WHY DOES GOD ALLOW
SUFFERING?- or why do
bad things
happen to good
people?
Pain,
death, accidents and natural tragedies raise
questions that cause many people a great deal of anguish. The questions
that
most people would like an answer to is:
"If
God is love, why would innocent
people
die?"
"
Why doesn't He just stamp out evil right now and put an end to
all this grief and heartache that we all seem to go
through?"
It's
not wrong to think about
these things, so we'll explore the reasons to these seemingly
unanswerable
questions and see what the King James Bible says about them.
***********************************
"
And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called
according to his purpose."
(Romans
8:28)
"Giving
thanks always for all things unto God
and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."(Ephesians 5:20)
"WHY
DOESN'T GOD STAMP OUT ALL EVIL FROM THE WORLD AT MID- NIGHT TONIGHT?"
Would
you still be here at 12:01am? A lot of people
think they would be. I suppose you could name a few people who wouldn't
be
here. But general consensus among people is that there are good people
and
there are bad people and that the bad ones would have been wiped out
and the
good ones left here.
BUT
THE BIBLE SAYS THAT NO-ONE
WOULD
BE
HERE. IF GOD STAMPED OUT
ALL EVIL,
WE'D
ALL BE GONE!
YOU
MAY BE THINKING THIS DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT.... SO
LET'S START AT THE BEGINNING:
Ever
heard of these sayings?
"He's
got a heart of
gold."
"As
long as your good
outweighs the bad you'll be alright with the big fella upstairs"
"Always
look on the
bright side of life."
"Her
blood's worth
bottlin'."
"If
ever anyone ought to
get to heaven, it should be so and so."
Well
that's about all they are
- sayings, made up by man for man.
HAVE
YOU EVER:
1.
Told a lie?
2.
Taken something that wasn't
yours?
or
3.
Had sexual thoughts about
someone else?
If
you have, the Bible says
that you're
a LYING, THIEVING ADULTERER!
You
may be thinking - "I
can't be that bad! There's a lot worse than me - I'm no axe-murderer!"
At
each end of the scale you'd
have Hitler & Mother Teresa and you'd be somewhere in between,
right?
And
maybe you're just crossing
your fingers - somehow hoping that God'll let you into heaven with a
50% pass
mark, right?
Now,
we rarely think of
ourselves as being bad, because "
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: " (Proverbs
21:2). In fact, most criminals in jail think they've been unjustly
sentenced.
As
we can see, our standards
vary and the Bible says we are not wise to compare &
measure
ourselves against each other
(2 Corinthians 10:12.
In
fact, "For
all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God" (Romans
3:23).
HOW
FAR SHORT?
God's
standards are so high, He says even the GOOD
THINGS we do are like FILTHY RAGS in His eyes - not the bad things but
the good
things! (Isaiah 64:6)
WHAT
ABOUT LITTLE SINS?
Has
the thought entered your mind that a loving God
should overlook your sins and only punish the serious criminals like
murderers,
child-molesters and rapists? The Bible says, quote: "For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all"
(James
2:10). There are no big or little sins in God's eyes. If you've done
one -
you're guilty of the whole lot. Just one poison will kill you.
BUT
WAIT ... THERE'S MORE!
When
God created Adam, He made him the
representative of the entire human race. When he disobeyed God, his sin
was put
onto everyone's individual account - just as if we'd sinned!(Rom
5:12) As a result, our nature got changed from "pure to sewer"
and from then on, all were born with a sinful nature. No-one needs to
be taught
to sin - we take to it like "ducks to water". We sin because we're
sinners!
The
Bible says that when Adam sinned death and
disease came upon all of creation.
The
assumption is that while nobody's perfect,
everybody is basically good, although with some people we just have to
look a
little harder.
WHAT'S
THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE
NATURE OF MAN:
"For
from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness,
wickedness, deceit lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness:"
(Mark
7:21-22)
"The
heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah
17:9)
You
might be thinking, "This sounds a bit
rough. I wonder who God is referring to here? These must be dreadful
criminals
of the highest order?"
