Why Does God Allow Suffering?

If you are asking this question, you are not alone. Hundreds of thousands of people have wrestled with the subject of human suffering. Even the most faithful followers of Jesus struggle to understand why a holy, righteous, sovereign God would allow such terrible suffering in this world.

While we cannot fully understand why God allows suffering, I believe it is essential for every Christian to adopt a biblical theology of suffering. The pain of suffering will still sting, but if we have a proper theology of suffering, we’ll be able to persevere by God’s grace through difficult seasons and continue to trust in His goodness. My prayer is that through this blog, and more importantly through God’s Word, you would be comforted and reminded that the Lord is good, and His plans are perfect, even amidst our suffering.

Suffering Glorifies God

The Scriptures make one thing crystal clear: suffering glorifies God. The clearest evidence of this is Jesus Christ. God’s Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became a man. And during His time on this earth, He suffered more than any other human has suffered. He endured a grueling death on a cross.

Why would God the Father allow His Son Jesus Christ to suffer in such a way? 1 Peter 3:18 tells us that Christ suffered to pay the penalty for our sins and to reconcile us to the Father. Jesus says Himself in John 12:23 that the Son of Man would be glorified. Through Jesus’ suffering, He was glorified! While it’s hard to make sense of this in our limited human understanding, it is clear that by means of suffering God glorified His Son.

In John chapters 9 and 11, we see two more examples of God being glorified through human suffering. In John 9, Jesus comes across a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked Him if it was the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that caused him to be blind (verse 2). Jesus responds in John 9:3 by saying, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” In essence, Jesus is saying that this man was allowed to suffer so that God could be glorified!

Similarly, in John 11, Jesus’ friend and brother of Mary and Martha, Lazarus, becomes ill. Upon hearing this news, Jesus says in verse 4, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus makes it clear in His response to Lazarus’ illness that the purpose for his suffering was the glory of God!

In both of these examples, two things happen that bring glory to God. First, God is glorified through physical and miraculous events. In John 9, the blind man is healed and given sight through Jesus. In verses 6 and 7, Jesus puts His saliva and mud on the man’s eyes and commands him to go wash at the Pool of Siloam. The end of verse 7 says that the man went home seeing. God is glorified through this miraculous healing! If the man had not been blind, Jesus could not have healed Him and received the glory for performing a miracle.

In John 11, Jesus does something even more extraordinary. In verse 14, Jesus says that Lazarus was dead. The illness that afflicted him led to death. Not only did Lazarus suffer, but his loved ones also suffered his death. In verses 41–44, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead! Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. Yet, Jesus raised him back to life. Through this miraculous, supernatural event, God is glorified! Had Lazarus not fallen ill and died, Jesus would not have been able to raise him from the dead. Once again, God uses human suffering to glorify His name.

The second thing that brings glory to God in both of these examples is salvation. While physical healings are a way God displays His power, the ultimate goal of Jesus’ ministry is spiritual healing. In John 9:35–38, Jesus finds the blind man that He had healed. In this second encounter, Jesus reveals Himself to be the Messiah. In verse 38, the man says, “Lord, I believe.” This man not only received his physical sight, but also spiritual sight. He received eternal salvation through faith in Jesus! God used suffering to draw this man to salvation. How incredible!

After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11, verse 45 tells us that “many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him.” Lazarus’ suffering and death led to the salvation of many! Had Lazarus not suffered and died, those Jews would not have visited Mary, and they would not have witnessed Jesus’ miracle. It was only through Lazarus’ suffering and death that God could be glorified through salvation.

These are just a few of the many examples in Scripture of how suffering is a vehicle God uses to glorify His name and bring sinners to salvation. It is important to note that God does not cause suffering. Suffering is a result of human sin. However, God, in His sovereignty, allows suffering to accomplish His eternal and perfect purposes.

A Biblical Response to Suffering

Charles Swindoll famously said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.” While this is not a quote from Scripture, its point is relevant for the topic of suffering. How you and I respond to suffering is extremely important. Not only for ourselves, but for our witness to who Christ is. Biblically, there are three proper responses to suffering.

The first biblical response to suffering is being cooperative. 1 Peter 4 gives us two examples of what this response looks like. In verse 1, Peter says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.” Summed up, Peter is telling us that if Christ was willing to suffer, then we need to have the same attitude!

Later in the chapter, in verse 12, Peter says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Peter makes it clear that we should not be surprised at our suffering! In fact, we should expect to suffer in this life.

Through suffering, God is accomplishing an important work in your life. He is disciplining you (Hebrews 12:4–11) and conforming you into the image of Christ (Romans 8:28–29). Our response to suffering should be cooperation, so that God can accomplish the work He desires in us.

The second biblical response to suffering is trust. Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Oftentimes, we are tempted to think we know what is best. Instead of trusting that the Lord knows what is truly best, we fail to trust Him and rely on our own limited thinking. Our trust in God during times of suffering should seem radical. Even if the results don’t go as we prayed they would, we should know that God is good and sovereign, and that He has a good purpose for His kingdom even in the most difficult situations.

The third biblical response to suffering is submission. What do your prayers sound like when you pray for a sick person? Or when you pray for a hard season to pass? My guess is that it goes something like this: “Lord, please heal this person from their sickness.” Or, “Lord, please remove this challenging situation from my life.” These types of prayers are not submissive to God’s will, but rather place ourselves in the driver’s seat.

Instead, our prayers during times of suffering should reflect Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus says in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Jesus made His petitions known to the Father. He did not want to suffer crucifixion. But He also submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will. Jesus was more concerned with submission to His Father than being comfortable. In our lives and in our prayers, we should seek to reflect the same attitude that Jesus had in the garden.

Conclusion

Why does God allow suffering? I believe there are a lot of good, eternal purposes that God has in human suffering. The few examples that were shared in this blog are just a few of the many ways in which God has used suffering for His perfect purposes. The greatest example of them all is the suffering of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through His suffering on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sin and reconciled lost sinners back to God. Salvation was made possible through suffering!

In Job 42:5, after Job had suffered immensely, he says, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.” My prayer is that even while you suffer, you would conclude with Job that through suffering God is revealing to you more of Himself than He ever could in your comfort.

---

Thanks for reading this month's blog post. If you're interested in learning more about Uncommon Sports Group or getting connected, click here.