F
Faith Questions – 3
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING?
… based on Job 2:9
I know that I’m not supposed to share personal stuff about my life with Kathy but let me tell you 1 (notice I just said 1) of the things that frustrates her about me. It’s when we sit down to watch a movie. It drives her crazy because I rarely see a movie beginning to end. At the beginning I’m often distracted. I’m doing something & only ½ paying attention.
But then I get into it, & ask “who’s that?” & “why did that happen?”
And then as the movie reaches it’s climax she’ll look over & there I am …
zzzzzzzzz. And she wonders, “How can you honestly appreciate a movie if you don’t see the beginning of it, & you don’t see the end of it?”
A story doesn’t make any sense without a beginning & an ending.
Now I want you to file that away. A story doesn’t make any sense without a beginning & an ending … because suffering is just like that. Suffering is like a 3-act play. If we miss Act 1, which describes sufferings’ origin,
& if we miss Act 3, which lets us know about sufferings’ resolution …
if all we experience is Act 2, the suffering itself,
the story is going to make no sense at all.
We’re in the 3rd week of a 4-part series called “Faith Questions” & we’ve been dealing with the spiritual issues that people have been wrestling with for centuries. We began with, “Is God Real?” And I think we made a pretty good case for God’s existence. Then we asked the question, “Can The Bible Be Trusted?” And we gave all sorts of evidence for the reliability of the Bible … for its’ historical accuracy, for its’ written transmission, for its’ depiction of miracles, & for its’ moral standards … this is a reliable Book.
Now today we get to the big question … “Why Does God Allow Suffering?”
Surveys have shown that this is the #1 contention that people have with God. If we could put God on a hot seat,
if we could ask God just 1 question, I suspect it would be something like …
“Why do you allow suffering? What purpose can suffering accomplish?
God, how can you stand idly by & watch suffering take place?”
So, what I’m going to do today is suggest that suffering is a 3-act play. We’ve got to get Act 1, & we’ve got to get Act 3, or Act 2,
the suffering itself, won’t make any sense.
Now let me make 1 more introductory comment about the problem of suffering. This is an issue that has 2 sides to it. It has an intellectual side, & it has an emotional side. And if all we do is address the intellectual questions, those who are in the midst of suffering right now, (illness, financial debt, relational issues, depression, etc.), are going to think “well,
that was cold, that was heartless, that didn’t alleviate my emotional pain.”
On the other hand, if we just treat this issue from an emotional perspective, if we just try to bring comfort to those who are suffering,
those who have honest questions will say,
“well, that was just 1 big pity party; I didn’t get my questions answered.”
So, we want to deal this morning with both the intellectual & the emotional sides of suffering. So, it’s going to be a 3-act play.
Act 1 is the intellectual perspective of suffering.
Act 2 is the emotional side of suffering. And Act 3 is the most important act of all because that’s the resolution, the end of the story.
So, listen now to Good News from Job, to us who have gathered for worship. Within our hearing comes the Word of the Lord.
(Now at this point Job is sitting on the ground. He’s lost his children, he’s lost his possessions, & he’s lost his health, but he doesn’t blame God.)
(Job 1:13-22)
Job’s wife said to him, “You are still as faithful as ever, aren’t you? Why don’t you curse God and die?” (Job 2:9)
May my words & my thoughts be acceptable to you,
O LORD, my refuge & my redeemer! (The Psalms 19:14)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
We begin with Act 1 … understanding suffering’s origin.
Skeptics will argue … “You Christians say that God is all good, all powerful,
& all knowing, right? Well, the presence of evil in the world proves that such a God can’t exist. For example, here’s a 4-year-old child with leukemia, how do you explain that? If God is all good, all powerful, all knowing, how do you explain this child with leukemia? … Maybe your God is just 2 out of 3. Maybe He’s all good & all powerful, He just isn’t all knowing. He doesn’t know about that 4-year-old. “I mean, He’s got a lot on His plate. There are earthquakes in Indonesia, there’s famine in Africa, there’s war in the Middle East,
so maybe He just didn’t notice that 4-year-old child with leukemia.
