Posted on 01/29/2021 7:14:54 PM PST by OneVike
“Why didn’t God just create us so that we would never have to experience pain, suffering, or sadness?”
After all, God has the power to make the world free of evil, yet He chose instead to make us creatures with free will. Thus, free will was the door left open for the possibility of evil entering our lives.
Then one must ask, "What's the purpose of pain, suffering? Why does God allow humans, who were made in His image, to live on a planet where evil abounds?"
Well, God could have made us perfect without the ability to sin, and we would have never known pain and suffering. Instead of being as we are, we would then be like Chatty Cathy dolls. Just pull the string and watch us do and say whatever we were programmed. Is that the kind of life you would wish to live? Well, obviously God did not think so either. That’s the short answer to why God created us with free will.
With free will came the possibility that Adam and Eve might disobey God of their own volition and partake of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Well, thanks to some coaxing from Satan, Eve ate the fruit and offered some to Adam. The first two humans that God created exercised the right of choice that God had given them. Because they didn’t obey God’s command, sin entered the universe and that sin was handed down to every human who was born of man. All of us, believers and non-believers alike, wrestle with the daily struggles of the “Adam and Eve” within us.
Christ died on the cross so that, if we believe in Him, we can have eternal life. However, just because we gave our life to Christ, does not mean we are immunized from the pain and suffering of this world. This is why so many Christians inevitably ask the question, “Why am I suffering God? Why do my loved ones suffer?” What if on the day we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were given God’s total and complete protection, so nothing bad ever happened to us again?
“Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face. Job 1:9-11Can you imagine what would happen if God did put a hedge about us on every side? Would not the people of the world who do not know Christ, say:
“So what, that you love God. Anybody would love God if He protected them the way He does you. I’m not impressed. Your God doesn’t offer me anything; I live in the real world.”
What if those who suffer, saw the way we dealt with pain, suffering, and disappointment? This is not why God allows tragedy and mishaps to come upon Christians, but as a Christian, we should take our tragedies and use them as an example of how our Father in heaven gives us the ability to live beyond our sufferings and disappointments of life. His loving mercy allows us to be free enough to learn and grow through our trials and tribulations, like the apostles did.
When I go through trials and tribulations, I try to think of someone I know who is going through worse things, and I consider how they deal with it. For me I don't have to look too far, because my wife is a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair. She has been in one since 9:10 pm Mountain time October 26, 1987. See, I know because we were in the same car that went off a 35 foot embankment. The driver died, a girl lost the use of her arm, and my wife ended up in a wheelchair.
The car we were in. Click the image if you
wish to read what I wrote about the accident
Unlike my wife, I walked away from the accident. The accident happens quite a few years before we both gave our lives to Christ, but she still has many trials and tribulations related to the accident. Seeing her dealing with the consequences of our drunken road trip gives me the strength to get through difficult times in my life. Seeing her go through things, reminds me daily that but for the grace of God there go I.
Unlike my wife and I, the Apostles did not go through trials and tribulations because of the consequences of their sins. Their trials and tribulations came because of who they followed, Christ Jesus. One day Peter and John were flogged and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus. When they were released, they considered it worthy to be able to suffer for the name of Christ. (Acts 5:40-42) They said this because they were told by Jesus,
"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12
James tells us that we should consider it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance (James 1:2-4). These and other passages describe rejoicing, not in spite of the suffering, but because of it. Remember what Paul says about not losing heart over the fact that our flesh is decaying with age and infirmities:
“because our trials will renew our spirit daily…………for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,” 2 Cor 4:16-18.
A few short paragraphs later, Paul described the many trials and tribulations he went through. He endured imprisonments, beatings with whips and rods, he was stoned, not once but three times, and left for dead. Three times he was shipwrecked; threatened by robbers, Gentiles and Jews; attacked by wild animals; bitten by a poisonous snake; left cold, hungry, and thirsty; and suffered many other hardships for the Gospel of Christ. (2 Cor 11:23-27) Paul finished well.
