He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

We live in a world where there is so much suffering. So many people have posed the question – why does a good God allow bad things to happen? I’ve struggled with those issues myself.

My husband’s younger sister died of a brain tumour at 6 years of age. His elder brother died of a rare form of leukaemia in his early 30’s, leaving a young widow and 2 very young children. His dad died from a cancerous tumour on his liver. His mum had breast cancer and survived, while her sister had breast cancer and died. Why so much suffering in one family? How can God be good and allow this to happen?

There are no easy answers to these questions. There is a mystery that surrounds human suffering. While some people come to faith in God during dark and trying times, others turn away from God as they feel He has let them down and allowed unbearable suffering to come upon them and their families. Some people can rest their hope that God will work out his sovereign will for good to prevail, where as others feel that praying to and belief in God is a waste of time because their suffering did not come to an end though they prayed for God to intervene.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I offer my thoughts on the absolute goodness of God in spite of the suffering that He allows to happen.

When God created the world in six days, He pronounced that everything was very good. Genesis 1:31. There was no sickness no decay, no death. That was God’s plan and purpose. Man was to live in a perfect relationship with God forever.

So, what went wrong? God gave man the ability to choose for himself whether to trust and obey Him or not. That was a huge risk for creation, but a risk God knew He was going to take. You cannot force people to love you. Love always has to be a choice. God didn’t make man like robots who were just programmed to do what he wanted at all times and in exactly the way He wanted them to do it. That is not love. You can force obedience, but you can never force love. Love is only ever freely given. In giving us His love, God gave us the ability to choose to reject Him. When man chose to listen to the lie of Satan, the perfect relationship was broken and with it came the spiral of destruction, death and suffering that is in the world today.

God could have destroyed this earth there and then. But He loved Adam and Eve as much as He loves mankind today. He has said that He will destroy this earth and make a new heaven and earth where there will be no more suffering, death, pain or tears. But His love for mankind has never changed. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). Yet He has set a day when all this suffering will come to an end.

God gets no joy out of watching this world descend further and further into darkness and misery and sin. He has no delight in sickness, war, famine and suffering. His perfect plan for a perfect relationship with man has been interrupted by sin, but it is only an interruption. God has promised us that this world is not all there is. There is a perfect world to come. Sin, sickness and suffering will be dealt with forever and there will be no chance of it ever coming back. Why? Because all those in this new world are those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. They will have lived on this earth, experienced the evil and destruction that this world contains, but have accepted the truth that God wants a relationship with them based on His perfect love that knows what’s best for them and they follow that love.

I hate potholes in the road. They cause damage to the car if you hit them unexpectedly, and slow down your journey when you know they are there and are trying to avoid them. But I get so impatient when the road is being resurfaced. You have to wait for ages as there is only single line traffic with a red and green light indicating when your lane has to stop or go. Journey time can double or even treble depending on how long the stretch of road that needs resurfacing is. But, when the work is completed, it is a joy to travel on the smooth surface, knowing that there are no potholes to be avoided and no delays on the journey.

I offer a simple analogy to the very complex reality of human suffering:

This world is full of holes. Jesus came to fix the holes. There is a delay in place. But one fine day the new road will be complete and all those who have trusted in Him will have a smooth and clear journey into eternity with Him.

My prayer is that you will choose to accept His love, accept that there are delays in this life that result in pain and suffering, but rest in the knowledge that this is not the end of the journey. God has perfection waiting for those who will trust and obey.