\u201cIf God exists, why is there so much suffering?\u201d \u2014 this is not a new question.<\/b> It was raised in the Bible earlier than in any philosophy\u2014Job sits in ashes, having lost everything, and asks: \u201cWhy?\u201d. And God does not avoid this question. The Bible does not give easy answers\u2014but it gives honest ones. Here is how Scripture actually responds to the subject of suffering: without clich\u00e9s, without \u201cdon\u2019t doubt,\u201d without shrugging its shoulders.<\/p>\nFirst\u2014the main thing: suffering is not from God<\/h2>\n
God did not create the world with suffering. Gen. 1:31 \u2014 \u201cThen God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.\u201d Disease, death, war, famine\u2014none of this existed in the original world. It is not that \u201cGod is cruel\u201d\u2014the world was corrupted after humanity chose to go its own way, against the Creator.<\/p>\n
Genesis 3 describes that choice\u2014and its consequences. The earth is cursed because of sin; pain, labor by the sweat of one\u2019s brow, and death enter the world. God did not bring this into His creation\u2014sin did.<\/p>\n
That is the real question. If God is all-powerful\u2014He could stop all evil right now. Why doesn\u2019t He?<\/p>\n
The Bible gives several answers:<\/p>\n
The hardest thing about God is that He does not force us<\/b>. He gave people real freedom: to love Him, turn away from Him, choose good or evil. If God automatically stopped evil every time, freedom would be an illusion. Evil is the price of freedom; but without freedom, there is no real love.<\/p>\n
This point is expressed very well by the saying: \u201cGod could have created me programmed for love. But love that cannot refuse\u2014is not love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward you, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.\u201d 2 Peter 3:9<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If God drove evil out of the world tomorrow\u2014He would drive out with it people who have not yet made their final choice. Time continues not because God is \u201cdelaying,\u201d but because He waits<\/i> for every person.<\/p>\n
3. Suffering sometimes develops character<\/h3>\n
\u201cAnd not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.\u201d Rom. 5:3\u20134<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This does not mean that God sends suffering to \u201cteach us.\u201d It means that in a broken world, where suffering is real, God can use it\u2014in those who trust Him\u2014to grow a character that otherwise would not have grown.<\/p>\n
4. God Himself went through suffering<\/h3>\n
This is the most unique thing about Christianity. God does not say from a safe distance, \u201cEndure.\u201d God Himself came and went through it all:<\/p>\n
\n
- Poverty (born in a manger).<\/li>\n
- Pain (on the cross).<\/li>\n
- Betrayal (by Judas).<\/li>\n
- Rejection by relatives (His brothers did not believe).<\/li>\n
- Loneliness (\u201cMy God, why have You forsaken Me?\u201d).<\/li>\n
- Death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
No other religion has this. The God of the Bible is not a distant observer, but the One who went through the worst a human being can experience. And that is exactly why He has the right to say: \u201cI am with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd why do the innocent suffer?\u201d<\/h2>\n
The most painful question. A child with cancer. An innocent victim of war. Job, who had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n
The Bible does not avoid this. The book of Job\u2014an entire book\u2014is devoted to this question. And its most amazing feature is: God does not give Job an explanation<\/b>. God does not say, \u201cbecause of this and that.\u201d He appears and asks: \u201cWhere were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?\u201d. In other words: there are things you will not be able to understand from your limited perspective<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This is not an \u201cindifferent\u201d God. This is an honest God. He says: \u201cYou will not see the whole picture\u2014not yet. But you can trust Me that I know what I am doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And at the end of the book Job says:<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You\u2026 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes!\u201d Job 42:5\u20136<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not \u201cI understood.\u201d But \u201cI saw God\u2014and that is enough.\u201d In suffering, the question is not \u201cto understand,\u201d but \u201cnot to lose Him.\u201d<\/p>\n
And why doesn\u2019t God stop the war right now<\/h2>\n
This is a concrete question for those who live in Ukraine. God could stop the war in a second. Why doesn\u2019t He?<\/p>\n
The Bible gives this logic:<\/p>\n
\n
- God does not stop wars, because that would bring history to its end.<\/b> The final stopping of evil is the Second Coming. If He stops war now, He must stop ALL evil. And that means Judgment.<\/li>\n
- God gives people time to choose.<\/b> War is terrible. But time continues so that someone else may still have time to repent.<\/li>\n
- God promises justice\u2014but not now.<\/b> Every tear will be accounted for. Every looter, every murderer, every criminal will answer. This is not human revenge, but God\u2019s justice. And it will come.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\u201cThe earth is full of the mercy of the Lord\u2026 He will bless His people with peace!\u201d Ps 28:11<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Does God answer the prayer of the suffering person<\/h2>\n
Yes. Not always in the way we want. Sometimes He heals. Sometimes He gives strength to endure. Sometimes He answers with meaning that we see only years later. Sometimes it seems that He is silent.<\/p>\n
But one thing the Bible repeats again and again: God is close to the brokenhearted<\/b>.<\/p>\n
\"The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.\" Ps. 33:19<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is not an empty promise. Many people who have gone through the hardest things say exactly this: I did not expect to feel God\u2019s presence most strongly precisely in the worst moment<\/i>.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s final answer is a new heaven and a new earth<\/h2>\n
The Bible gives the ultimate answer to the question of suffering\u2014not with words, but with a picture of the future<\/b>:<\/p>\n