People observed Paul’s faith in God as persistent, consistent, and profound. Paul was the greatest and most successful evangelical missionary preacher the world had ever seen. It was his suffering along with that of the other apostles that eventually changed an empire. Tertullian said that,“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
It's through times of struggle and hardships that we can shine the brightest and reach more of the lost if we react to our pain and suffering like Christ did. Like many, most of my suffering comes from my own selfish desires to live my life my way, instead of His way. I feel unworthy to complain about the trials and tribulations I face because of my sins. Yet, I know that regardless of the reason for my trials, He is there for me, and will give me comfort in my time of need. If one day I am honored to suffer for Him, then I will proudly stand tall and walk the walk many did before I came.
Use the comfort you get from God in your suffering as training so you might comfort others. Teach those who don’t know the Lord to lean on Him in their suffering by leaning on Him in yours. Show them how you love and trust Him. We must willingly approach our infirmities and hardships, knowing that we hold a greater prize before us after this life than this world can ever offer. That is what we have to teach the world. So ask not why you suffer, but praise God for the chance to shine and be an example as our Lord was for us.
I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear His voice and call upon the name of the lord Jesus Christ.
It is human nature not to appreciate what we are given without suffering or earning.
I choose what I have earned over the price of those wanting to give to me. I am beholden only to God.
I have been asking that question daily since November.
Bkmk
{No matter how good our President was, too many on our side wanted us to fail. Don’t blame God, blame all those so-called Republicans who never lifted a finger to help him.}
Excellent points!!
It’s truly sinful how not nearly enough Republicans rose up with clarion calls of righteous outrage over how such obvious fraud was perpetrated in the election. God gives us the ability to speak up and I guess it’s not His fault if we choose to remain silent and let our franchise be usurped and our lives suffer in the balance!!
Just look at the wastrels on Wall St. we learned about this week. Human garbage is proliferating in America like dandelions in springtime. No God, no morals.
God bless this OP for this wonderful article. I lost my beautiful wife this week, and your words are comforting. Thank YOU!
Thanks for sharing your poignant passages from (Romans 9:16-28)
Just may I add my prayers that His sentence on the earth is NOT in fact come to be thoroughly and decisively carried out.
Please let there still be another day of redemption for us when God shall shed his grace upon our land and grant us renewed grace and strength to endure!!!
That is simply not true.
Some suffering is from that, but much of it, and I’d say most of it, is inflicted on us. It’s beyond our control when someone else chooses to do evil against us, someone is suffering with health issues, or accidents happen.
1 Truly God is good to the upright,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as other men are;
they are not stricken like other men.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness,
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore the people turn and praise them;
and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken,
and chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have been untrue to the generation of thy children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.
18 Truly thou dost set them in slippery places;
thou dost make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes,
on awaking you despise their phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant,
I was like a beast toward thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee;
thou dost hold my right hand.
24 Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;
thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all thy works.
I assume you meant until Christ returns we will persevere...We we will! God bless.
Oh, my!!
Sending my heartfelt condolences to you upon the loss of your beautiful wife this week.
Very humbled and grateful that any words I typed tonight were able to offer some measure of comfort to you at this terrible time in your life!! Thank you for your great tribute to me!
Totally agree with your assessment about how Human garbage is proliferating in America like dandelions in springtime. No God, no morals.
May I add my blessings to this OP for sharing this wonderful article on FR this evening. Very timely and thought provoking, to say the least.
Again, I send my sincerest sympathies to you and hope you are surrounded by supportive family and friends.
Satan is still the ruler of this world - for a limited time. There will be a world-wide evil dictatorial government which will demand to be worshipped. There will be a terrible period of seven years (the tribulation) before the visible return of Christ, which will be the end of Satan’s dominion over the world. Why all this must take place is a mystery, but it is certain to happen exactly as the Bible describes it.
I assume you meant until Christ returns we will persevere...We we will! God bless.
We know God is in control. I don’t like this current portion of His plan, I have it as a matter of fact. There is no other name by which we can be saved. God made it all.
