But if there isn’t a God then we have a bigger problem as people believe in justice, righteousness and well life.

People interpret suffering in different forms, whether it’s a form of mental illness, sickness, persecution etc... Each individual suffers differently and has their own level of suffering. When people ask about suffering they are really asking why are there earthquakes and why do people get cancer? In order to tackle this question we will look at the beginning! When God created Adam and Eve there was no suffering, there was no death and there was no pain. It was perfect! God told Adam that he could eat from all the trees in the Garden “but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall truly die” (Genesis 2:17). As we know Adam did eat from the tree and sin entered the world and as a consequence of Adams sin, death entered the world also.
As a consequence from Adams sin, we live in a fallen world and this includes suffering. When we hear of miracles that people have been healed from sickness, the blind being able to see and the death hearing we can see the power of God. Healings on earth are a mere glimpse of Gods Glory in Heaven and gives a glimmer of what Heaven would be like here on earth. Our time on earth is temporary but our time with God in Heaven is eternal, there will be no sickness, or suffering, no one will be blind or death but we will also be perfect and there will be no death for it has been defeated. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

The Christian message here is not that God gets us off the hook or that being a Christian exempts us from suffering. Many people suffered throughout the Bible including the Old Testament; Joseph in prison (Genesis 39:20), David running from Saul (1 Samuel 23:15), Job lost everything (Job 1-12), Jonah being swallowed by a whale (Jonah 1:17). Also in the New Testament people died for their faith; John the Baptist was beheaded (Matthew 14), James was killed (Acts 12:2) Peter was imprisoned (Acts 12:4) and many Jews were persecuted for being a Christian. However the greatest suffering of all was Jesus who was persecution, mocked, stripped, spat on, wore a crown of thorns, beaten and finally died on a cross with pierced hands and feet (Matthew 27). God placed himself “on the hook” of suffering – God is no spectator to suffering but in Jesus he suffered.

Can you think of a time when something terrible has happened and you can’t see a way out or you can’t see things getting any better. When you look back at those times are you out the other end and things are ok! Or even when something has seemed terrible at the time but in hindsight God has made it for your God (Romans 8:28). If we can see good come from terrible situations, then God must see far more than we can. If God is big enough to blame for suffering then he is big enough to use it for our good.

Therefore the Gospel offers us the only way of dealing with suffering. He is our comforter who comforts us, he knows suffering as he suffered himself. He shared our pain so we can one day share his new creation. If we choose to side with evil instead of being with a loving God in Heaven, then we condemn ourselves to a far worse suffering than here on earth.

ta ta...