Disobedience gave birth to sin, and sin gave birth to suffering.
And this was not of God but of humans, themselves.
But why doesn’t a good God just remove suffering? Why
does He allow it? Moreover, why did God create humanity
knowing, in His omniscience, that they would suffer?
The answer is this: God created humanity not only for His
pleasure but so humanity might have pleasure in Him.The
reason why God allows suffering and doesn’t simply remove
it is because suffering gives us an incentive to pursue God.
Without this incentive, we as human beings, in our very own
nature, simply won’t. In the face of suffering, Moses sought
after God. In the face of suffering, Job sought after God. In
the face of suffering, with a crown of thorns on His head and
with nails pierced through His hands and feet, Jesus Christ,
Himself, sought after God, His Father. When we suffer, it’s
a part of our nature to seek those means that will cease our
suffering. Some turn to drugs. Some turn to alcohol. But God
displayed His love in this: “that while we were still sinners
[and therefore sufferers because of sin], Christ died for us.”
In the face of suffering, God provides us the one true means
that will comfort us in the midst of our suffering. Although He
won’t remove it, He’s already given us all we need to face it.
So, how can a good God coexist with the inevitable
presence of suffering? The answer to this question is,
simply, that it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that
we take hold of the hope that’s freely available to us in the
midst of suffering and pain. God isn’t utterly malevolent in
His allowance of suffering; instead, He’s utterly benevolent
in His provision of love, comfort, and the ultimate end of
such suffering through His Son, Jesus Christ. Even if we
deserve death and eternal suffering because of our sin,
God is gracious; and He freely extends the gift of eternal
life to those who pursue and put their faith in Him.
At the beginning of creation, when God saw that everything
was very good, He saw a time when His creation became
freed from suffering and found hope in Jesus.
The Lord is good to all,
and His mercy is over all that He has made.
PSALM 14