Now some perspective. Read the Bible and you’ll see His chosen people were judged and placed into slavery many many times. More modern history; Christians were martyred in the most horrible ways in Rome. Persecuted in Soviet Russia; many places around the world Christians are being persecuted.
Jesus told us not to be surprised. The world hated Him before us. We have faith and keep to the narrow path. Stay strong FRiend.
Bkmk
Joe Biden has had a lifetime of wickedness, corruption, fraud, and vicious dishonesty. And now he has stolen the presidency.
“Not being anywhere nearly as religious as I wish I were and ought to be, I simply cannot comprehend how our Lord could sacrifice his dutiful servant President Donald J. Trump . . .
Moreover, I am at a lost to accept how God allowed all of President Trump’s diligent work on behalf of making lives better for Christians and Jews, etc., to be unraveled by the DemonRATS.”
“Religious” or not, I do not think that Donald Trump began his run for President in the name of God. I think he did it because he was so disgusted with what the left and the swamp of rino’s had done and and was doing to America that he could not help himself. It does appear that at some point during that 4 years, he did do some things that would seem to be influenced by a Christian spirit. Whether that was his wifes influence, Robert Jeffries influence, or that he actually got saved through all this or began allowing a previous conversion to influence him, who knows. I think that the most notable thing that Trump did was recognize Jerusalem as THE capital of Israel. That was certainly historic.
“Two key examples are how the historic peace deals in the Middle East are now in jeopardy with the Iran-friendly regime now in power;”
Since God is clear in scripture that He will make Jerusalem a trembling cup to the world, I am not too certain the “middle east peace” is on God’s agenda. In reality, Israel is not in “jeopardy” in any way, shape, or form. The 6 day war proved that. God’s timeline for Israel marches on, regardless of happens anywhere else in the world.
“and as we marked today’s March for Life, more innocent unborn life will now be slaughtered!!!”
This I agree with. The ONLY consolation is that since the current administration cheated to gain power, anything they do is NOT in the name of the people of the United States of America, spiritually speaking...it is all on them. Unless people are, or know, Christian missionary folk, people have NO IDEA what goes on in the rest of the world outside of the United States where the spirit of evil is clearly at work against Christianity, nor do they begin to comprehend the dangers involved in repenting and inviting Christ into their life as Lord and Savior.
“Biteme IIRC has already revoked PDJT’s Mexico City policy. Why, indeed, can a merciful benevolent deity condemn his most devout followers to be so cruelly persecuted anew, especially when they had just found thee perfect leader to protect their rights and freedoms????!!!!”
We have no idea if Donald Trump was the “perfect leader” to bring into fruition God’s plan for mankind in this age and here in America. Obviously from our point of view, he WAS the man making a positive difference for the first time since Reagan. But that doesn’t mean that it was in God’s plan for it to continue. Perhaps it was simply the wake up call that some people needed to now be able to see just how much evil has actually pervaded this Country. I “feel” the same as you, as if God Himself has turned His back on Donald Trump and Christian America...but in reality it is God’s plan that must take place, not ours. Easy to say but a hard pill to swallow for sure.
Hope that Satan isn’t really the ruler of this world—for a limited time.
Moreover, at almost 61 years of age, I’d hate to think that most of the remainder of my life will be forsaken by the terrible seven years TRIBULATION that you describe.
Much of the Bible is perhaps essentially a mystery, which just makes understanding and accepting Satan’s dominion all the more difficult.
My condolences to you in your time of sadness. I almost lost my wife before I had a chance to truly know her and eventual marry her. I pray your grievance is comforted by the knowledge you will meet up again one day in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I often tell people when they lose a beloved one, that they didn’t lose them, they just decided to take an early flight. Like the old days before phones or telegraph or even before letters, when a loved one went ahead, you would not even hear from them until you meet up again.
This is what death for Christians is like, She caught an early flight, and all communication has been cut off, but she is there, and will greet you when you arrive.
God bless you.
Chuck
A wonderful Psalm for these days. I am actually in the process of writing a commentary on Psalm 73. Well, it’s going slow, because I keep getting distracted with other commentaries and all, but I am working on it.
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