“If God is so loving, why does he let people suffer?”
Each of us has either asked or heard that question at least once in our lifetime. Maybe the sentence is worded differently, but it still comes down to how a loving God can let people suffer.
It’s a legitimate question. After all, we worship an all-powerful, all-knowing God who is always present in our world. Why can’t or won’t He intervene in such a way so that no one suffers?
The simple answer is that, while God is sovereign, He has chosen to limit that sovereignty to allow us the freedom of choice. God allows us to choose to walk with Him or to sin, and, inevitably, we opt for sin. Since sin enters our world, suffering is the inevitable byproduct of our choices.
The more complex answer is that God allows suffering in our world precisely because He is a loving God. The Bible gives us three examples, and life gives us one of why God’s love allows for suffering.
We Grow Through Suffering
God uses suffering to test our faith and to draw us closer to Him. The classic example of this is found in the book of Job.
The story of Job begins with a conversation between God and Satan. Satan enters God’s presence. Satan tells God he has been roaming the earth. God asks Satan if he observed Job. God describes Job as, “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). Satan’s response is to say that the only reason Job is such a great person is because God has blessed Job so richly. Satan’s challenge is, “[S]tretch out Your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face” (Job 1:11).
God then allows Satan to deal with Job as Satan sees fit, only Satan is forbidden to lay a hand on Job himself. The result is that Job’s ten children die as a result of a mighty wind and Job’s vast herds of livestock are stolen from him. Job is left with nothing. Yet, Job stays true to God.
When God points this out to Satan, Satan claims that Job’s loyalty is only because Job is still healthy and alive. “[S]tretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face” (Job 2:5). Job is then given into Satan’s hands with the only proviso that Satan may not kill Job. The result is that Job is stricken with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. The result is so horrifying that Job’s wife, wanting to end his suffering, urges Job to curse God and die. Yet, Job refuses to do so.
The ensuing chapters of Job then have a dialogue between Job and three friends who come to console him. Finally, God Himself speaks to Job with a series of questions. When God is finished speaking with Job, Job’s words are, “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. . . . My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-4).
In other words, the results of Job’s testing is that he has gained a deeper understanding of God and a closer walk with Him as a result of the suffering. Job has passed his test of faith by keeping his eyes on God.
We Are Disciplined through Suffering
We who are parents have had the task of correcting our children’s behavior in order to make them better people and to prepare them better for adulthood. We do this through the assignment of chores and tasks, as well as time outs and other punishments as necessary when our children misbehave. It is one of the most important duties we as parents have. God, “Our Father who is in heaven,” has that same responsibility to us. He allows suffering to discipline us and to further sanctify us—“It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
The writer of Hebrews says it this way: “Endure hardship is discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respect them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 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” (Hebrews 12:7-11).
We Suffer as a Consequence of Sin
David, the king of Israel chosen by God Himself, was a man that was pleasing to the Lord. Repeatedly, as we read the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, we see David, the servant of God, acting in obedience to God’s direction.
However, in 2 Samuel 11, David commits a grievous sin when he lusts after Bathsheba, commits adultery with her and, when she becomes pregnant, tries to hide the adultery. Finally, as a last result, David arranges to have Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle in order for David to marry her and give the child within her a legitimacy.
While Bathsheba is still awaiting the birth of the child, David is confronted by Nathan, his prophet. When David is confronted by his sinfulness, he repents in deep sorrow and pain. Psalm 51 is an expression of David’s genuine remorse and repentance.
And yet, even though David repented, he still suffered the consequences of his sin. David is told by Nathan that the sword will never depart from David’s household (2 Sam. 12:10), that David will be humiliated by “one who is close to you” (2 Sam. 12:11) and that the child Bathsheba was bearing would not live (2 Sam. 12:14).
David’s son with Bathsheba does die shortly after birth (2 Sam. 12:18), David’s daughter is raped by one of his sons; that son is then slain in revenge by the daughter’s brother, Absalom. Absalom, who is David’s favorite son and therefore his likely heir, rebels against David and does, indeed, humiliate David as Nathan said. Absalom is ultimately killed as the rebellion is crushed, but still David suffers the consequences of his sin. This despite the fact that David is told by Nathan, “The Lord has taken away your sin” (2 Sam. 12:13).
The consequences of sin are always with us. Even though and because God loves us, He allows the consequences to continue in order that we may learn the full horrors of sin.
We Suffer in Order to be Brought to God through Repentance
John Newton was an evil man. He was rebellious, ultimately resulting in receiving 96 lashes as a result of desertion from the Royal Navy. He was transferred to a slave ship, but didn’t get along with the crew, so they sold him to a slaver in Africa. Newton himself became a slave before being rescued by a sea captain hired by Newton’s father to find him.
The slavery he endured had a lasting effect on Newton, and Newton eventually repented and sought salvation through Jesus Christ. Eventually, Newton became a minister of the Gospel and became influential in the abolitionist movement in England. His greatest claim to fame, though, is as author of “Amazing Grace.”
Newton is but one example of many people throughout the ages who came to a saving knowledge of God as a result of personal suffering and pain. It is a loving God who will allow someone to suffer if that suffering will lead them to eternal fellowship with God through Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Why does a loving God allow people to suffer? Suffering does not negate nor refute the love of God. Instead, suffering, if we will let it, will focus our attention on the love of God and the ever-presence of God with us in our suffering. When we suffer, we can either blame God or we can seek Him. “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
© 2017 Glynn Beaty