Why does God allow man to suffer if He is indeed a God of love?This is a long overdue query that has transcended ages of theological thinking and debates and yet has never been resolved. Who would? For Christians, professing and sincere alike, they would easily relegate the answer either to God’s will and sovereignty or man’s sinful nature. Forgive me, but I will not post neither.
I will take a more humanistic point of view: an 'un-Christian' perspective. I will put the burden on man himself. In this case, if I do suffer, I claim total responsibility. Sadly, this is a rare commodity nowadays. Most of us are afraid to take responsibility for ourselves. We do not want to be accountable for our actions. We are poor, we blame the government. We claim and shouts on the streets that our government is corrupt yet we could not even look ourselves in the mirror and see what we have done to aggravate the worsening situation. We are miserable, we blame our parents. We are broke, we blame others. We lose, we blame fate. There, accountability is completely missing.
Yes, there are certain things that happen to us without our own doing. Can we blame God then? No! Our sinful nature? No! Fate? No! Then who?
Very heart touching story
ReplyDeleteloved dat
"Why does God allow man to suffer if He is indeed a God of love?"
ReplyDeleteI believe we will never know the answer. Man's wisdom is too inadequate and imperfect to understand God's perfect wisdom.
On the other hand, I think it's actually a Christian perspective to put the burden on man himself. A man who holds himself accountable and fully responsible for his actions is actually doing a Christian act. Why? Because he doesn't put the blame on anyone for his miseries.
He understands that if he is poor and broke, he must work harder; if he lost something, he will have to build it again. He doesn't blame God, fate or others. He knows that his life greatly depends on his actions, and he is the master of his own destiny.
A well thought out article. It is indeed hard to find people who takes blame on themselves for what they have done. They always point out their fingers at others. When will these people realize that they make a fool of themselves by doing so!
ReplyDeleteYou’ve been tagged. Please go to my blog- Extremes, and read my latest post "10 Reasons Why I Blog." After reading it, please make your on post on "10 Reasons Why I Blog," then copy the tag board after the meme and add your name next to mine. Then tag as many persons as you could, giving them these same instructions. Please copy and include the tag board after your meme and instruct those you will tag to do the same. This will ensure a tremendous surge in the number of traffic and viewers in our respective blogs. Do this and see how traffic and viewership figures in your blog increase exponentially. Thank you very much and God bless.
ReplyDelete@ kavitt
ReplyDeleteThank you.
@ kcee
I think we deserve to know.
@sangeeta
People who take responsibility for their predicament are becoming rarer nowadays.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond. ^^
Realize how people love to blame God for the bad things yet never give him credit for the good things. This is an easy question, and Kcee answered it. We don't know God's will, and who are we, his creations, to DEMAND knowledge of his will? It's not like you can demand to know what Bush's next presidential act will be, so why God? Next, God is a God of love, but even he puts his foot down every once in a while, just like a parent would.
ReplyDeleteIt's never been an easy question Leon.
ReplyDeleteI just do hope that the complexities of this query can be answered with a simple immutability of God.
You made an excellent point there though. Thank you.
@mp3
Thanks for the compliment and the link.
Cheers!
Sometimes it our fault (sin) sometimes it just sin (fallen world) and sometimes its becasue God want to get our attention.
ReplyDeleteGod, our loving Heavenly Father, uses suffering or misfortune in our lives to prove our faith or to test our character.
As a parent I would never push my son into the road in front of traffic, but if my son ran out into the road I would discipline him to teach him of the possible danger. I have purposely inflicted temporary pain on my son’s backside in order to teach him to avoid much greater pain in the future. I am much wiser than he is. I can see a bigger picture.
Sin and disobedience usually cause our suffering, but God can use it to make us stronger if we let Him. Character built by the Holy Spirit is different compared to our born again experience. Salvation is a gift. Character growth is built through proving: tribulation, hardships, sorrow, and trials.