“Or possibly your God is all good & all knowing, He’s just not all powerful.
Leukemia is serious stuff. And in some cases, incurable, & if it’s incurable it’s incurable, & God just lacks the power to do anything about it.
“Or possibly your God is all powerful & all knowing, He’s just not all good.
He’s just like one of those fickle Greek gods. Some days they like you & some days they don’t. Some days they care about what’s going on in your life. Some days they just thumb their noses at you.
So maybe that’s what your God is like.
“But a God who’s all good, all powerful, & all knowing, is an impossibility … the presence of evil/suffering in this world proves that.”
How does a Christian respond to such an argument?
Let me say 1st of all that God is all good, all powerful, & all knowing. But let me hasten to add that on some occasions, for reasons known only to God, He allows evil to persist. On some occasions,
God allows suffering to run its’ course. Now this really bugs the skeptic,
who argues, “If God allows suffering, then He is in some way,
even if indirectly, responsible for it, & such a God is contemptible.”
Well, I think Mrs. Job would agree with that.
She watches her husband lose everything & she is stunned.
She’s also furious with a God who would allow this to happen.
She says to her husband, “You are still as faithful as ever, aren’t you?
Why don’t you curse God & die?” Mrs. Job knew who was to blame for the evil, the suffering in her husband’s life. It was God’s fault. But is that fair?
Does evil originate with God?
Sometimes people will wistfully pose the question, “why couldn’t God have created a perfect world? Why couldn’t God have created a world with no evil or suffering in it?” What’s the answer to that question? … He did!
If we go back to the opening chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1,
& read of God’s creation of the heavens & the earth, we’ll find these words …
“God looked at everything he had made, & he was very pleased.” (Genesis 1:31)
It was very good. It was perfect. But you know how the story goes, the 1st man & woman were given the opportunity to obey or disobey … & they chose to disobey, & that introduced the world to sin. And with sin comes evil. And the result of evil is suffering. (Genesis 3:16-19) We can’t trace suffering back to God; suffering can be traced back to us, to our sin.
So, here’s Job, amid all this tragedy, & 3 of his friends arrive on the scene.
Now initially they sit quietly & empathize with him. (Job 2:11)
But then one of them, Eliphaz, opens his mouth,
& tries to put his finger on the source of what Job’s suffering is.
“Think back now.
Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.
I have seen people plow fields of evil & plant wickedness like seed;
now they harvest wickedness & evil.” (Job 4:7-8)
Now Eliphaz is partially right & he is partially wrong. Let me start with what he gets right. He says that those who plow evil, those who plant evil, end up harvesting suffering. In other words, sometimes a person’s suffering can be traced back to their sin. Which makes sense. If a person smokes 4 packs of cigarettes a day, & the Dr. shows him/her a chest x-ray indicating lung cancer … don’t blame God. Don’t ask, “God,
how could you have allowed this to happen?” It’s the person’s fault. Or,
if they’re physically or verbally abusive to their spouse or to their friends,
don’t blame God if at some point the spouse or friends choose to leave.
If they show up at their job each day, & never give an honest day’s work,
if they’re goofing off, & their boss hands them a pink slip. Don’t blame God.
That’s what Eliphaz is saying. Suffering can be traced back to our sin.
That’s what he gets right. Now what Eliphaz gets wrong is that he assumes that suffering can always be traced back to personal sin.
“Think back now.
Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.”
In other words, bad things never happen to good people. … They don’t?
They happen to good people all the time. Not because of their sin …
but because of other people’s sin. Eliphaz misses this point.
The drunk driver who runs over a little girl;
a dishonest business competitor who steals other people's clients …
often suffering can be traced back to someone else’s misbehavior.
The skeptic responds, “okay, drunk drivers, dishonest competitors,
certainly they can be blamed for some suffering.
But how can we blame tornados, or famines, or floods, or birth defects,
or breast cancer, or freak accidents on sinful people?
Sinful people had nothing to do with those things.”
Yes, they did, or I should say, yes, we did, & I include myself in the group.
Again, we go back to what Scripture teaches in the opening chapters of the Bible. This human couple, Adam & Eve,
introduced sin into the world, & sin brings with it evil, & evil brings suffering.
