Why does God allow suffering and evil?
Scripture does not explain every instance, but it shows that evil entered the world through human rebellion, that God is so sovereign He can work even through evil for good, that He shares our suffering in Christ, and that one day He will wipe away every tear. Suffering is not meaningless to God.
This question arose from studying What does it mean that the world hates Jesus?.
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The study
What the Scripture says
Evil entered through human rebellion, not from God
The world God made was good: 'God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.' Sin and its curse entered through Adam's disobedience, and 'sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin.' Suffering is an intruder into a good creation, not God's original design.
God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
Much suffering is not punishment for personal sin
When asked about a man born blind, Jesus said plainly: 'Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.' The world is broken, and 'time and chance happen to them all.' Not every pain is a verdict.
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
God works even through evil for good
Joseph, betrayed and imprisoned, said of his brothers: 'As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.' Paul assures us that 'all things work together for good for those who love God.' Suffering, to the believer, is never outside God's redeeming hand.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
God shares our suffering in Christ
We do not serve a distant God. He was 'a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease'; He 'wept' at Lazarus's tomb; He is not a High Priest who 'can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,' having been tempted as we are. He is 'God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.'
He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
Jesus wept.
For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
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, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Suffering is not forever, and it is not meaningless
One day God 'will wipe away from them every tear… Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more.' Our present suffering works for us 'an eternal weight of glory' far beyond all comparison. The story does not end in the valley.
He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
Continue this trail
Is God really in control?→“in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;”How do I know God's will?→“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.”Where is God in my specific pain?→“Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.”If God controls everything, do my choices matter?→“him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;”What if I make the wrong decision?→“Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”Does God have one specific plan for who I marry?→“Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”What does it look like to suffer well?→“Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;”Does God change His mind?→““For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”How do I balance planning with trusting God?→“For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.””How do I help a friend who is suffering?→“So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.”What does it mean that God is sovereign?→“All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stay his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?”What does God promise those who suffer for Him?→“and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
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, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
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