“How can a good God who loves me allow me to feel so depressed and despairing? Why would He allow me to experience such terrible pain and suffering?
A Lay of the Land
Over that last several of months, we’ve been tackling this knotty question. We started by getting to the root of the question by challenging the faulty assumption that God’s love exempts me from pain and suffering. Then we laid out how the problem of pain gets personal but that there are some really good reasons to doubt our doubts about God’s goodness. We called these reasons theodicies and the argument of God’s inscrutability. Today, we are going to wrap up this series on God’s goodness amid our suffering and pain.
Catch up on the other Blogs in this Series Here:
#1: Knowing Why Won’t Make You Feel Better
#2: When the Problem of Evil Gets Personal
#3: Pain is a Megaphone
#4: Suffering is Soul-building
#5: Suffering Reveals Who God Is
#6: Doubt Your Doubts
When “Good” Doesn’t seem Good Enough…
As we bring this all to a close, we might be tempted to say, “This all seems so unsatisfying. I don’t think that those are good enough reasons for God to allow suffering.” This then reveals the condition of our hearts. Unless we believe ourselves higher than God, we don’t have the right to judge Him or the designs of His will. As I mentioned last month, what is the true likelihood that we could even understand all the reasons that God has for any given circumstance? Do we even possess the level of understanding that would be required to evaluate that level of complexity? Instead, let us remember what Paul says in Rom. 11:33-36: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
You are Not Alone
On the heels of this idea, we must also assert that God has not left us alone in our suffering. Instead, He has sent His Son in human flesh to experience all that it is to be human. He knew the pain of suffering and evil and was obedient to the point of death on the cross. All of His pain and suffering was so that mankind could be made right with God and find everlasting peace and comfort in the arms of God. Consider these passages: Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 2:21-25; Heb. 2:9-18; Heb. 4:14-16; Heb. 5:7-10; Heb. 10:19-25.
Salvation Trumps Suffering
Perhaps we could venture one more reminder. Pain, evil, and suffering do not win the day. Perhaps we struggle to believe that God has good reasons for allowing such things. Perhaps we struggle to hold onto the goodness and love of God in the present moment. This is precisely the point when we can comfort ourselves and others with the future promise of God. One day there will be no more tears or pain or death. God will himself comfort us for we shall see Him face to face. Remember these words:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” —Revelation 21:1–5
Here is a list of resources that might prove helpful in thinking through a Christian’s experience of pain and suffering:
· https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/problem-of-evil-is-problem-for-everyone/
· https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-problem-of-evil/
· https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/reflections-october-2021/
· https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/pain-gods-megaphone
· https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-shouts-to-us-in-our-pain
· https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/c-s-lewis-on-the-problem-of-pain/
· https://www.str.org/w/god-has-a-purpose-in-suffering-
· https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/preparing-to-know-christ-deeply-through-suffering
· https://www.challies.com/articles/gods-tapestry/