NO
MY FRIEND, THIS IS GOD'S
DESCRIPTION
OF YOU AND ME.
AND
IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER!
"But
we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
all do
fade as a leaf; and our Iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
(Isaiah
64:6)
"There
is not a just man
upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Eccles
7:20)
They
are all gone aside, they
are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not
one.' (Psalm
14:3)
"For
all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God."(Romans
3:23)
"Every
man at his best
state is altogether vanity.' (Psalm
39:5)
Now,
you might be thinking at
this point that you don't like the Bible, because it doesn't paint a
very
positive picture of mankind.
THIS
IS PRECISELY WHY PEOPLE
HATE THE BIBLE. IT TELLS YOU EXACTLY WHO WE ARE AND IT DOESN'T
PULL ANY
PUNCHES!
DO
BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD
PEOPLE?
BUT
ARE THEY BAD?
The
Bible says that all
things work together for good to them that love
God, (Romans
8:28). Things are only bad if you're not saved.
We
are aware that the Bible
points out that the Jews continued to wander in the desert for 40 years
because
of murmuring in the desert. They refused to see that God's hand was on
them and
He was looking after them. They loved Him, worshipped Him and praised
Him but
it was only on their lips and not in their hearts. They didn't want to
trust
God and the plans He had for them. It has been said that the journey
from Egypt
to Canaan could have been done in 10-14 days. That was God's plan.
Instead it
took them 40 years but they didn't trust Him. Now God is wanting today
- for
people to trust Him.
WE
ARE TO EXPECT SUFFERING
There
is a warped view that
when you become a Christian, God gives you an armchair ride your whole
life and
then into heaven when you die.
"For
unto you it is given in the behalf
Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. "Philippians 1:29
"...
we must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God"
Acts
14:22
"Yea,
and all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2Timothy
3:12
"That
no man should be
moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed
thereunto." 1Thessalonians 3:3
Note
the writer is addressing
Christians and the suffering, tribulation and persecution
is for righteousness sake.
HOW ARE
WE EXPECTED TO REACT?
Christians
today are only suffering for their sakes
and not for righteousness sake.
God is
in the business of humbling the
non-Christian as well as the Christian. He wants to get the
non-Christians
attention. When WWI and WWII were raging, the churches were packed.
Why? People
looking for God. He knows that when things are prosperous and we are
healthy,
we turn away from Him.
The
reason that God allows suffering is to get our
attention - always to show us our own insufficency. If unsaved, then to
get us
saved and if saved to depend on him totally.
The 23rd
Psalm says it all:
"The
LORD is my shepherd;
l shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he
leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the
paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though l walk through the
valley of the
shadow of death, l will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and
thy
staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of
mine
enemies: thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my
life: and l will dwell In the house of
the
LORD
for
ever. "
"And
we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his
purpose.
"Romans 8:28 "Giving thanks always for all things unto
God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" Ephesians 5:20
"Be
careful for nothing; but In every thing by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests
be made known unto God. And the peace of
God
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7.
The
Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of
trouble;
and he knoweth them that trust in Him." Nahum
1:7.
God
knows our needs long before we do and He is never surprised.
Problems are allowed into our life by God for our good and His glory.
"Casting
all your
care
upon him; for he careth for you." 1Peter
5:7
THE FIVE
BENEFITS OF SUFFERING
1. It
proves the reality of our faith, weeds out the mere professors and
develops out our trust in God. 1
Peter 1:7 " That the trial of
your faith, being much
more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
2. It
enables us to encourage and comfort others who are going through
trials.
"... and the God of all
comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able
to
comfort them which are in any trouble..."
2
Cor 1:3-4
3. It
develops character
...but
we glory in tribulatons also, knowing that
tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,
hope:
and hope maketh not ashamed... "Romans
5:3
4. It makes us more zealous in spreading the gospel.
"As
for Saul, he made havock of the church...
they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word."
Acts
8:3-4
5. It
helps remove the dross from our lives."But he knoweth the way that l take:
when he hath tried me, l shall
come forth as gold." Job23:10.
QUESTION: “WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING?”
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com