Why? Why does God allow suffering? Or, the more disturbing question, why does He give or bring suffering to us??? As we search for an answer, there are those so caught up in the question, they dismiss the goodness of God and they may even dismiss God Himself. Others answer the question with an intimidation meant to judge and dismiss the one who questions. But for the one who asks the question with an honest searching borne of life experiences that have gouged gaping holes in her soul, that one deserves an answer as biblically complete as possible.
Death and suffering were not inherently woven into God's original intent. We see that when we consider the perfection of heaven, when we consider the perfection of the Godhead, and when we consider the perfection of creation as God originally created our world. Each time God spoke the various aspects of our world into existence, He contemplated what He had done, and He said, "It is good." There was no sin, no suffering, no death. But man did have the freedom to choose, and man chose to sin, and the perfection God created was marred and disrupted, and continues to be marred and disrupted. Satan was the one who tempted, and then man chose, and chose wrongly. God’s perfect creation was broken, set off course from God's original intent, incapable in and of itself of restoring its original perfection. Someday there will be a new earth that will fulfill God's original intent, but until then, our world must live with its brokenness.
With the suffering and death that has become ours because of the brokenness of our world, God did not throw up His hands and basically say, “Well, that's the end of that!” Instead, He provides for the brokenness of our world in really three different ways. The most obvious of His provision was the gift of His Son, a gift that has the potential of providing for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived, an eternal perfection within the new earth and the new heaven. And those men, women, and children who by faith, live in relationship with God, their sins forgiven because of Christ's death on the cross, those men, women, and children will one day have and live the perfection God originally intended for them to live. (And if you may be questioning the provision God gives to the one who dies before he can possibly ever understand who God is, God does provide eternal perfection for that one too.)
The second way God provides for the brokenness of our world is by the care, the love, the giving, the enabling, the comforting, the teaching, the leading, the directing and the guiding, He gives to those who live in relationship with Him. Satan and man's wrong choices brought the brokenness, but God provides the walkable path through the aftermath of suffering that the brokenness of our world brings. And the third provision God brings is to bring purpose from our suffering, to bring beauty from the ashes of our broken world. It's almost as if God says, “Satan has messed up the perfection I intended, but I will take what Satan meant for evil, for suffering, for brokenness, and I will bring from those things good things that will help those who suffer. I will use the difficulties of life, difficulties that come because of the brokenness Satan brought, and through those difficulties, I will teach those who love Me more about how to live, more about how to give to others, more about what is truly important, more about how to live in a vital relationship with Me, and more about who I am.”
So, when we look at the “why” for suffering, we cannot forget that God's original intent was not for man to suffer. We must keep in mind the order within which the suffering we endure finds its expression. The order we must remember is that God intended perfection, then Satan brought brokenness to our world, and then it is God who lovingly works to “redeem” that brokenness by providing for us through His Son, through the walkable path He makes possible, and through the good He is able to bring, even when I experience the most horrendous of this world's brokenness. Most believers try to understand and explain the “why” without considering the order within which our suffering occurs, and when they do, sometimes their explanations sound hollow, and void of a loving and compassionate God. But God's love and compassion are soooo fully there, providing for the restoration of what He first intended.
(Related Bible reading: Romans 8:18-30)
Death and suffering were not inherently woven into God's original intent. We see that when we consider the perfection of heaven, when we consider the perfection of the Godhead, and when we consider the perfection of creation as God originally created our world. Each time God spoke the various aspects of our world into existence, He contemplated what He had done, and He said, "It is good." There was no sin, no suffering, no death. But man did have the freedom to choose, and man chose to sin, and the perfection God created was marred and disrupted, and continues to be marred and disrupted. Satan was the one who tempted, and then man chose, and chose wrongly. God’s perfect creation was broken, set off course from God's original intent, incapable in and of itself of restoring its original perfection. Someday there will be a new earth that will fulfill God's original intent, but until then, our world must live with its brokenness.
With the suffering and death that has become ours because of the brokenness of our world, God did not throw up His hands and basically say, “Well, that's the end of that!” Instead, He provides for the brokenness of our world in really three different ways. The most obvious of His provision was the gift of His Son, a gift that has the potential of providing for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived, an eternal perfection within the new earth and the new heaven. And those men, women, and children who by faith, live in relationship with God, their sins forgiven because of Christ's death on the cross, those men, women, and children will one day have and live the perfection God originally intended for them to live. (And if you may be questioning the provision God gives to the one who dies before he can possibly ever understand who God is, God does provide eternal perfection for that one too.)
The second way God provides for the brokenness of our world is by the care, the love, the giving, the enabling, the comforting, the teaching, the leading, the directing and the guiding, He gives to those who live in relationship with Him. Satan and man's wrong choices brought the brokenness, but God provides the walkable path through the aftermath of suffering that the brokenness of our world brings. And the third provision God brings is to bring purpose from our suffering, to bring beauty from the ashes of our broken world. It's almost as if God says, “Satan has messed up the perfection I intended, but I will take what Satan meant for evil, for suffering, for brokenness, and I will bring from those things good things that will help those who suffer. I will use the difficulties of life, difficulties that come because of the brokenness Satan brought, and through those difficulties, I will teach those who love Me more about how to live, more about how to give to others, more about what is truly important, more about how to live in a vital relationship with Me, and more about who I am.”
So, when we look at the “why” for suffering, we cannot forget that God's original intent was not for man to suffer. We must keep in mind the order within which the suffering we endure finds its expression. The order we must remember is that God intended perfection, then Satan brought brokenness to our world, and then it is God who lovingly works to “redeem” that brokenness by providing for us through His Son, through the walkable path He makes possible, and through the good He is able to bring, even when I experience the most horrendous of this world's brokenness. Most believers try to understand and explain the “why” without considering the order within which our suffering occurs, and when they do, sometimes their explanations sound hollow, and void of a loving and compassionate God. But God's love and compassion are soooo fully there, providing for the restoration of what He first intended.
(Related Bible reading: Romans 8:18-30)
