Suffering is common to life. Pretty much all people suffer at one time or another, a condition that has existed all throughout history. But that suffering often leads to questioning, including questioning why God would allow it. The common way that question is phrased is, “How could a loving God allow suffering?” It often goes hand-in-hand with the question, “If God is both good and all-powerful, how can he allow evil to exist in the world?
There’s nothing wrong with asking such questions, if the motive is to truly understand. Yet many who ask these questions don’t do so to seek answers, but rather to try and discredit God. They are rhetorical questions, where the questioner thinks they already know the answer. Yet, the truth is, they really don’t.
Allow me to drop something in here that is foundational to this discussion. That is, problems and suffering are not synonymous. Problems come; but that doesn’t mean that we have to suffer because of them. There are other options, like overcoming the problem. We could also laugh it off or even ignore it, although ignoring problems generally just turns them into bigger problems; not a good idea.
So, when we talk about suffering, we need to be sure that we truly understand what we’re talking about. Often, what turns problems into suffering is nothing more than our own attitude; our approach to those problems. If we can approach the problem differently, we can often avoid suffering.
Why Does Bad Stuff Happen?
It has been said that when God created the world, he created it perfectly. That would have to include creating it without sickness, without problems and without sin. But we also know that God gave mankind a free will. That free will gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to choose whether to love and obey God or not. Sadly, they chose not to obey God, allowing evil into the world.
Just about everyone knows the story of “the Fall.” It appears in the third chapter of Genesis. It was when Adam and Eve listened to the words of the serpent and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Doing so opened their eyes and they saw what evil was. This caused God to cast them out of the garden, where they would have to work in order to feed themselves.
One might ask why God put that tree in the garden, knowing that His creation would disobey His command and eat of it. To understand that, we need to understand that God is love, as it says in 1 John 4:8. Love requires a recipient and God created mankind so that He could have someone to love; someone to pour His love out upon. His only desire, is that we love Him in return. As Jesus said:
If you love Me, keep My commandments – John 14:15
With this in mind, we can see the tree as a test; God was testing whether Adam and Eve loved Him. He didn’t do that because He didn’t know whether they would pass the test or not, but so they would. God had a plan for their failure; His Son going to the cross to pay the penalty for their sins and for the sins of everyone who would follow.
But in disobeying God, Adam and Eve set loose sin upon the Earth. It wasn’t the tree that did it, it was their disobedience. It’s quite possible that there was nothing special about that tree, other than that God had said not to eat of it. Disobeying God and eating of the tree gave them the knowledge of good and evil, not the tree itself.
It is clear that not only did Adam and Eve have a rebellious, disobedient heart, but that mankind in general follows in their footsteps. While some are more rebellious and eviler than others, we all have that tendency towards evil. We must learn how to obey and how to turn ourselves from evil.
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” – Romans 3:10
So, the evil that exists in the world is here because of people, not because of God. Were everyone to live fully in obedience to God’s commandments, there would be no evil… at least no evil that is propagated by man. But then there’s the devil:
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. – John 10:10
While this verse can be taken totally in the natural, talking about a human thief, theologians agree that it is in reference to Satan. Jesus was making a contrast between His work here on the Earth and that of the devil. While He has come to give life, the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy.
So, why does the devil take pleasure in that? I can assure you that neither you nor I are important enough that the devil knows our name, let alone being all that interested in causing us problems. No, his only interest in us, is as a means of getting to Father God through us. Since God loves us, he realizes that every problem and bit of suffering that he causes us, ends up causing the heart of God pain, just as a good father will hurt for the pain that their child suffers.
We Need That
Surprisingly, we actually need the devil and the problems he causes for us. I realize that may not make much sense, but stick with me a moment; allow me to show you what I mean.
Growth in this life comes through struggling. Look at a baby learning to walk. You can see them struggling to stand, struggling to learn how to balance and struggling to take that first step. They fall, only to get back up and try again. But all that struggling accomplishes something; it causes their muscles to grow and their brain to learn how to control those muscles. Before long, they are not only walking but running as well.
The same thing can be said for weightlifters. You’ve probably heard the old “No pain; no gain” quoted at some time. Athletes of all types understand that they need to push their bodies to the limits, in order to cause their muscles to grow. Each time they approach that limit, there is pain from the acid released in our muscles, breaking down tissue, so that more new tissue can grow. That new tissue is larger than the old, making it stronger. The end result is that the athlete has grown better at what they are doing.
