Why Suffering?
By: Ric Neres
The state of undergoing
pain, distress, hardship, and ultimately death, is something that all human
kind detest. The world is full of suffering. Everywhere we go, we see the
suffering of mankind; from the tender, innocent youth, to the frailty of the
elderly. No one likes this aspect of life; we are swimming in an ocean of
suffering. Even the things we enjoy have some kind of suffering attributed to
them. You like to eat? Well you may overeat and vomit and so forth. You like to
play sports? You can get severely injured. Even some of the most joyful events
in life, such as conceiving a child into the world has its stages of pain and
suffering.
So, the question remains,
“Why Suffering?”. Furthermore, that particular question becomes more profound
when we know and understand that there is a “good” God who rule over the whole
world. And if God is so good, “why does a good God allows so much suffering in
the world?”
In
The Beginning
To answer that
question, we must first go back to the beginning. When the earth was without
form, God said: “Let there be light: and there was light”. (Genesis 1:3) He further went ahead and
created a good world--to His liking—free of sin and suffering. In addition, God
gave humanity a choice; do we want to live under His rule, that epitomize love
in its truest form, or, do we want to self-rule? Away from His sovereignty and
judgments. So, God placed in the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, and commanded our first parents “… of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). God was
essentially telling them what is good and evil, but they had a choice to
determine for themselves what is good and evil; to basically become gods
themselves.
Knowing this, that fallen angel, Lucifer, also known as
Satan. Used the serpent as a medium to capitalize on the opportunity to
influence the rebellion against the sovereignty of God, by inserting doubt into
the woman’s ear. The serpent said: “ Ye
shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil.”(Genesis 3:4-5)
Knowledge
of Good and Evil
When Adam and Eve
listened to the Devil and ate of the tree of good and evil, it meant that instead
of only having a head knowledge of what is evil, now they will experience evil
in their own lives. They will know evil in an intimate relationship, like the
union of a man and his wife, they will become one flesh with sin. It is the
reason why sin has infected us.
With the union of humanity with sin, we became utterly
depraved, knowing the good but loving the evil, unable to see the sinfulness of
sin; in other words, sin has left us blind. An example of the blindness of sin
showed up when God came to see Adam and Eve in the garden, sin had corrupted
their beings that they hid themselves from God. Not only that, but they blame
others for the condition they had now found themselves in. The aftermath of sin
has left us fearful, blaming others, and attempt to hide our sins.
Fear
“And
the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said,
I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I
hid myself.” (Genesis 3:9-10)
Blame Game
“And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that
thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:11)
“And the man said, The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis
3:12)
“And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13)
Hiding Sin
“He
that covert his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
Cursed
For Thy Sake
Now we have already seen the impact of one sin. One sin
turned perfect human beings into self-centered, self-righteous sinners. Now, if
that was the result of Adam’s and Eve’s sin, how blind will their children
become? And since we have already seen in the above verse, those who hide their
sins will not find mercy. God had to do something to make us see how evil sin
is. If we are not able to see how evil sin is and seek the remedy for it, all
of humanity will perish.
Saved in Child Bearing
So
God increased the pain of the woman so that she can see and understand the
moral evil of sin. The woman had usurped Adam in the rebellion, now God says
the woman can only find true joy when she, by the power of God, submit to her
husband. Many women find that judgment difficult, but it is the mean appointed
by God to bring them close to Himself.
“Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:16)
“And
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith
and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1 Timothy 2:14-15)
“And
unto Adam he said, , Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life;” (Genesis 3:17)
God
cursed the ground for the sake of rescuing humanity from the bondage of sin.
God made life difficult so that we can recognize how evil sin is and seek Him
as our only help. And as sin is increasing in the world, so is suffering and
difficulties, so that human beings can recognize their conditions.
To such a great extent, disease, natural disasters, death
and suffering of all types came into the world as a mean to show humanity the
evil of their choices and so that they will come to repentance.
“For
the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope,” (Romans 8:20)
“Because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21)
“For
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now.” (Romans 8:22)
Pastor,
John Piper, made a couple of astounding points, in the form of a short parable,
titled “Cancer Is a Parable About Sin”
“All human beings hate suffering.
Very few human beings hate sin. We’re not getting the connection. It is a
parable.
Cancer is a parable.
Leukemia is a parable.
Arthritis is a parable.
Ebola is a parable.
Tsunamis are parables of the ugliness
of sin.
Piper: “God brought down calamities and diseases and death in order to make plain: Sin is ugly.”
Sin
is ugly. It should be killed daily. I die every day, because Jesus said, “Take
up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23). And crosses are for dying.”
God
is Love
God is love and
when we truly understand that, it will shift all our perspective in life.
As a result of sin—which is
treason of the government of God—death, suffering, hardships and etc. came into
the world. God in order to show us the reality of the moral evil of sin, He
allows these things to happen, so that we seek the remedy for our sin-stricken
soul, which is only found in Jesus Christ. Suffering and disasters are things
God allow to awaken our dull senses to the reality of eternal destruction, that
is the sure penalty of all transgressors of the Law of God. So friends, when we
are in Christ, we should no longer fear suffering and the trials of life. These
things are meant to perfect our characters in this life, to be prepared for the
life to come, co-reigning with Christ (Revelation
20:4,6) in the new heavens and new
earth (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1-27).
3 And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and
experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
(Romans 5:3-5)
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