“Count it all a joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” James 1:2-3
We are human. We spend a great deal of our lives seeking comforts and avoiding pain because it is natural to relate negatively to suffering.
Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
If we believe God’s Word we can embrace obstacles and difficulties. We can look at the bigger picture and see God has a greater plan.
Becoming a Christian never means a life without suffering. In fact, we are promised hindrances and tribulation:
* ~ Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7).
* ~ Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivered him out of them all (Psa. 34:19).
* ~ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).
* ~ Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution(2 Tim. 3:12).
* ~ In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).
* ~ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience. (Rom. 5:3).
How can a loving God use suffering? This is a very hard lesson to understand. God continually uses means to bring our heart to closer relations and nearness to Christ. The means that He uses are not important.
What is important is that we view suffering and trials as allowing God to build our spiritual life and character. To allow Him to be the Potter while we are the clay. This is TRUST and FAITH. The stronger the character and deeper the life in Him, the nearer we are brought to Our Lord.
That I May Know Him…
Christ suffered for us–persecution, pain, and death. He suffered much more than the cross; he faced every day difficulties similar to those we face. He learned obedience through suffering (Heb 5:8).
We are quick to balk if we are slightly uncomfortable, but Paul calls us to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Phil 3:10
Look at this verse in the Amplified Bible:
For my determined purpose is that I may know Him that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death, in the hope. Phil 3:10
Tribulation means threshing. The farmer threshes the wheat that the grain may be separated from the chaff and the sticks. He wants pure grain. God said, “Tribulation worketh patience.”
Plants produce better and richer fruit when the vine is pruned. Patience, long-suffering, and kindness come by way of threshing or pruning.
Think about the struggles and trials you have faced in your lifetime. Did you grow? Was it worth it? Did Corrie Ten Boom grow during her hardships?
The prodigal son’s father knew the son was headed for destruction. In tough love, he allowed him to leave with his inheritance. The boy learned and grew. In the end he became the man his father wanted him to be–through great suffering.
North Korean Missionary
Today, I heard a portion of a radio show interview of a North Korean missionary. They discussed the changes in the last 20 years - how persecution dropped from 80% to 20%. The interviewer asked the missionary “Do you want to be rid of all persecution?” The missionary quickly replied, “God’s will be done; we have grown by leaps and bounds spiritually through the persecution.”
North Korean Christians welcome suffering. By most standards, the entire country is a prison camp; cold, hunger and death are everywhere. Believers in North Korea’s underground church recite five principles, along with the Lord’s Prayer, at their secret gatherings:
1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honor.
2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus’ name.
3. As Christians, we want to wipe others’ tears away and comfort the suffering.
4. We want to be ready to risk our lives because of our love for our neighbor, so that they also become Christians.
5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God’s Word.
Bitter or Better
Suffering does not automatically make you stronger. It depends on how you react to it. Difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement can make you either bitter or better.
I watched one of the sweetest, kindest, most loving people I have ever known turn into a bitter hard woman in a few short months. Her husband left her and their children after he fell in love with her best friend. She was full of anger and rage. I watched it eat her from the inside out.
It took over a year and a lot of prayer but she turned back to God. Praise God. She chose to forgive (God, her husband and the other woman) and is now becoming a loving person again.
I have had the opportunity to watch the transformation. As she allows God to be in charge, she is growing stronger though the deep pain and suffering. I see new fresh fruit in her life. She is learning to continually surrender and forgive as the angry feelings return, again and again. She has to surrender–as we all do, over and over–and each time she grows closer to Christ and produces more fruit of the Spirit.
When we ask God to make us Christ-like we need to expect difficulties which allow Him to break our pride, rebellion, selfishness and independence so we can learn to be totally dependent on Him.
Do you want deliverance or development? Consider difficulties and obstacles as your signal to turn to God just as a sailor turns to a lighthouse in the storm. A difficulty can be a wonderful instrument if it forces you to turn to the Light.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)