Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.” (Job 40:8-14)
Why does God allow suffering to be unrelieved? Do they honor Him as Lord?
In the face of suffering, we want God to act in the way WE think He should. In some situations someone will always ask, if there is a God, why does He allow suffering? The world wants God to intervene but not to interfere. They don’t want Him in their everyday business. The world wants healing but not punishment. They want Santa God, not God Almighty.
Why is no one asking how that person lived BEFORE they got sick or in trouble? People look at a mother with 2 young children dying of cancer and ask why God does not heal her, but if we want God in trials, we must know Him in all things, we must cultivate a relationship with Him, we must seek to know Him and follow Him and to do His will. So the question of why MUST be examined in the light of the whole person, not just their illness. Does this mother know God and honor God? Or are they unbelievers, maybe even calling themselves Christians but living as though they do not know Him?
You hear people cursing God because He does not heal, but no one is calling for His justice; no one is asking why He allows sin to go seemingly unpunished. No one is begging God to strike someone taking His name in vain; no one is saying He should curse people living for themselves, prospering apart from honoring God.
Who are we to judge God? Who are we to question Him as to why He does what He does or doesn’t? We want mercy, but not truth. We want to live like there is no God, but we want Him to show up when we need something. People will say they cannot understand why God allows suffering, but never that they do not understand why God allows sin.
Think of this concept in human terms. Suppose your spouse never talked to you, looked at you, paused to thank you for all that you do for him or her every day. At night when you lay down in bed, no kiss goodnight, no words of love or wishes for sweet dreams. Imagine he or she never even acknowledged your existence. Now imagine that your spouse wakes up one day with a high fever, unrelenting nausea, and a fierce headache. He or she calls to you for some water and aspirin, for some tender loving care to ease the pain, something for his aching head.
How would you react? I doubt if you would rush to his bedside full of love and concern. In fact, I would be surprised if you were able to refrain from an outright tirade! Maybe we think God should be above all that since He is, after all, God, but when faced with the comparison I think most of us would have the good grace to be ashamed.
If we want God in our time of need, we must seek Him also in our times of plenty. We must cultivate a relationship before the crisis.
Let’s remember God’s cry to Job: “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:2-7)
Please join us next week for “Why Does God Allow Suffering? Part 2”.
Sonya Richards
(To access the entire “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” mini-series, please click here.)