Why Does God Permit Suffering?

This question has been asked throughout mankind's history. Some have called it out in distress and anguish, perhaps after undergoing a terrible ordeal. Others have sincerely prayed for an answer to this existential question. One needs only to look at any daily media to understand the sorry state of affairs in this world. At one time or another, tragedy is likely to befall all of as individuals. People no longer use the phrase "that won't happen to me." Because unfortunately, it does.

We've all seen the headline pictures of distraught families, torn apart by wars and natural disasters. Such things have caused immeasurable pain, innumerable tears and countless deaths. Rapes, child abuse, hate crimes and other offenses are all on the rise. Even if one escapes such calamity, there is the general anguish experienced by billions of people because of sickness, old age and the eventual death of our loved ones.

Many view the future with foreboding. World leaders, scientists and activists are all fully aware of the issues facing mankind. But they continue to be powerless to fruitfully cope with these run away problems. As just a small case in point, although no one would argue that the earth supplies abundant food to feed all of its inhabitants, one in four people still go to bed at night ravaged by hunger. Startling indeed.

One wonders: Why has God allowed so much suffering and wickedness? Does he purpose to remedy the situation? If so, how & when will he do so?

To accurately answer such questions, we need to examine God's original purpose with regard to created humans. This will help us to understand why God has allowed suffering and what he will do about it.

While we consider these things, keep in mind that "God is love." (James 4:8) He is the epitome of love; he embodies the very definition of it. God takes no pleasure in what we do to one another. He is not passive or indifferent to our suffering. That being said, how can he allow such hardship?

When God created the first human pair, he produced more than mindless robots. He implanted within Adam and Eve the faculty of free will. And that was a fine gift, for "God saw everything he had made and, look! It was very good." (Genesis 1:31) Yes, "perfect is his activity." (Deuteronomy 32:4) All of us appreciate this gift of free will because we do not want all our thoughts and actions dictated to us without ever having a choice in anything. Nor does God want people to choose to serve him out of a pre-programmed, instinctive obligation.

However, was the fine gift of free will to be used without limits? For the common good, there must be boundaries. Hence, free will was to be regulated by the rule of law. Otherwise, anarchy would result. Any good government is set up bearing this simple truth in mind.

But whose law? Ours, or Gods? The answer to this question has to do with the fundamental reason why God has permitted suffering. Since God created humans, he knows best what laws we need to obey for our own good and for the good of others. The Bible puts it this way, "I am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk." (Isaiah 48:17)

Clearly, a vital point is this: Humans were not created to be independent of God. He made them in such a way that their success and happiness depend on obedience to his righteous laws. God's prophet Jeremiah said, "I well know, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." (Jeremiah 10:23) Frankly, man cannot exist independent of God. And history has shown that, over and over again.

God made mankind subject to his physical laws, such as the law of gravity. Similarly, he made humans to be subject to his moral laws, which are designed to result in a harmonious society. For good reason, then, the Bible urges that we should trust in God and not to lean upon our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

Thus, the human family could never be successful in regulating itself without God's rulership. Trying to be independent from him, people would devise social, economic, political, and religious systems that would conflict with one another, and "man would dominate man to his injury." (Ecclesiastes 8:9) Is that not exactly what has occurred?

So what went wrong? God gave our first parents, Adam and Eve, a perfect start. They had perfect bodies and minds and a paradise garden for a home. If they had submitted to God's rule, they would have remained perfect and happy. That was God's original purpose. However, our original ancestors misused their free will. Satan the Devil introduced the idea of independence from God, and the fist couple bit into it, quite literally! Of their own free will, they stepped outside the boundaries of his laws. (Genesis, chapter 3)

What happened there in the Garden has had sweeping consequences. It's not just a story with a snake and a fruit. Because Adam and Eve rejected his rulership, God was no longer obligated to sustain them in perfection. God had warned them of what would happen if they disobeyed. From the time they rejected God, Adam and Eve began to degenerate in body and mind. Simply put, the human race began to grow old, get sick and die. Like a hereditary disease, sin and death were passed on. The apostle Paul therefore wrote, "Through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned." (Romans 5:12)

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they challenged his sovereignty, that is, his right to rule. God could have destroyed them and started over with another couple, but that would not have settled the issue of whose rulership is right and best for people. Satan challenged God, in front of all God's creation. Humans as well as the countless millions of spirit angels all were watching. So God granted humans time to develop their societies according to their own ideas, knowing humans would demonstrate beyond any doubt that rulership independent from God could never be successful. And we have.

So God is allowing such things to occur on his earth for the purpose of proving, beyond any question, that humans need God. Those who deliberately choose to ignore him, or who practice an unacceptable form of Godly devotion, will be permanently eliminated. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Is it rational, then, to manifest anger toward God because he permits suffering? Not when you consider that God has promised to end this very same suffering. What of those people who like to directly blame God for all bad occurrences?

Many tragic happenings are simply the result of random events or the exercising of poor judgment. If the wind blows down a power line that strikes and kills a pedestrian, is this an act of God? If a person makes a decision to drive home drunk and kills another driver, who is to blame? God? The Bible helps us to appreciate that such things are simply the sad result of "time and unforeseen occurrence." (Ecclesiastes 9:11, Galatians 6:7)

Remember too, God is love. Avoid jumping to the rash conclusion that God somehow wants us to suffer or that he is personally testing us. We should never come to a conclusion that suffering was God's doing. Such thinking does not take God's love and wisdom into account. The Bible plainly states at James 1:13, 17, "When under trial, let no one say: 'I am being tried by God.' For with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone." On the contrary, from God comes "every good gift and every perfect present!"

Once and for all time, this tragic experiment in independence from God has demonstrated that rulership by humans apart from him can never succeed. Only God's rulership can bring happiness, unity, health and life. The Bible makes such promises. God knows that all the hurt, tragedy, and deaths caused by mankind can be reversed. Through the promise of a resurrection, God will undo death itself. Imagine a day when mourning, outcry and pain will be no more. (Revelation 21: 3, 4) Will you be there to see that day? The Bible indicates that that time is soon upon us. If you are a sincere student of the Bible, then this hope and this comfort is already yours.