One of the most frequently asked questions throughout history is "Why?" "Why must I suffer and experience death, heartache, and other terrible things?" "Why, if God is a loving God, would he allow me, a Christian, to go through such pain? ... to take my child ...my spouse?" There is no problem in asking why, searching for an answer as long as we are truly searching for an answer. Many times though we are looking for someone or something to blame. All too often it is God we hold directly responsible for the bad things that happen to us. We forget or we never realized that the troubles of this world are not the fault of God. The fact that man must endure problems is directly related to Adam and Eve's decision to rebel against God. Their decision to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was encouraged through the devil's lies and deceit. Yet how many times do we hold Adam and Eve responsible for the troubles we have? Even more, how many times do we curse the devil and challenge him when troubles comes upon us? He is the one we should be angry with. The devil has tremendous powers in this world, far beyond what we alone can resist. We are told this in Ephesians 6:12. He is the one responsible for pain, for suffering, for sin, for death. We must be very careful not to challenge God when we are troubled. The great man of God Job questioned God during his tremendous trials. Lets read a few verses to see what God had to say to him in Job 38. [ Read JOB 38: 1-5 then go to to JOB 40:6-14 ] Job had gone from asking why to questioning the wisdom of God. When you are inclined to blame God, read Job and reconsider. We as Christians will have to endure hardship and suffering. We are told that in numerous places in the Bible [ I Peter 4:12-16, 5:8-10, Ecc 11:5-8, John 16:33 ] We are also told that we will never be given more than we can bear if we are faithful to God (I Corinthians 10:13), but we still haven't tried to answer the question, "Why must we suffer?" Let's look at a few reasons why.
1. We read in the Bible that God is all powerful [ Matt 19:26, Mark 10:27 ] If he all powerful, why doesn't he spare us from troubles? God is all powerful but he imposed some limitations on himself when he created the world. These limitations involve certain laws of nature and are required for the world to function properly. One reason we suffer is we violate or go against these laws of nature. Gravity is one of these laws. Gravity keeps us from spinning off into space as the earth rotates. It is required to perform most of the functions we perform from day to day. Yet, if I violate the law of gravity, I must suffer for it. If I jump from a 40 story building I will surely be killed. Is it God's fault I decided to violate the law of gravity? No, I have violated the law and I must suffer the consequences.
2. Sometimes we suffer as a result of sin. One of the best Biblical examples of this is David in II Samuel 12 after he committed adultery and then lied and murdered to cover up his sin. The immediate price he paid was the personal shame and guilt and the death of his son. The long-term price was continual family strife and problems the rest of his life. We must realize sin exacts a price both in this lifetime and the eternal life to come. Repentence and God's forgiveness can pay the price for eternal life but, like David, we may have to pay the earthly price the rest of our lives. Sometimes the price for sin must be paid for by others who might be completely innocent. For example, you might never drink one drink of alcohol. If however, you are driving on the hiway and a person who is drunk runs into you, you will pay a price for his/her sin. You may be crippled for life or even killed. Your response might be to question why God doesn't intervene and prevent this. He could but He won't because to do so would alter the freedom of choice we each have. Also, if he intervenes for you, He would have to intervene for everyone to be fair. It doesn't take long to realize why God can't intervene in this case. He has given each one of us the responsibility of deciding what we will do with our lives and how we will live. Would you want it any other way?
3. Occasionally we suffer because God is disciplining us. [ PROVERBS 3:11-12 ] "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father in the son in whom he delighteth." [ REVELATION 3:19 ] "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent." Many times we ask, "If God is love and he cares so much about us why doesn't he spare us from trouble. Maybe we are confusing love with kindness. God is not a giant Santa Claus in the sky. His love is not a continual showering of blessings on us. His love demands that we should strive to be as perfect as possible. The same should be true of the parent-child relationship here on earth. The parent who loves his child will administer discipline when it is deserved in order for that child to learn self-control and not become lawless to both God and society. As children of God we must sometimes be disciplined to prevent us from turning our backs on God. God loves us enough to want us to spend eternity in heaven instead of hell.
4. Lastly, we must also realize that we may suffer simply because we are in the world. [ LUKE 13:3-7 ] We can only overcome this by living a Christian life, dying, and then joining God. Suffering often causes us to gain the proper perspective of life. As we rush through life working at our jobs and paying for our homes and possessions we lose sight of our real purpose in life. We become so busy there is no time to walk hand-in-hand with a loved one or spend time with a child. Often suffering makes us stop long enough to regain these discarded blessings. Then we have time to contemplate the words of REVELATION 21:3-4.