Pain and suffering are one of the great problems of life. They often cause people to doubt the love of God. Even a devout believer, looking at the suffering of one who is near and dear, can be moved to ask why God allows it.
The Bible answers the question in several ways, and we can learn some important lessons from its teaching. The Bible alone explains why people suffer, and what really is God’s attitude to it. It assures us that there is a day coming when there will be no more pain and suffering, following the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign on earth. And it illustrates, in the lives of faithful people, that suffering can sometimes bring people closer to God—strange as that may seem.
The Origin of the Problem
Much of human suffering results from people’s own actions, or those of others. We might think of:
- war and civil strife
- powerful and ruthless people exploiting others
- everyday accidents caused by carelessness or foolishness
- illness resulting from self-abuse or neglect
- illness resulting from the unnatural stress of many people’s modern lives
We see that we are the cause of much of our suffering, directly or indirectly. But often we can’t see any explanation, and so it’s natural to ask “Why?”.
The book of Job follows the sufferings of a man who is described as ‘blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil’ (Job 1:1). He could not understand what was happening to him, but he expressed his faith: ‘Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ (2:10).
However, this is not an answer to the problem. And there are more questions: why, for example, does an activist for the poor die from an assassin’s bullet, and his murderers go free? Why does a sickness strike unexpectedly and with no apparent cause? Why are some people born disabled? Why are accidents allowed to happen? Why do some people suffer agonizing pain with no relief?
For those who believe there is no God, it is a problem without an answer. The universe is simply a harsh and meaningless place in which tragedies happen for no reason. But the Bible provides an explanation, and a solution to the problem.
If you remove an entire ring of bark from a tree, it will die. If farmers work their land year after year without rest or fertiliser, the land will deteriorate. If you work 20 hours a day, week in and week out, you will ruin your health. We understand the law of cause and effect.
The Bible shows that trouble, sickness and death had a cause. They came about when our first parents, Adam and Eve, broke God’s law. The account is in Genesis chapter 3. They brought upon themselves and the world the curse of mortality. We are all sinners like them—we are all involved in the rebellion they started, and the curse they brought upon the world. The answer to our problems and the world’s problems is the coming Kingdom of God (Romans 8:20–22).
Freedom to Choose
God is our Creator. He has told us what is right and wrong, good and bad. If Adam and Eve had done right, there would have been no curse. The Bible explains that God has given us freedom of choice within our environment. He could have created a race of automata, people who were forced by their very nature to obey His will. But He chose instead to seek for free-will obedience. He wants people to obey Him because they want to, because they love Him. Thus, God created us in His own likeness (Genesis 1:26). He gave us the ability to reason, and the opportunity to exercise choice.
If there is the opportunity to choose to do right, there must necessarily be the opportunity to choose to do wrong. And because of the way we are, we have consistently preferred to do wrong throughout our history.
If we could only see it, suffering reminds us of our fallen nature. It teaches us that we are creatures of the dust (Genesis 3:19)—and that if we disregard God, we will certainly return to the dust from which we are made, without hope of any further existence.
But once we are able to recognise what our nature really is, and to understand that God wants us to become different people, to attain to a better nature—then suffering becomes something which needs to be borne in patience, because it is a means to an end.
King David once wondered why the wicked seemed to prosper and the righteous suffered. But then he saw the end of the matter: ‘Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb’ (Psalm 37:1–2).
Response to Suffering
For followers of Christ, how they turn out depends upon how they face up to the challenges of life. The formation of character depends not only upon the degree of suffering but on their reaction to it. Character has been defined as the sum total of the use of our individual life in all its complexities and problems.
God is well pleased with the person whose character is formed after the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. And you may be surprised to learn that Jesus became the person he is, partly because of his reaction to the suffering he endured.
Jesus suffered intensely. Yet the Bible does more than detail that suffering: it explains why it was necessary. In part that was because Jesus died for each of us, so that our sins could be forgiven (Acts 13:38). But it had another effect too:
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:8–9).
As Jesus is the example for believers, can we wonder when we too have to endure suffering? In fact, discipleship sometimes brings extra suffering into the lives of his followers. He predicted this:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:10–12).
Here is the crux of the matter. What matters is how we endure under stress. The example of Jesus leads us on, as he said:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
Suffering For Christ
The Apostle Paul had much that he could have complained of, if he was so minded! Once a wealthy, privileged Jew he became a social outcast for Christ’s sake. He was beaten, stoned, reviled, imprisoned and shamed (2 Corinthians 11:23–27).
Yet he had all his sufferings in perspective: ‘This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison’ (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Like his master Jesus Christ, Paul went bravely in the face of his trials, suffering and eventual death. Travelling to Jerusalem, knowing that imprisonment awaited him, he said:
I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).
You may think that he was not like us—his were big trials, he was not bothered with the irritating or throbbing daily pains of common life. But elsewhere Paul speaks of a “thorn in his flesh” which was always there (2 Corinthians 12:7). He had a perpetual nagging problem which he had asked the Lord repeatedly to remove. Yet he did not brood over it. Instead, he saw in it God’s goodness, because it kept him from being proud of himself.
Perhaps you have some disability or persistent problem that will not go away, even though you may pray hard about it. If so, remember Paul’s witness: ‘He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me’ (v. 9).
Patient Endurance
Which of us has not seen someone in great sickness of body, who has endured it patiently and smiling? I recall the case of a bedridden man whose faith in God was unshaken. His sickness brought him nearer to God, he said, for he took the view that “He is good to even allow us to live from day to day.”
This is a point that many overlook. It indicates that we may be inclined to ask the wrong question. The question should not be “Why does God permit suffering?” but rather, “Why does God permit sinful people to persist on the earth?”
The Christian, though not exempt from universal suffering, can, as we have seen, make it a means to an end. Our evil world is the testing-ground. Tomorrow will see the Kingdom of God on earth, with Jesus as its king and freedom from all sorrow (for example Isaiah 35, Revelation 21). Meanwhile God, in His kindness, has promised that He will never test us more than we are able to bear. Paul declares:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What a comfort these words have been to faithful Christians down the years.
Of course there is much more to the problem. We have only dealt with it briefly, but I hope you have been given something to ponder. Obviously we still can’t always understand “Why?”. God alone knows that, for the moment. The whole picture of human endeavour and challenge must be set against the gracious purpose of Almighty God. He is working things out for the best, and He knows best.
We have seen how the law of cause and effect works in general terms, and how naturally we love darkness rather than light. As the prophet says, ‘They sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind’ (Hosea 8:7). This is the experience of nations as well as individuals. For the Christian, taking such trials as a part of their lot, suffering can be seen as a means to grow in grace before God.
It is only those who suffer who can endure.
The End of Suffering
King David said, ‘Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning’ (Psalm 30:5). The Apostle John foresaw a time when ‘death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).
That will be the experience of those who obey the call of the Gospel and submit themselves wholly to God. The time is coming when they will reap the reward of their labours and enjoy the banishment of worry, sickness and death. Of those who are privileged to enter the coming Kingdom of God on earth it is said, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:14).
If we want to be there in that day, we must come to God on His terms, accept His offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, and live a life of faith and hope, attuned to the eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).
May our prayer be that of David:
O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!…And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you(Psalm 39:4–7)
Ken Quixley