Why Does God Allow Suffering?

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! With projects around the house and overtime at work, time just flies by! I have still had many, many opportunities lately to discuss and encourage others in their walk with the Lord! I have had multiple encounters lately based on one theme: why does God allow suffering?

This seems to be the biggest challenge for believers and seekers alike. My own grandfather refused to believe in God for many, many years because he couldn't find a suitable answer for his question. So, how did I answer my friends?

Unfortunately, there is no one-liner to cover such a complex and important issue, so it takes some time to explain. It has to do with several factors.

First of all, we have to look at sin and how it entered our universe. It originally surfaced in heaven, of all places. Satan, who started out as an angel, began to question God's ruling. He became jealous. He coveted God's position and wanted it for himself. (see Ezekiel 28:17 and Isaiah 14:12 -14) He started a war in heaven with his accusations and was able to decieve 1/3 of the angels (see Revelation 12:7 -9). (Side note: King David's son, Absalom, did the same thing, nearly destroying the nation of Israel).

Now, what was a God of love to do? He could have simply annihilated Satan and all of the fallen angels and eradicated sin and rebellion right then and there, sparing the universe from the possiblity of sin and pain. But how would the angels and the onlooking universe have reacted? Would they still follow Him in love, or would they follow Him out of fear? Would they start to believe that perhaps Satan was right, and doubt for themselves? No, God chose another option: to let sin run its full course, vindicating His character for all the universe to see.

That takes us to the next point: God designed us for a relationship with Him. He wants us to love Him and to interact with Him. He designed us with freedom of choice, freedom to choose to follow Him, to love Him fully and openly, or to deny Him and ignore Him as we see fit. Only then can we truly have a love relationship with Him. If He designed us without the capability to choose, we would be more like robots, and we would only follow Him, not love Him.

God then made an unimaginable choice, to allow Satan to test and subject us all to all manner of sin. God knew that we would fall to this temptation, but out of His amazing love, he designed a plan in which we could all be saved, even when we fall. Part of God Himself, Jesus, would come to earth, live a perfect life, and die for us, in our place, sufferring the punishment that is truly due to Satan and his followers. So, with the plan in hand, He let it all play out.

With the choices open to us, and with Satan making accusations against God's character, the way was opened for the sin and pain that we see all around us. See the story of Job in the Bible for an example of what is going on behind the scenes. This man, Job (pronounced JOBE), was a righteous man. He followed God and loved Him with all his heart. Satan accused God, stating that no one could really love God, and that Job only followed Him and claimed to love Him because God had blessed him. If God would withold his blessings, then Job would surely turn away from God. But God knew Job truly loved Him, and so he allowed Satan to put all kinds of suffering on Job. Satan cursed Job, killed his entire family, took away all of his posessions, and even struck Job with a painful, but not deadly, illness, which made Job suffer immensely.

To make things even worse, Job's "friends" misunderstood the whole thing and kept telling Job that he must have brought it all on himself, and tried to make him abandon his faith. He had no support at all. In the end, God blessed Job, after he passed the test, and God restored much more to Job than what he had lost.

This helps to explain what happens to us in this life. Sometimes we are tested, as Job was. It may be for us, to strengthen our own faith. It may be for others that are watching, as it was in Job's case. Other times, our suffering has more to do with natural consequences of our own foolishness, or we are victims of another's bad choices.

In any case, the reason for a Christian's faith is not that we expect to avoid suffering. Quite the opposite, we expect it. We know that every person on Earth, by virtue of the world we live in, will experience suffering. But God has promised us two things: He will be with us in all of our troubles, and He will make all things right when the time is right. (see 2 Corinthians 4:16 -18; 2 Peter 3:9)

Israel -- the God wrestler

In American culture, our names usually don't have specific meanings. We may be named after someone special, but usually our parents just give us names that sound good to them. In Eastern cultures, however, and especially in the Bible, names usually described a person's character, or significant events in the lives of the parents. So, I can only imagine the difficulty poor Jacob had in grade school, with a name that meant "cheater" or "manipulator". (that makes scary-Terri sound much better!)

In my devotional last evening, I read how Jacob's name was changed to Israel, or "God-wrestler". Jacob wrestled all night with the Lord (or more likely an angel, though we aren't told for sure). He would not let the man go until he received the blessing he was seeking. The angel blessed him, and his name was changed from that point on.

His descendents became a mighty nation, as promised to his grandfather, Abraham. The nation took on his name: Israel, God-wrestler. The rest of the Bible goes on to document the nation's struggles with God, their "wrestling" if you will, as they would follow God, then turn from Him, then suffer the consequences, then turn back to Him, over and over again.

In the New Testament, followers of Jesus Christ are told that they become children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise, by our faith. We become a sort of "spiritual Israel". How significant, as our whole journey in life consists of wrestling with God. Who is He? Why am I here? What is God's purpose for my life? We wrestle to follow God, we wrestle to give up our pride and selfishness as we learn to be disciples of Christ. And, just as Jacob limped away from the experience scarred, we, too, get lumps and bumps through the process. And, just as Jacob did, we find that the blessings of God are worth whatever the cost!

Sacrifice

I have a couple of friends that are on the fence about Christianity. They seem to be holding back, like so many people, out of fear over what they may have to give up, if they choose to follow Christ.

This has really made me think. At first, I wanted to say that following Christ isn't about what you give up, but about the new life that you get, (not to mention eternal life after this life). But then, I quickly changed my train of thought.

