And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8v28 ESV
I’ve often questioned this verse during dark seasons of my life. “Lord, how can you allow this to happen”, “What possible good can come out of all this suffering”. It’s a question we all have to wrestle with – how can a good God allow bad things to happen?
In today’s society, and even in some churches, suffering is viewed as something to be avoided at all costs. Suffering is not a blessing but a curse. So, we encourage our children to work hard at school so they can get a good education, to get a good job, to get a nice house and reliable car, to go on lovely holidays around the world and enjoy a comfortable retirement. That sounds soooo good, soooo appealing and soooo right!
The prosperity gospel reflects the attitude of the society we live in. Therefore, when a Christian is in the depths of deep depressive illness there must be unconfessed sin in their life, or they just don’t have enough faith. When Christians face financial hardship it’s because they are not in a right relationship with God. If Christians have any prolonged time of suffering it must be because they are under a curse rather than a blessing. Sickness (physical or mental), traumas, family disasters etc are viewed as a punishment for our sin.
But that is not true and flies in the face of the Word of God. 1 John 1v9 states “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “
God is perfect justice. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all our sin. God does not require us to pay a debt that has already been paid, that would be unjust. If we have repented and continue to confess when we slip up and fall back into sin, God’s mercy and grace abound towards us. We cannot be punished by God for sin that we have repented of.
So why do we suffer? I’ve struggled a lot with this question, but several years ago I found an answer that has satisfied me. It’s found in Job 1v8-12.
Job was the wealthiest man in his community. He had a large family that were well provided for. He was esteemed by the local community and was seen as a very righteous man. Satan accused God of protecting Job from any suffering so that Job would keep on praising Him. But God knew Job way better than Satan did. God knew that Job was not a fair-weather Christian, praising God when all went well, then cursing Him when hard times came. He knew He could trust Job with suffering. He allowed Satan to do his worst with Job, and he did.
In one day, Job suffered the loss of all his accumulated wealth and buried all 10 of his children. I can hardly imagine the intensity of his grief. Satan then struck him with a skin disease so terrible that he banished himself to the city rubbish dump and sat scratching his searingly painful skin with a bit of broken pottery. He fell into a deep depression and wished he had never been born. To make things even worse, his 3 friends who said they came to comfort him ended up condemning him and told him he was suffering because he had unconfessed sin in his life. Yet Job in all his distress and confusion held onto his faith. He defeated Satan, even though he was unaware of the fact that this was a spiritual battle he was engaged in.
When we know that we’ve repented and know that we are obeying The Lord, suffering is not a curse, but a road to greater blessing. God sees that we can be trusted to stand firm and not reject Him, and He rewards those who do so with a deeper sense of His Presence and the promise of eternal rewards that are beyond what we could think or imagine.
One of my Christian heroes is Richard Wurmbrand who suffered 14 years of imprisonment and torture by the communist government because he refused to stop preaching the Gospel. In his books he tells of his intense times of communion with God. He knew His Present Presence in the midst of his pain, suffering, deprivation and separation from his wife, son and friends. Jesus was his constant companion walking through this dreadful time, helping him to minister to the other prisoners, lead prayer meetings and Bible studies within the prison and most of all to demonstrate to the principalities and powers in the spiritual realm that God is able to keep you strong and pure in your faith even when Satan does his worst.
If you are a born again Christian and are suffering from depression and feel that God has abandoned you, take heart, He is present in your darkness. If you’ve suffered huge financial loss and face a bleak uncertain future, take heart, He is present with you and will provide all that you really need. If your children have turned against you and what you believe, take heart, His presence will heal your broken heart. If you are ill, even to the point of death, take heart, His presence will carry you home.
For the born again Christian, suffering is not something to fear or avoid. It is something that will quicken your awareness of His Present Presence and in the end, you will be abundantly blessed.
