Why would a good God...? (3)

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 118:1

The Bible says that God is good, completely good. Some people doubt this because there is suffering in the world. Is God good if He allows suffering to continue?

Why would a good God allow human suffering?

I will admit that this can be an emotional and complex question. I won’t pretend to fully answer this age-old question here, but maybe I can crack the door to your fuller thought and investigation. And let me urge you to try to set emotion aside and think seriously and rationally about it.

Let me begin by noting that some suffering is our own fault. Some problems are
the consequence of us exercising our freewill to make bad choices that affect our own lives and those of others. This can be linked to everything from sinful and immoral actions to pollution, selfishness, crime, and violence (example: it is estimated that from 150 million to 1 billion have died in wars throughout history). Much suffering can be blamed on us, not on God.

But what about the suffering that is not directly connected to what we do. Why does God allow innocent human suffering? First, God created the world in a perfect state (Ge 1-3) and warned that sin would ruin it (bringing death and degradation). Some suffering comes from our bodies no longer being perfect and our world no longer being a perfect place for us to live as a consequence of sin in general.

Note: Had God created us without freewill which makes doing evil possible, then we would not have true love, which requires free choice to exist. Love involves risk, and it is worth the risk when it occurs.

Second, God knows that eternity would be less good if evil and suffering had not been allowed to exist. We may not see it now, but in the words of Paul, “…this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Co 4:17 ESV). Challenges which cause us to look to and rely on God will be seen as beneficial in eternity even if we can’t see it now. They will seem incredibly brief in comparison to limitless, endless eternity. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Ro 8:18). Not every aspect of suffering is explained in Scripture, but we are assured that faithfulness in spite of what we may experience in life will be worth it in eternity. Keep the faith!   dd