We can even find the same process of pain in learning. Ask any true scholar and they can tell you about the struggles that they went through in order to learn, regardless of their area of expertise. Academia doesn’t pass out doctorate degrees to people who just get by, but only to those who excel. The doctoral dissertation must, by definition, add to the fund of human knowledge. That’s a price that doesn’t come easy.
Where am I going with all this? We can say that God created the devil, with all the problems he causes us, so that we would have to struggle in this life; and through that struggling we would grow.
Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument (tool, weapon)2 for his work; and I have created the spoiler (destroyer) to destroy. 17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage (inheritance) of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness if from Me, says the Lord. – Isaiah 54:16-17
Everyone knows who the destroyer referred to in this verse is; it’s our old adversary, the devil. God is taking credit for having created the devil, along with everything that the devil uses against us. Of course, everything the devil uses against us was originally created for our good. He uses it against us by twisting the original purpose and though that by tempting us to use what is intended for our good in sinful ways.
The words in parenthesis in this passage are alternative words that are found in other translations, which are included in the meaning of the Hebrew word that was used. The Hebrew word kelîy, can just as easily be translated as tool or weapon, just as it is translated instrument in this translation of the Bible. So, in this first verse, we see God taking credit, through His prophet, Isaiah, for creating the spoiler or destroyer, who is the devil. He also takes credit for the instruments, tools or weapons that the devil uses against us, in that He created the blacksmith who makes those.
But God didn’t stop there in the prophecy; He also went on to give us hope, telling us that those weapons aren’t intended to do us harm. Regardless of what the devil does, it is God’s intention that we overcome it and that we don’t suffer under that attack. Not only that, but the devil will be
Why would God do this? Because it is His desire that we grow. He doesn’t want us to remain spiritual babies, tossed about by every problem and suffering because of them. No, He wants us to learn to overcome those problems and to be victorious in the midst of them. There are many verses which refer to this, especially in the New Testament.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. – Luke 10:19
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. – Romans 8:37
That’s the place we have been given; to be not only conquerors, but more than conquerors. As those bad things come our way, we are not supposed to allow them to make us suffer. Rather, we are to trample on them, along with every other power of the enemy, not allowing them to hurt us.
Let’s Look at Job
Again, this is all about our growth. We can see this spelled out for us, rather well, in the book of Job; a book that many people struggle to understand. Part of that is because of how it has been preached about in the past and part because of totally misreading what it says.
The story of Job starts out with Satan appearing before God’s throne. Most people think that Satan appeared there to challenge God, seeking permission to attack Job. But it isn’t Satan that brings Job into the conversation, it’s God:
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that the has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. – Job 1:8-12
Satan’s response to God fits what we know of his personality, challenging God to turn against His own character and to harm Job by his own hand. But God won’t and instead gives Satan permission to attack Job, limiting what he could do.
As the story progresses, Satan wastes no time in attacking Job, killing his children and destroying all his wealth. Job’s response to all this was clearly in anguish; yet Job stayed firm and worshiped the Lord.
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head (signs of his anguish and mourning)2, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” – Job 1:20-21
The only thing I could say that Job did wrong there is that he blamed God for his many calamities. Yet the chapter finishes out saying that “Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (Job 1:22).
But this wasn’t enough for Satan. He goes back to God and God once gain draws Satan’s attention to Job. Yet Satan is not satisfied, because God had not allowed him to touch Job’s person. He wanted to bring disease upon Job, claiming that this would cause Job to turn his back on God.
So God allowed it and Satan struck Job with horrible diseases. Yet Job did not speak out against God, even when his wife said to him, “Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). We can see a lot about Job’s character in his response to that outburst:
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this job did not sin with his lips. – Job 2:10
Many of today’s believers think that they should only accept good from God and not adversity. They’ll even go so far as to say that this book of the Bible doesn’t apply to us today, because it is contained in the Old Testament. Yet there is nothing in the New Testament which says that the Old Testament no longer applies. In fact, Jesus Himself declared that it does.
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, none jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. – Matthew 5:17-18
Most of the rest of the book of Job deals with Job’s conversation with his friends. Near the end of the book, God Himself speaks to Job, revealing much about His own character. But at this point, we are left with the question of why God allowed Job to suffer?
Some say that God allowed Job to suffer, so that he could serve as an example to us. If that’s the case, I surely wouldn’t want to be Job. Not only that, but I don’t think I’d want to serve a God who would allow bad things to happen to me, just so he could use me as an example for others. That doesn’t fit in with what the rest of the Bible says about God’s character. If God allowed all that to happen to Job, He did it for Job’s benefit. Any benefit we can glean from the story is secondary to that.