Now sometimes the suffering is because sin-corrupted people misbehaved, but sometimes the suffering, is because sin-corrupted nature misbehaved.
God’s Word teaches that our sin actually introduced evil & suffering into the environment itself. It’s contaminated, as it were. Disasters,
diseases, disabilities … they were not part of God’s original design.
We introduced them to the planet.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “for creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will … for we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.” (Romans 8:20,22) Even nature has been impacted by our sin.
God is not to be blamed for our suffering.
The suffering we endure has its’ origin either in our own sinful choices,
or in the sinful behavior of others, or in the sin twisted activity of nature.
But the skeptic isn’t through. “Well, then, why didn’t God make people who never sin? Or why doesn’t God, somehow cushion their sinfulness,
so that it never does any damage to anyone else or their environment?
God can do anything, right?”
Wrong! Can God do anything? …
God cannot do something that is logically inconsistent. For example,
God can’t create a square circle. By definition, a circle is round.
Take away a circle’s roundness & it’s no longer a circle.
A circle has to be round; it can’t be square. God can’t create a square circle.
(But what does that have to do with God keeping people from sinning?)
God created people with free will. (Deuteronomy 30:19) People are free-willed creatures. Take away free will & we are no longer people. We’d be robots.
Unfortunately, what do we use that free will to do? We use it to sin.
We use it to go our own way. We use it to disobey God.
Sin brings evil into the world. Evil results in suffering.
So, God is not to be blamed … we’re to blame. (James 1:13-15) It’s not God’s fault
… it’s our fault. This is Act 1 of the story. This is addressing the problem of evil from an intellectual perspective. Now let’s look at it from an emotional perspective … which is Act 2. Here the skeptic asks,
“How do you explain God to a couple who have just discovered that their little child has cystic fibrosis? It’s a hereditary disease. It’s incurable. It’s deadly. How do you explain God to a couple like that?”
Sometimes it’s best not to try to answer … it’s best just to turn the tables & pose a question of our own. And in this case, we look the skeptic in the eye, & ask, “So, what would you say to this couple?”
Richard Dawkins, a well-known atheist, wrote a book, “The God Delusion.”
In it he explains what’s behind hereditary illness. “In the universe of blind physical forces & genetic replication some people are going to get hurt & other people are going to get lucky. And you won’t find any rhythm or reason for it. Nor any justice. Nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, & we dance to its’ music.”
Now I’m sure that Dr. Dawkins wouldn’t say that to grieving parents, at least I hope he wouldn’t. But my question is … what would he say?
What hope could he possibly give?
Let’s go back to Job. For 37 chapters Job & his buddies debate the question, “why does God allow suffering?” And finally, in chapter 38 God Himself shows up. How does the Lord answer the question,
“why does God allow suffering?”
He doesn’t.
But beginning in 38:1 & going on for 4 chapters God gives Job an extended description of His own greatness.
(Now you need to read this for yourselves, but let me just give you a sample.)
“Then out of the storm the LORD spoke to Job.
‘Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words?
Now stand up straight & answer the questions I ask you.
Were you there when I made the world?
If you know so much, tell me about it.
(God is using a little sarcasm.)
Who decided how large it would be?
Who stretched the measuring line over it? Do you know all the answers?
What holds up the pillars that support the earth?
Who laid the cornerstone of the world?’” (Job 38:1-6)
Job wants an explanation for his suffering. Well, God doesn’t give him an explanation … He gives Job Himself. And that’s what we need more than anything else when we’re enduring evil’s assault.
We don’t need intellectual explanations … we need a Supernatural Companion.
Over the years I’ve counseled people who were dealing with difficult issues.
I’ve counseled families where a husband/father took his life; families where 3 children under 5 were killed in a fire; families where a young girl was attacked & raped. And I’ve come to realize that no intellectual answer,
no matter how good it is, is going to suffice in situations like that.
These are emotional issues.
What it really comes down to … if we are going to go through something like this, better to go through it with God than without Him. That’s our hope.
What does God provide for us that enables us to endure evil’s assault?
