No one really questions the existence of suffering. We see tragedies occurring in the world or in our lives and ask the question, “Why did God allow this happen?” From man’s perspective, God could have prevented it, and if it we could have, we would have prevented it. So why didn’t God? This can lead to even more questions like: Are we more moral than God because we would have stopped the innocent from suffering? Or, what was God thinking, to allow this horror to exist?
In part one we looked at the reality of pain and suffering and in the next part we will discuss reasons for suffering. But in this part we will examine God’s response to suffering. Is He responsible to step in like a super hero and save the day?
One consideration we need to ask is how does our sin affect the issue of pain and suffering? Do we deserve the pain that exists? Does the reality of sin justify God allowing or even using pain to pronounce His wrath upon mankind?
One thing is clear from Scripture. We do not have the same view of sin as God. God is holy and righteous and just. We are sinful. In our sinfulness we still think of ourselves as somewhat “good”, especially when we compare ourselves to others. The problem is that in order to truly understand how bad sin is and how bad we are in our sin, we must look at it with the proper perspective. If we could step back and see sin from god’s perspective, we would have a vastly different understanding of how bad sin is and God’s right and duty to judge those who has transgressed His holiness.
Ultimately we could say that the issue really isn’t “why does God allow us to suffer, but why doesn’t God pour His wrath upon us now”. Voddie Baucham sees it not as an issue of “The Problem of Pain”, but “The Problem of Good”, why does God give us so much good when all we deserve is His righteous wrath (Romans 1:18)
So how Does God’s Sovereignty affect the issue of suffering?
- Our view of God in light of suffering:
- He mourns with us and for us (Genesis 6:6 – God was grieved…)
- God can be God and suffering still exist
- Providence vs Sovereignty
- Sometimes God does prevent suffering …these are examples of His Providence when He miraculously steps in and counters or prevents the effects of moral and natural evil.
- Sometimes we are aware of it
- Sometimes we may know even know it
- Sometimes God does not prevent suffering…this is an example of His Sovereignty, where we must trust Him
- Sometimes God does prevent suffering …these are examples of His Providence when He miraculously steps in and counters or prevents the effects of moral and natural evil.
- God uses moral choices and natural disaster for his purposes.
- Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 50:20)
- Assyria and Babylon taking Israel into captivity
- There are a couple of examples where God directly brought about pain and all of them were times of judgment: The Flood and Hell
- Key Bible Passages about God’s Sovereign control:
- Sustainer of all things (Colossians 1:17)
- Transcends all things (Psalm 8:1; Psalm 97:9)
- Knows all things (Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 46:10; Matthew 10:29-30; Hebrews 4:14)
- Can do all things (Matthew 19:26; Jeremiah 32:27; Luke 1:37)
- Controls all things (Job 42:2; Psalm 135:6; Proverbs 16:4; Proverbs 16:33; Ephesians 1:11-12)
- Purposes all things (Isaiah 46:10; Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:35; Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:15)
One of the most common arguments that Atheists give for not believing in the existence of God is the issue of pain and suffering. Some will pose the question: When we see suffering in the world and ‘would have prevented it if we could’ and yet God does not/did not, does that make us more moral than God?
But how effective is this argument? And how would we answer the question for those who believe in god but struggle with Him “not doing what we would have done”?
Let’s answer the question with a few questions of our own:
- Who serves Whom?
- The Creator of the universe is not subject to our desires and demands.
- Do we really expect God to be at our beck and call and swoop in when we want him to come and fix something in our life?
- Our view of Our Sin and His Holiness means:
- We base our view of sin upon comparing it to other examples (“I’m not as bad as…”).
- God bases His view of sin upon His own holiness
- Which instances of pain should we expect Him to prevent? All of them?
- One example disregards the fact that hundreds of different types of suffering happens thousands of times a day. Should God step in every time?
- Are there certain types of suffering that He should prevent, or for certain people?
- Ask: What are the implications if God were to miraculously prevent suffering?
- It would disrupt the natural order of physical life
- It would hinder the full exercise of moral freedom
- It would disrupt the natural order necessary for making rational and moral choices
- It would defeat the conditions for moral improvement
- It would hinder one of God’s most effective ways of providing moral warnings
- Is God Obligated to Prevent evil?
- Quote from Kostenberger:
Do not “underestimate the majesty of God, or minimize the sheer evil of humanity’s rebellion against God as taught in Scripture.” Often our “understanding of evil is limited to the horizontal level, people perpetrating evil toward other human beings. The Bible affirms the horizontal nature of evil but claims the root of evil is vertical; that is; acts are in the final analysis rebellion against God. According to the Bible, ultimately all horizontal offenses are vertical offenses against God…evil is evil because it offends a holy and righteous God.”
“The magnitude of this offense is difficult for humans to imagine, especially in this day and age when personal accountability is in increasingly short supply…We approach the question of God and his role in human suffering with the notion that we are undeserving of this evil world. Yet the Bible sees things in view of the cosmic rebellion and insists that God graciously gives good things to the world despite our evil. From this perspective, perhaps it would be more appropriate to speak of the ‘problem of good’: in view of all our individual and corporate evil, how is it that God, in his love, gives us so many of the good things we enjoy in this world?”
The Cross of Christ is the Greatest Response to our Suffering.
Jesus suffered the agony of the cross, but even more, He endured the sins of mankind upon himself to pay the ransom for our sin.
Takeaway Truths:
- God’s Sovereignty does not require Him to prevent all evil
- Pain and Suffering occur at the same time that God is Sovereign
A Shift in Perspective: “God is not subject to us and our desires, but we to His”