Suffering and God

It is difficult to look around and not see endless suffering and despair.  We live in a fallen world where sin and death threaten to distract us from God on a daily basis.  We see people struggling and suffering around us.  God has called us to join him in His work of making disciples of all people. When talking about the people of the world, Jesus describes Himself as a good shepherd.  He also compares His character with that of the enemy (called the thief) and says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).  Jesus came to earth so that we may have a full and abundant life!

This is such a complex topic and much more can be said about it than will be said below.

There is a seeming disconnect between the fact that we as humans suffer and the fact that Jesus came to give us life.  This disconnect causes many people to believe that God is the cause of suffering, or worse, that we as humans are supposed to invite suffering as a part of God’s plan for us.  This belief causes us to have a twisted perception of God and can keep us from helping others live a life that brings glory to God.

In Romans 5:1-5, Paul lays out a plan for the transformation of our life, saying, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Take a moment to read the passage through a couple times and really think about what Paul is saying.

He understands that our default, human position is to allow suffering to blind us from our hope in God and to keep us from building endurance in our walk with Him.  Suffering is a roadblock to the restorative work Jesus Christ is doing in our lives.  When terrible things happen to us, our children, and our communities we question God’s goodness and His will.  When we are hurt, it becomes easy to seek an easy cure rather than God.  When we see suffering, we become blinded by rage and the only justice we seek is retribution.  The worst parts of our human nature are revealed and we become the image of one who seeks to “kill, steal, and destroy” rather than the picture of “abundant life.”  However, we are called to overcome these impulses and rejoice in the hope of God’s glory because when we live out this process (suffering to endurance, endurance to character, character to hope, hope to freedom) we see that the joy comes from an increase of the Holy Spirit in our life.  Suffering doesn’t cause joy—God does!  When we allow the Holy Spirit to help us overcome these roadblocks, or when we help others overcome, then we are increasing the glory of God.

It is important to realize that suffering is not necessarily weakness, witchcraft, or a sign of moral failing.  We live in a fallen world, and bad things happen.

To begin understanding suffering, we need to first understand the true character of God, since, after all, we are created in His image.  Throughout the Bible, God’s character is revealed as one who cares deeply about our suffering and wants to see us saved from grief, despair, and hopelessness.  The following passages give a summary, but feel free to take time to read each of these in context during your quiet times with God:

• “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – Revelations 21:4- 5
• “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.” – Psalm 22:24
• “For I know the plans I have for you, declares theLord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
• “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lorddelivers him out of them all.” – Psalm 34:19
• “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” – John 11:33-35
• “I have said these things to you, thatin me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

We are given an even clearer picture of the character of God when we evaluate the personality traits that come from the work of the Holy Spirit:

 

Love	Joy	Peace
Patience	Kindness	Goodness
Faithfulness	Gentleness	Self-Control

 

Paul calls these the fruits of the Spirit (you can read more in Galatians 5) and they are an excellent starting point when you are considering a Godly way to respond to suffering.

Suffering is the enemy’s attempt to increase our despair and decrease our hope in God.  Human suffering is the opposite of God’s will for all to gain eternal life.  We need to join the Holy Spirit in healing the various trauma in our lives, and the lives of others.  The early church fathers were deeply moved by others’ suffering and even penned the following, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

God’s very nature includes the tools needed to remove the spiritual and emotional roadblocks caused by trauma and suffering.  Be encouraged for, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”  (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)