The list could include a # of things but let me just suggest a few.
#1 … God provides His presence.
“The LORD is near to those who are discouraged;
he saves those who have lost all hope.” (The Psalms 34:18)
I’ve watched people suffer over the years, & it always strikes me … suffering is a lonely experience. It doesn’t matter if we’re surrounded by loved ones & friends, there are places in our hearts that even friends & family can’t touch. But God can reach the deepest recesses of our being with His presence. When our world is rocked, we don’t want philosophy or even theology as much as we want the reality of Christ. You see, it’s not so much that God gives an answer, but that God is the answer … His presence.
#2 … God provides His comfort.
I’m sure you’ve discovered this, but when we’re suffering,
we want people who have gone through similar circumstances to come & empathize with us. If we’ve lost our job, we want somebody who has had that experience. If you’ve miscarried a child, you want to talk with another woman who has gone through that painful experience.
This is why God is such an incredible comforter. Need I remind you;
this is a God whose own Son was crucified? And speaking of Jesus … let me remind you that Jesus knows what it’s like to be poor. (Matthew 8:20) For those who are facing a mountain of debt … Jesus knows what it feels like to have nothing. Jesus knows what it feels like to be misunderstood & ridiculed.
Matthew 27:39-44) Jesus knows what it feels like to be deserted by friends. (Matthew 26:56) He knows what it’s like to experience physical pain. (Luke 23:32) Jesus knows what it’s like to face death at a relatively early age.
“The Christian God,” John Stott writes, “is not like a Buddha, arms crossed, legs folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile around his mouth,
a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.
No, the Christian’s God has experienced the cross.”
That’s what qualifies Him to comfort us.
That’s why Paul writes,
“Let us give thanks to the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes! He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.”
(2 Corinthians 1;3-4)
God brings His presence. God brings His comfort.
#3 … He brings His purpose. Now, we may never know what God’s purposes are behind out particular suffering, but we can know that there is a purpose.
Paul writes, “We know that in all things God works for good
with those who love him.” (Romans 8:28) My Mom always said … “God has a plan.”
We may get very, very sick, & have no idea why God allows this,
but He has a purpose. Now God’s purpose may be that He plans to heal us in such a miraculous way that others sit up & take notice. God’s purpose may be that He wants to get friends & family members praying, who have never prayed before … & now they’re on their knees. God’s purpose may be to send us to Dr.’s offices where we’ll converse with other patients & medical personnel, sharing the love of Jesus Christ. God’s purpose may be to redirect our career so that instead of going this direction we now have to choose some other occupation. It could be any # of things.
I don’t know what the purpose is … but God does. And just the sense that the suffering is not randomly pointless enables us to make it through.
#4 … God offers His community.
I’ve seen this happen again & again in the churches I’ve served.
People encounter serious difficulties & they’re immediately surrounded by others who offer encouragement, meals, prayers, companionship, etc.
#5 … God offers His character.
In the middle of Job’s sufferings he testifies, “if God tests me, he will find me pure.” (Job 23:10) Job felt confident that the tests would produce God’s character in his life. (Romans 5:3-5)
You’ve heard it said, suffering either makes us better or bitter people.
But we take God out of the equation & there’s nothing but resentment.
There’s nothing but “why me?” We add God to the equation & there’s a character transformation that takes place in the midst of our suffering.
Okay, that’s Act 2, the emotional side of the issue.
Suffering happens … the question is, do we want to go through it with God, or do we want to go through it without God?
And that brings us to Act 3, & here is the culmination of the story.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus died on the cross to bear the penalty of our sins; (1 Corinthians 15:3) that He offers forgiveness to all who come & put their faith, hope & trust in Him, all who surrender their lives completely to Him & begin to follow Him … receive forgiveness & eternal life.
And the 2 go hand-in-hand … because it’s impossible to live forever in the presence of a holy God, unless our sin has been dealt with, unless we’ve been forgiven. And Jesus is the only Saviour who has paid the penalty & can offer that kind of forgiveness.
