Why does God allow suffering if He plans on ending it all at some point anyway? Before answering this question I think it is important to note that God's allowance of suffering doesn't mean He is the cause of it. To the contrary, it often means that God allows people to choose the path that they want to take in life without removing the consequences of exercising 'free will'. Unfortunately however, not everyone uses 'freedom of choice' responsibly. Hence, not only do they hurt themselves by doing what they shouldn't do, they hurt others too.
Nevertheless, God gives fair warning to people to not behave in ways wherein His moral standards are ignored; and He does this because He wants us to avoid painful consequences (Ex. 15:26). As a result of this it is obvious that His allowance of death and suffering doesn't mean He finds pleasure in seeing these things happen to people (Ezek. 18:32). What it does mean however, is that God uses suffering as a means to awaken people to the lessons that He desires to teach them about life, which for the most part can only be learned by allowing us to reap what we sow (Job 4:8; Psa. 9:15-16).
Suffering and Consequences
You see, if there were no consequences as such, then how could anyone ever find value in doing what is morally right? In other words, how could a child discover that it is a bad thing to lie and cheat if no disciplinary action is taken to awaken him to the severe nature of being dishonest? What incentive would he have to stop lying? So it is necessary then, for people to reap what they sow for the purposes of not only learning that there is both a right and wrong way to behave, but also to become aware of the fact that the right way is the best choice to make to avoid experiencing and causing pain.
Therefore, suffering should not be seen as an absolute negative, because invaluable lessons can be learned from it; and if people would but approach 'suffering' from the right perspective, they would soon learn those lessons (Pro. 19:18; Heb. 12:5-11; Rev. 3:19).
For example, God often allows suffering to take place because He wants to open our eyes to the folly of our ways and thereby steer us away from a path that will only lead us to greater pain, and even destruction for that matter (Deut. 8:1-20). Moreover, suffering helps us to become aware of the fact that we are not self-sufficient, but are in need of power beyond our own strength (2Cor. 1:8-9). In other words, God will sometimes allow suffering to take place to open our eyes to our need for Him. Then there are times when God allows suffering to happen within our lives to silence our pride and keep us humble so as to prevent us from hurting both ourselves and others if pride were to take its full course (Pro. 11:2, 16:18) .
Suffering is a Doorway to Love
Of course, all that I've just shared with you has to do with suffering that happens as a result of choices. But what about people who are born blind or crippled? What about those who take good care of their health and end up getting cancer or some other type of illness or disease? What about people who are faithful to God and end up suffering great loss? Why do these suffer? What is there to learn from all of this?
There is something about suffering that people often tend to miss. That is, suffering brings people together. Thus, suffering is a doorway to love because it gives us an opportunity to share our lives with others who are in need of comfort and encouragement. Furthermore, it helps us to discover what it means to be loved as we receive such comfort while suffering ourselves. In this we learn what it means to be like Jesus who opened the door of His heart to the suffering while reaching out to people everywhere, laboring hard to meet their needs without complaint or bias. In other words, there wasn't a soul whom He did not make it His mission to embrace with His love and kindness. And so we should do the same...
With that being said, what are you doing to show people who are suffering that they are loved? Are you embracing them with the love of Jesus Christ, or are you ignoring them? How do you respond to them when they express anger towards God for allowing them to suffer? Are you impatient with them, or do you empathize with them? Do you put them down or do you lift them up?
More than Words
Something that I find to be interesting is how people often say to those who are suffering, 'I'll pray for you', while completely missing an opportunity to act as an answer to prayer for them. I've even experienced this myself. I was going through a hard time and expressed a need for help. The people that I shared my burden with had the means to help me, but all they did was say, "I'll pray for you." In other words, they shared words of hope with me, but they didn't translate their words into something practical. I'm not complaining that they said they would pray for me. What I have an issue with is the fact that they had the means to help me, but only gave me words instead. Hence, their means were an answer to prayer; but they used those means for something other than what they would have been most useful for at the time!
Then there are those who act without praying and cause more harm to those who are suffering than good. In other words, they assume the role of Judge and give people the impression that they are suffering because they either 'lack faith', or because they have sinned against God. If you know the story of Job then you know that Job's friends tried to do this to him. They thought that they were doing something good, but they were really only adding insult to injury by attributing Job's suffering to the idea that God was angry with him for sinning. Yet, we know that God didn't see Job in this way as He decaled him to be "blameless and upright" (Job. 1:8).
Indeed, we need to be very careful not to assume that just because people are suffering that that means God is punishing them for 'lack of faith', or because they have supposedly sinned against Him. Who are we to assume the role of God as Judge to speak to them in this way? Guilt and offense isn't always the culprit of suffering. Sometimes people suffer for other reasons. In job's case his suffering was the result of Satan's afflictions.
The Greater Part of the Lesson
And here's something to consider: sometimes God may allow someone to suffer because we are the ones who are in need of greater faith. For, even though we may have the truth, we might not be practicing it! Hence, God has lessons to teach us through suffering; and sometimes the greater part of the lesson is meant to be learned by those who encounter people who are suffering rather than by those who are actually suffering. Just take a look at people like Joni Erickson Tada for example. She is a quadriplegic; yet, there is no doubt that she loves the Lord with all her heart. In fact, I have a friend named Lori Laws who has a debilitating muscle disease. Could these people complain about their physical problems all day long? They certainly could. A lot of people who have far less severe problems do nothing but complain and blame God for what has happened to them. But Joni and Lori don't do this! Instead, they use their time to praise the Lord, and encourage others by expressing how great a blessing God is to them!
What incredible faith! Yet, there are foolish people who would tell us that these people are suffering because they lack faith in God! Obviously, they haven't learned anything. But I have learned a lot from these people. I have learned what it means to take what God gives and to give what He takes. And these people demonstrate this every time they praise Him. Indeed, their faith is very strong; and they are not far from the Kingdom!
Perhaps it might seem unfair that people should suffer like this. But as I had said in my previous study, suffering is ultimately the result of the rejection of God, which goes all the way back to the garden of Eden wherein both Adam and Eve brought suffering upon the whole world as a result of rejecting God's good way. So everyone has a lesson to learn from suffering; yet, some are in need of more instructions than others!
So where do we go from here? Well, at this point we have to make a choice. We will either learn what God desires to teach us through suffering, or we will ignore His lessons for us by pointing our fingers in every other direction but that of our own.
If we ignore God's lessons for us then we will walk in darkness and live in torment; but if we allow God to teach us what we need to know about life, we will set an example of what it truly means to Live by Faith in Jesus Christ; and we will eagerly look for opportunities to comfort and encourage those who are suffering, while at the same time being encouraged to know that if we should suffer at any point during our lives, that God is allowing us to suffer for the purpose of drawing both us and others closer to understanding what it means to love and to be loved.
Therefore, fight the good fight of faith, and know that a time is coming when God will put an end to all of the sufferings of this sinful world.
This article was written by Chris Esty, a Christian writer who is also the founder of The Bible Post---a blog that was created for understanding the Bible and encouraging growth in Jesus Christ through the sharing of basic to advanced Bible teachings and Bible devotions. It is updated weekly with fresh content. Be sure to check it out at: http://www.thebiblepost.com
Anthony Robbins
No comments:
Post a Comment