The #1 cause of doubt is why God allows suffering.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.”
1 Cor 13:12: “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
Someday we’ll see with clarity, but for now, we can’t understand everything from our finite perspective.
We may not be able to make out all the peripheral details of why — they may be obscured from our view — but there are some key Biblical truths that can illuminate some points of light for us. And if we follow those lights, they will lead us in the right direction, toward some conclusions that I believe can help satisfy our souls.
Point of Light #1
God is not the creator of evil and suffering.
Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 8:22: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
Point of Light #2
Though suffering isn’t good, God can use it to accomplish good.
First, God uses pain to DRAW PEOPLE toward Christ.
“The meaning & purpose of suffering in history is that it leads to repentance. Only after suffering, only after disaster, does Israel, do nations, do individuals turn back to God. Suffering brings repentance. We learn the hard way.” —Philosopher Peter Kreeft
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” —C.S. Lewis
2 Corinthians 7:10: “For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it.”
Second, God uses pain to SHARPEN our CHARACTER & help His children become more like Christ.
Romans 5:3: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; & character, hope.”
Hebrews 5:8: “But even tho he was God’s Son he learned to be obedient by means of his sufferings.” If Jesus learned obedience through suffering, then why would that be any less true of us?
Third, the Bible says God uses pain to lovingly DISCIPLINE His children for their own good… so that we might learn the right path to take.
Hebrews 12:10-11: “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Discipline is not punishment. Punishment is retribution for misdeeds of the past. Discipline is the loving way that we correct someone’s behavior so their future will be better for them.
“Every sorrow we taste will one day prove to be the best possible thing that could have happened. We will thank God endlessly in heaven for the trials He sent us here. This is not Disneyland — this is truth.” —Joni Eareckson-Tada
Fourth, God can accomplish something POSITIVE out of the NEGATIVES of life.
Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
God took the worst thing that has ever happened in history of the universe — deicide, or death of God on the cross — and turned it into the very best thing that has happened in history of universe: the opening up of heaven. So if God can take the very worst and turn it into the very best, can he not take the negative circumstances of your life and create something good from them?
Point of Light #3:
The day is coming when suffering will cease and God will judge evil.
2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Point of Light #4:
Our suffering will pale in comparison to what God has in store for his followers.
2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light & momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
1 Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Point of Light #5
We decide whether to turn bitter or turn to God for peace and courage.
John 16:33: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. But be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
As one wise man said to me, Jesus is there in the lowest places of our lives. Are you broken? He was broken, like bread, for us. Are you despised? He was despised and rejected of men. Do you cry out that you can’t take any more? He was a man of sorrows & acquainted with grief. Did someone betray you? He was sold out. Are your tenderest relationships broken? He loved & was rejected. Did people turn from you? They hid their faces from him as if he were a leper.
Does He descend into all of our hells? Yes, he does. From the depths of a Nazi death camp, Corrie ten Boom wrote these words: “No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still.” Every tear we shed becomes his tear.
Deuteronomy 31:6: “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic…. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Peace + Courage – that’s the formula for hope in a broken world that’s scarred by suffering.