People ask, “Why doesn’t God do something about evil? Why doesn’t God do something about suffering?” And the answer is … He is. Currently what He’s doing is freeing men & women from their own personal evil as they come to faith in Him. And ultimately what He promises to do is create a new Heaven & a new earth where evil & suffering will be banished forever.
This new Heaven & new earth are described by the Apostle John in the closing book of the Bible.
“I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: ‘Now God’s home is with people! He will live with them, & they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, & he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain.
The old things have disappeared.’ Then the one who sits on the throne said,
‘And now I make all things new!’” (The Revelation 21:3-5)
Ultimately, we who follow Christ believe in the demise of evil.
And it’s knowing that someday suffering is going to cease,
it’s knowing that one day we’ll be in the presence of God forever,
that enables us to endure whatever in this life.
Okay, imagine that it’s January 1st of a new year,
& it turns out to be the very worst day of your life. You go to a Drs.’ appointment the 1st thing in the morning & he tells you that you have cancer.
You’re a bit foggy with this as you walk out of his office.
Dazed you arrive late at work, & the boss greets you at the door saying,
“I’m sorry, but the company is downsizing, & we had to eliminate your job.”
So, almost in a stupor you clean out your desk, & head for home. Just then a hit & run driver plows into you, demolishing your car … & then he drives off. (This is getting to be a really bad day, but it’s not over yet.) When you finally get home you find the garage door wide open … someone has broken into your garage & stolen your golf clubs. You can’t believe this.
What else could possibly go wrong? You walk in the front door & your spouse greets you with, “Honey, our 18-year-old son has run away from home.”
Now, that’s January 1st. But this is how the rest of the year goes.
You have chemo for your cancer & it’s wholly successful.
The cancer is eliminated. You get a new job, & it ends up being the one you’ve always wanted, with a salary double your previous job. And then a rich relative, you never knew, dies & leaves you a million $. You go out & buy a couple of brand-new cars … & new golf clubs. And speaking of golf,
you enter the Salt Creek Golf Course championship & win by 5 strokes!
And then your 18-year-old son gets tired of sowing his wild oats,
& comes home, very contrite, offering you a huge apology.
He enters Indiana University & in his 1st semester gets straight A’s.
Now you come to the end of the year, it’s December 31st,
& someone asks you, “How’s your year been?” And you respond, “Terrific!” And they ask, “don’t I recall that you had a really bad January 1st?”
You look at them, “did I? I can’t even remember.” You see, one awful day followed by 364 tremendous days is an awesome year. One life:
40, 60, 80 years, that has some suffering in it, compared to all of eternity,
lived in the presence of Almighty God is like nothing.
Listen to what Paul writes. Now this is a man who has been shipwrecked, stoned, & beaten. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)
“The small & temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous & eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
If we know Jesus, we know that He’s got something awesome in mind for us. Whatever we’re going through currently, we know that one day evil will be banished, suffering will be expelled, forever.
I would like everybody to stand. Some of you have brought a burden with you today & you’re suffering. Maybe it’s an illness, maybe it’s a relationship difficulty, a financial struggle, whatever it is, we don’t need to know specifically, but we want to pray for you, & if you’re one of those people, & you’re in the thick of it right now, I want you to sit down, & I want the people around you to put a hand on your shoulder. And as I pray out loud, we’re all going to pray especially for you. And you’re going to feel the compassion of this congregation interceding before God on your behalf.
We’ve never done anything like this before,
I understand, but please, if you’re dealing with something right now, be brave enough to sit down & allow us to pray for you. And if you’re standing near someone who has taken a seat, would you put a hand on their shoulder? Let me pray …
Lord, some of us have immediate need for the application of the truth we’ve just learned, & I want to pray in Jesus’ name, that You would meet the needs of those who are sitting, that You would be the God who makes sense of things, not because You fully explain why we’re going through what we’re going through, but because You communicate to us Your presence in such a heartfelt way that we know that we can make it through anything. And I pray that those who are seated will be blessed by this loving family of brothers & sisters in the faith who care. And for those of us who are standing & seem to be at this point in our lives, trouble free, may we file this away for later use for when we are in the need of prayer.
We ask this in Your holy name. Amen
MARANA THA