Why Does a Loving God Allow Suffering?

What follows is not a formal doctrinal statement. It is a personal reflection from a member of Central who has wrestled with this question.

So, God is love? How is that possible? Why would a loving, all-powerful God allow all this suffering?

This question is so fundamental that philosophers have given it a name: The Problem of Evil.

And for many people the question goes even further: With all this suffering around me, why should I believe that God exists at all?

Many an atheist has asked this very question and let’s face it; this is an incredibly difficult question to answer. Any answer that we attempt risks coming across as trite at best or condescending at worst. The difficulty behind this question is one of the strongest arguments against the existence of a loving, all-powerful God, and it is a very challenging question that must be tackled.

A Difficult Promise

Before I go any further, I feel a certain compulsion to establish my credibility on this topic in particular. I know suffering. I lived through a very long dark chapter in my life, a chapter of deep loss. I intimately know the pain of grief. When it comes to suffering, I know whereof I speak.

And yet the Bible makes a remarkable claim:

“All things work together for good to those who love the Lord.” – Romans 8:28

Suffering Is Not a Matter of Perspective

I’m not about to claim that Romans 8:28 is the whole answer to the question, but I will say that this passage might offer us a clue that might just lead us closer to the answer. 

Some Christians will tell you that this passage says that all things are good. Some Christians will tell you that it’s entirely a matter of perspective, that Romans 8:28 says that if only we could see the world through God’s eyes, we would see the good in everything.

That is simply a wrongheaded view, not just of Romans 8:28, but also of the world and of the teachings of Jesus. Some things are objectively evil. Some things are objectively and undeniably horrible. In this passage, Paul is not denying that in any way. Earlier in Romans, Paul describes our broken and suffering world, recognizing that suffering and evil very much are a part of it.

So no, suffering isn’t simply a matter of perspective. Suffering is real and it is awful.

Is Suffering Always the Result of Personal Sin?

There are some Christians who say that all suffering comes from sin, and you are apportioned suffering that is directly proportional to your sin. Those same Christians will argue that you can end all your suffering simply through reconciliation with God. Further, they will argue that the continuance of your suffering is always a direct result of your refusal to reconcile yourself to the Lord. They argue that all suffering is just and fair and that no one receives more or less than their due.

Is this true?

There is an entire book in the Bible devoted to this question. It is the Book of Job.

The Book of Job: Suffering Without Sin

Let’s look at where the story begins:

“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’

Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.’

Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’

‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Satan replied…

The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.’” – Job 1:6–12

And Job’s experience with hell on earth began.

The message cannot be clearer. Job’s descent into suffering clearly was not related to his sin. He was “blameless and upright.” However, Satan did sin and so did some of Job’s friends. Though Job’s suffering was most definitely related to sin, that sin wasn’t his sin.

Does Reconciliation Remove Pain?

So, let’s look at the claim that reconciliation with God will remove your pain. We’ll do this by looking at the very end of the story of Job.

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before… They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him…” – Job 42

Do not miss the line: “They comforted and consoled him.”

Even after reconciling himself to God’s will, Job still suffered the pain of grief. Even after reconciling himself to God’s will, Job still needed comfort and consolation.

So no, the Bible specifically says that reconciliation with God is not some magic wand that will take all your pain away.

We all know people who have lost the love of their life. Some find a new love. That new love consoles and comforts them and they build a new life together. When this happens, it’s a beautiful thing — but don’t think for even a single second that the new spouse is a replacement part and that life is completely restored. No, the love for the first spouse never dies and the pain of that first loss never completely heals.

This new love does far more than simply console, but it never replaces. Love endures all things — and so does the pain that often comes with it. And that pain is not always the result of sin.

The Arbitrary Nature of Suffering

So, what about sin and the pain it causes?

Sin itself is a selfish act, an intrinsically unfair and unjust act. If the nature of the act itself is unfair, why would we expect the result to be fair?

Since, justice and fairness won’t be the natural result of unfair and unjust acts, of course, pain — the cost of sin — will not be doled out fairly and equitably. It is inevitable that there will be an arbitrary nature to suffering and it is undeniably obvious that pain and suffering aren’t distributed in proportion to individual sin.

Love Must Be Chosen

Why would an all-powerful, all-loving God create a world where suffering is possible?

That comes back to what love is. Love is an action, but love is also a choice.

If love is not a choice, is it really love?

God understood that love must be chosen. And for love to be chosen, there must be an alternative. That alternative is greed, fear, and hate. These may be what brought suffering into our world, but they are not the source of all suffering.

Choosing to love sometimes means choosing to suffer. There is no denying that, and the cross is the ultimate example of this principle.

Sometimes we are called to show our love through suffering — deep suffering.

There is the firefighter who sacrifices himself to save a child. There is the caregiver who pours heart and soul into filling a loved one’s final days with joy. There is the parent who desperately loves an addicted child and fights with every ounce of energy to find help, even when it means watching that child slowly descend toward death.

There is nothing good in that suffering. The good is in the love, not the suffering.

Pain and suffering can be a consequence not just of sin, but of its opposite — love.

Consolation may be found through reconciliation with God. It must be pursued. But though such consolation will comfort you through the pain; it most certainly won’t take that pain away. This is something Christians must be careful never to promise.

Am I Letting God Off the Hook?

Finally, what about the young child who dies of cancer?

Is that an act of God?

The Book of Job attributes Job’s suffering to Satan. So, God didn’t directly cause it.

But God created everything, including the angels, including Satan, though he did not create Satan to sin. Satan chose sin. God knows where Satan is and what Satan does. God has the power to stop him.

In Job’s case, this is stated very directly. God could have prevented Job’s suffering. He had the knowledge and the opportunity.

Is standing back an act of omission?

I think the hard answer must be yes.

So why does he do this?

What Does Romans 8:28 Actually Mean?

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” – Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 does not say “in all good things”; it says “in all things”. That is not a subtle difference. It is a profound one.

Not all things are good.

Believing that all things can work together for good, when we know that many things are objectively bad, is a very difficult ask.

God is asking us to trust him even when he allows objectively bad things to happen. God is asking us to trust that he will use those bad things, along with the good, for good.

That isn’t just difficult to accept. It is difficult to understand.

Genuinely bad things happen.

The Answer I Cannot Give

I’ve danced around quite a bit, but I must admit that I have left the question unanswered.

Why does God allow pain and suffering?

I don’t know.

This feels like the wrong place to end. I posed the question, so I feel an obligation to offer an answer. This is the best I have.

Our God is a God of love. He believes that no price is too high for love. He understands that love, to be real, must be chosen. To be chosen, there must be an alternative — greed, fear, and hate.

Where that choice exists, not all will choose love. Those choices leave a broken world.

In a broken world, there will be suffering for all — even for his own Son.

I believe that God knows that the existence of suffering is the price of love in a broken world. And God believes that suffering — both his and ours — is a price worth paying for love.

And this is where we return to the role of the church. At its best, the church does what Job’s friends finally return to doing at the end of the Book of Job — it comes near, and it comforts.