The Christian life really is about what we give up. Jesus calls us to become a "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1), to be fully surrendered to God's will at all times. This is no small undertaking. In fact, it is impossible for us to do without God's direct intervention in our lives. Rick Warren tells us in "The Purpose Driven Life" that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar! How true!

When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we give up our ideas of control and our thoughts and plans for our own lives and subject them to His will. That is a huge sacrifice! God doesn't want just a part of our lives, He wants it all... our bodies, our finances, our thoughts, our plans, our relationships, our dreams. We must surrender ALL to Him. Wow!

At first glance, this makes God sound like a control-freak, and Christians like mindless robots, but that's nthe case. We surrender all, because that is how we gain all. "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life," Romans 6:20 - 22, NIV.

I think this is why God uses the analogy of marriage so often in the scriptures. When we get married, we totally surrender "I" & "me" to be replaced by "us" and "we". We sacrifice our selfishness and individuality for something bigger... family.


What if we really, truly surrendered our entire lives to God? What if we thought of ourselves and God as "We" in every aspect of our lives? How would "we" use "our" hands, "our" words, "our" time & money? How would a totally surrendered life look and feel? what if we woke up every morning and asked God, "What are we going to do today? You lead the way, and I will follow?" and then we followed through without reservation?

Do any of us have the courage to really put this to the test? I know in my heart that this is the true Christian life, but I still have so much to learn, and so far to go. Sometimes I feel like sacrificing 10% of my money, 1/7 th of my time, a few kind words spoken to others throughout the day, 20 minutes a day spent in prayer, a glance at the scriptures twice a day, and "being a nice person" is what it is all about...Ha!

My prayer is that God will help me, every day, to present myself -- my whole self -- to Him as a living sacrifice, without holding back, continuously until the day He comes and takes me home.

Comfort Zones

I help teach one of the children's classes at my church each week. Our lesson this week was on "doubting Thomas". I was getting more and more uncomfortable with this lesson as I studied it and prepared to teach. I thought, "we really give this guy a tough time. All he did is question whether what he heard was or wasn't true. He said he wouldn't believe until he saw it for himself. After all, his companions were claiming to have seen the resurrected Jesus, so was it inappropriate for him to have wanted to see for himself as well?"

Thankfully, my co-teacher volunteered to teach the lesson for me, though she did not know of my struggles with the subject. During class, I learned alongside the kids. My friend said, "Thomas had heard from his closest friends and companions that Jesus had risen from the dead. Did he have any reason to doubt what they were telling him? His friends were honest. They had no reason to mislead him." Hmmmmm. "His statement to the other disciples revealed what he was thinking in his heart, "I won't believeit unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side." It wasn't that he was unsure, but that he had determined against believing. This made me think about what I may be keeping myself from believing.

This came on the heels of an interaction I had with a coworker this past week. She is a wonderful Christian lady who is old enough to be my mother, and, thankfully, is willing to play that role on occasion, when I need motherly advice. She came to me a bit troubled by an experience she had earlier in the week.

There was a group of young adults that were on a bicycle trip to (from?) Colorado. They stopped and asked her and her husband if they could pitch a tent in her yard for the night as they were passing through. She immediately became concerned. She did not know these young men, and had never heard of someone stopping a stranger and asking for a place to stay. Why weren't they staying in a hotel or a campground? My friend hesitated, but her husband immediately agreed and let the young men stay.

My friend was counselled by her family that this is what Jesus would have them do. Where else would these men stay, where it would be safe for them, but in the yard of a watchful Christian family? My friend felt sad that she had been so hesitant about doing God's work.

I tried to reassure her, explaining that things are scary in today's world. What if these young men were up to something? Would her family be safe? I assured her that it was right to question them and think of the safety of her family, but she countered with, "Don't you think God is strong enough to protect us?" How could I argue?

This made me think about my own Christian walk. Sometimes I think I am such a great person. I do good works all the time. I am active in personal ministry to others. I give generously to charity. I volunteer. I am helpful and kind. But....am I truly willing to follow wherever God leads me? All of the works I do "for the Lord" I do within the framework of my personal safety and at little or no risk. Would I have opened my yard, let alone my home, to a stranger? Would I do anything for a person I did not trust? I am not so sure. Just like Thomas, I have areas where I have doubts.

During our sermon today, the pastor quoted James 2: 14 - 16. "Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone. Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well" -- but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?" Ouch!

Obviously, God has opened my eyes to an area where I need to do some work. I am thankful for his patient instruction.

Part 3

Our trip went through Bryce Canyon, which was my favorite. The colors were amazing! Of course, the trees were a refreshing sight, in such an arid region. The hoodoos of orange and white were breathtaking!

God's handiwork never ceases to amaze me! "For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land." Psalm 95:3 -5.

Part 2

I was really amazed when I came upon this scene:

We were hiking on a nearly 100 degree day, in a place with such extreme weather and inhospitable conditions, when we saw this garden, planted and tended by God. The flowers were mostly balsam root, but there were blooming cactus and flowers of blue and orange and white as well. We also saw several lizards making their home in the garden.

The Majesty of God

I just returned from a vacation in southern Utah. I had never been there before, and I was in for a real treat! On our motorcycle trip, we were able to visit Arches, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Parks. I was amazed at the variety of rock formations, not to mention the flowers, lizards, hawks, and other signs of life in such a seemingly desolate place.

This is my husband and me, standing inside one of the many arches in the park. The terrain is steeper than it looks, but the rock faces are much easier to climb than the basalt rocks found in the Northwest. They are sandstone, which actually grips like sandpaper. In some places, I felt like Spiderwoman, climbing the faces of the rocks with my hands and feet in what felt like a nearly vertical climb!