Why does a God of love allow suffering?

One of the great questions of the age, my dear friends, is why does a God of love allow suffering? This question is a persistent question. It comes up again and again. It takes many forms. Sometimes as bluntly as aforementioned. Sometimes with a bit more nuance. A bit more nuance and self-righteousness. Why does a God of love allow bad things to happen to good people? You are quick to state God’s goodness. You never ask ‘why does an evil god allow bad things to happen to good people?’ For it is a question coated in two paints. Not just one, but two. For you acknowledge the Holy Bible’s claim that God is a God of love. You articulate a truth. But you are perplexed. Either you accept the existence of a God of love, but can’t square it with the world around you, or the very premise you articulate as a form of scorn. To set up your attack against God. Either way, whatever your intention, you acknowledge His goodness and His nature. God is love. We know this. The Holy Bible is His infallible word. We know that every word is true.

Whatever your intention, you doubt His truth. You doubt His existence. You doubt the very foundational claims of the Christian religion. It is no burden for you to doubt Him. Your sin and transgression requires you to doubt Him. So what a great attack line this is for you heathen. This claim, painted in the paints of both truth and doubt. That great enemy, the devil, peddles in half-truths and this shows you the origin of such a question. Nonetheless, such a question demands an answer. For our faith is a faith based on truth, and truth can always answer a lie. It can ALWAYS meet that challenge.

Why is there suffering?

There is suffering because of the fall of man. Because Adam, led astray by Eve, transgressed. They sinned. When they did, they introduced death into the world. You are their descendants. But not just death. No. For God did not stop with the introduction of death. He cursed the ground. The whole of creation. We see this in Genesis 3. We see this in Revelation. One day, the curse will be no more.

So there is suffering because we live in a fallen world. It was not God’s will that this world should be as corrupted and mortal as it is. But it was by His great mercy that He did not simply destroy this world. For the flaws and sufferings are not marks of God’s injustice but His patience.

Why do bad things happen to good people, then?

They don’t. A bad thing has NEVER happened to a good person. Well, that is not entirely true. For a bad thing did happen to the only good person who ever lived. It happened to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. But apart from the Saviour, a bad thing has never happened to a good person. You think of yourself as a good person? Why that very thought testifies to your corruption. Just when you think that you are a source of life and goodness, the worms of spiritual decay burrow into your heart, reaping their many corruptions and abominations. God knows every vile and disgusting thought you ever had. God knows when you lied. God knows every time you were disrespectful to your parents. He knows that every time you were as greedy as a hog. He knows every time you ever lusted. Every filthy, wicked, and disgusting thought that has happened upon your mind, every wicked act you have done. Just one of those things demands hellfire. For just one of those things is a corruption so severe it is worthy of hell. But it is a small thing you say. That is NOT for you to decide. The universe is NOT a democracy. Morality is NOT a democracy. Truth is absolute, and what is true and what is not has nothing to do with you.

You say, wretched sinner, that it is unfair. Some terrible fate has happened upon you while some wrong’un walks free, healthy and in prosperity. But in the eyes of a holy standard, you are a wrong’un. The distance between that statement and your feelings about it is the measure of your self-righteousness. The question is NOT why has this fate come upon you. The question is why does God permit another breath in your lungs? Why, despite, your wretchedness does God give you the common grace of life? It may be a life of pain. But it’s more painful in hell. It’s much hotter and much more painful in hell, my friend. You have it the wrong way round. Ask NOT why bad things happen to good people. Ask why good things happen to wicked and wretched people? Ask that!

Will it always be this way?

The page will turn on this present world. There will be a time when all will no longer reside under the sun. Then the creation order will be restored. Then bad things will only happen to bad people and good things only to good. But if you are not a good person, can good things happen to you? Yes. For you can wash away the filth. If you fell in slough and got covered in muck, you would wash the muck away. Well, the muck of your sin and corruption cannot be washed away by your own merit. You CANNOT do it! It needs something stronger. It needs the blood of Christ. For He, despite being good, took a bad thing upon Himself. The bad thing meant for you. The punishment of sin. An eternity of hellfire for every person compressed into just three days. So that you could have that filth, corruption, and wickedness washed away. Made holy by His blood. Do you deserve it? No. But it is a gift. However, what gift can be made use of unless it is received? Will you receive it?

For if you do, you will never again need to ask such a question. Never again. For you will know the answer and you will pray, not long! Not long, Lord Jesus, in this present world. Finally, you will say thank you, Lord. Thank you! For your mercy and your grace.

God has given you the good gift… will you receive it?