There’s a common denominator that cuts across all peoples, social classes, and ages – and that commonality is suffering. All of us suffer though to different degrees, and none of us want to suffer. We want to know why God would let us go through what doesn’t seem good to us. Isn’t He supposed to want only good for us (Matt 7:11, Rom 8:28, Jas 1:7)?
And in trying to understand this puzzle, oftentimes we either conclude that God is not omnipresent/omnipotent/omniscient, or that God isn’t good, or that all this suffering ultimately is for our good (Matt 5:16, Jas 1:2, Heb 12:4-11, 2 Cor 1:3-4, 2 Cor 12:7-9, 1 Pet 1:3-7). As Christians who know God and know His Word, we also know that the first two conclusions cannot possibly be true. God is the Creator, the Sovereign God – He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Furthermore, by definition, He is good. That only leaves us with the last option, that all this suffering ultimately is for our benefit. (See Rev Clive’s June SoCM talk for more details.)
But while it is true that we do grow through suffering, it doesn’t sit well with anyone to think that God purposely allowed us to suffer so that we can grow. And it goes dangerously close to saying that God made us suffer so that we can grow through tough love. To be clear – the good God we worship does not cause the suffering we see in the world. He does allow it to happen, but it is not according to the pattern the world was created in. It was at the fall (Genesis 3) that sin entered the world, and from that point we begin to see suffering in creation. Suffering is a consequence of sin in this broken world, sin that was committed by either our own free will or by others’ free will. Of course, God can prevent sin, but it would be at the cost of humanity’s free will, and it would mean that all of us will not know the joy of choosing to worship and obey God, because we would have no other choice.
Thankfully, suffering is temporal – when Jesus returns and His kingdom is fully here, there will be no more suffering (Rev 21:4). And for the time being, God has given us all we need to stand firm amid suffering with the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the church. May we all stand firm as exiles in this world filled with suffering until we are home with our Lord.