The secret is found in the last chapter, after God speaks to Job. God finishes speaking and challenges Job. It is in Job’s response to that challenge, that we find the purpose in suffering, as well as the purpose in all adversity. First, he says:
… Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. – Job 42:3
Then, after this confession of his erroneous ways, he goes on to say:
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. – Job 42:5-6
We can know with certainty that this is what God was waiting to hear from Job, because He stops dealing with Job and goes on to deal with Job’s friends; the very same “friends” who had been trying to convince Job that he was suffering because he was in sin. God is clearly not in agreement with the friends’ assessment of Job’s spiritual condition, because he tells them to bring animals to Job, so that Job might offer those animals on their behalf. Had Job been in sin, as they supposed, God would not have used him in the office of priest, interceding on behalf of his self-righteous friends.
But let’s go back to Job’s statement there in verses five and six. What exactly was Job saying? The key words are those where Job says that he was repenting.
That may seem a bit strange to us, as we tend to see Job as a nearly perfect believer; mostly based on what it says of him in the very first verse of the book. But if we really look into those words and compare them to other words in the Bible that translate to the same words in English, we can see a different picture. While Job was a good man and even a righteous man, his righteousness was self-righteousness; and self-righteousness can never stand up to the righteousness of God.
But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. – Isaiah 64:6
Herein we find a hint as to why God allowed Satan to attack Job. God’s ultimate purpose here was to bring about a positive change in Job’s life. Specifically, it appears that God wanted to bring Job into a close, personal relationship with Himself.
You see, Job never knew God, by his own admission. He had merely “heard of You by the hearing of the ear.” That’s what motivated him to make the sacrifices to God when his children partied. But those offerings weren’t made out of love… they were made out of fear; quite probably fear that this God he had heard of would do bad things to his children, if they had sinned while partying.
That doesn’t fulfill God’s purpose for mankind and certainly didn’t fulfill God’s purpose in Job’s life. He has created us to be His children, loving Him as He loves us. That love includes correcting us, when we go astray. It may not seem like it to us, but Job’s understanding of God was how he went astray.
How Does this Apply to Us?
I have never met a person who went through all that Job did; but I’ve met a lot of people who have gone through problems in their lives. Some learned from those problems, while others just suffered through them.
Regardless of what those people did or didn’t do, it seems clear, not only from Job’s experience, but from other places in scripture, that God wants us to benefit from everything we face, maybe even especially from those things that could cause suffering.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28
This one verse carries a lot of hope, letting us know that regardless of the “why” something happens to us, God wants it to work out for our good. The only real question is how that is going to happen. Part of that is in God’s hands; but I’ll have to say that part is in our hands as well. How we react to the situation plays a major part in how much benefit we can receive from it.
Regardless of what the problem might be, we need to turn to God, in faith, in the midst of it, as Job did. He is more than willing to help us; but He only responds to our faith. Without us seeking Him in faith, He waits.
“But,” some might ask, “how do we know which things are from God and which are from the enemy?” For that, I’d like to go back to one of the earlier verses I quoted in this study; the one about the thief coming to kill, steal and destroy; while Jesus comes that we might have life and life more abundantly. It seems from that verse, that the real question is whether what is happening is killing, stealing and destroying or bringing life. If it isn’t bringing life; it’s not from God.
But… and this is an important but, we just saw in Job that there are times when God uses Satan to accomplish His purposes. God isn’t going to do bad to use of Himself; but He may very well allow Satan to do so. For that matter, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that He will direct Satan in a way that caused Satan to do bad to us. Isn’t that what He did with Job?
Okay, so what? If God uses Satan to bring hardship into our lives, so that He can teach us something and help us grow, isn’t that ultimately for our benefit? As we learn the lesson and overcome whatever Satan has thrown our way, isn’t that going to make us stronger? Aren’t we going to come out of that more mature as believed, so that the next time that Satan tries that trick, we know how to overcome him on our own?
Those bad things help us grow; that’s all there is to it. The real question is not whether they come or whether God has anything to do with it. The real question is how are we going to handle those problems? How are we going to overcome this? And how are we going to grow?
Oh, and those other people out there who are suffering… God wants the same for them as well. In any case, it is either evil people or the devil who is causing the problem which brings about the suffering. But through it all, God wants to do just as much good for them, as He does for you and I. But for that to happen, they need to turn to Him.