How Can God Love Me If HE Lets Me Suffer?
Q: Good and evil cannot coexist. If God is good there cannot be suffering.
A: On the contrary, without evil, there would be no good. Darkness is the absence of light. Without darkness we wouldnt know what is light. And pain is the opposite of love. Without pain there can be no love. Without love there can be no pain. Do you realise that you never feel hurt unless you feel love too? For example, if a stranger scolded you for no reason, you wouldnt feel pain. But if someone you love scolded you, you would feel so painful. We can only truly know what love is when we have experienced pain. Only by experiencing suffering, can we fully appreciate the grace of God. I realise now that God loves me more than any man ever can. And God took more suffering upon Himself than I could ever claim to suffer. So, the pain of this world drives me closer the the goodness of God's love and grace.
Q: God is bad because He allows people to suffer.
A: A doctor has medicine to cure sickness. But is it the doctors fault that there is sickness in the world? No, because he didnt create sickness. The doctor gives medicine to those who come to him. But those who didnt come to him, cannot blame the doctor for not helping them. It is the same way with God. He can take away our pain, if we go to Him and let Him. If we let go and take his 'medicine'. But if we do not, there's no point in us blaming Him for our suffering. He's not the one that caused it.
Q: If God really loved me, He wouldnt let me suffer.
A: During my school days I hated my father for forcing me to study things which I didnt think I liked. I felt He was so cruel to make me suffer. But now, years later, I realize why he did it. He had a plan for me which I couldnt see at that time. The 'suffering' in school didnt kill me. In fact, it made me who I am today, it gave me a good career to look forward to. God has a plan for us. Jeremiah 28:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." God's plan may include some suffering which is temporary. (Even death is temporary, in the light of eternity). But it's all part of His plan for us, which we can't see now. God's plan includes suffering so that it can bring out the greatest good and glory.
Q: Why doesnt God take away my suffering?
A: When I faced a terrible personal crisis in my life, I kept crying out to God and asking Him to take away my pain, heal my hurt. But I never felt satisfied with the response I got. Until one day, as I was doing my usual "please help me get through this," God told me: "I already have!" That struck me. Jesus Christ has already performed the greatest act of suffering on the cross, bearing all our hurts on His innocent back. Not only that, He triumphed over all this. Because of His victory, I, too, could live a victorious Christian life. Why was I still wallowing in my hurt?
A: On the contrary, without evil, there would be no good. Darkness is the absence of light. Without darkness we wouldnt know what is light. And pain is the opposite of love. Without pain there can be no love. Without love there can be no pain. Do you realise that you never feel hurt unless you feel love too? For example, if a stranger scolded you for no reason, you wouldnt feel pain. But if someone you love scolded you, you would feel so painful. We can only truly know what love is when we have experienced pain. Only by experiencing suffering, can we fully appreciate the grace of God. I realise now that God loves me more than any man ever can. And God took more suffering upon Himself than I could ever claim to suffer. So, the pain of this world drives me closer the the goodness of God's love and grace.
Q: God is bad because He allows people to suffer.
A: A doctor has medicine to cure sickness. But is it the doctors fault that there is sickness in the world? No, because he didnt create sickness. The doctor gives medicine to those who come to him. But those who didnt come to him, cannot blame the doctor for not helping them. It is the same way with God. He can take away our pain, if we go to Him and let Him. If we let go and take his 'medicine'. But if we do not, there's no point in us blaming Him for our suffering. He's not the one that caused it.
Q: If God really loved me, He wouldnt let me suffer.
A: During my school days I hated my father for forcing me to study things which I didnt think I liked. I felt He was so cruel to make me suffer. But now, years later, I realize why he did it. He had a plan for me which I couldnt see at that time. The 'suffering' in school didnt kill me. In fact, it made me who I am today, it gave me a good career to look forward to. God has a plan for us. Jeremiah 28:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." God's plan may include some suffering which is temporary. (Even death is temporary, in the light of eternity). But it's all part of His plan for us, which we can't see now. God's plan includes suffering so that it can bring out the greatest good and glory.
Q: Why doesnt God take away my suffering?
A: When I faced a terrible personal crisis in my life, I kept crying out to God and asking Him to take away my pain, heal my hurt. But I never felt satisfied with the response I got. Until one day, as I was doing my usual "please help me get through this," God told me: "I already have!" That struck me. Jesus Christ has already performed the greatest act of suffering on the cross, bearing all our hurts on His innocent back. Not only that, He triumphed over all this. Because of His victory, I, too, could live a victorious Christian life. Why was I still wallowing in my hurt?
Once I bought a fake VCD movie. I knew it had a happy ending. Being of bad quality, it couldnt be viewed halfway. It stopped at the part just where the hero was about to be killed in a tragedy. I was so sad, anxious, despairing...but I knew the ending was supposed to be happy. So I overcame my feelings by telling myself that in the end, it would all work out fine. I was able to get out of the bad feelings because I knew no matter how much the hero suffered, he would have a happy ending.
God has promised us a happy ending with him in heaven. So let's take the director's word for the movie script, even though we're stuck halfway. When I choose to look at the hurts I was facing rather than the cross, I allow myself to feel defeated. I magnify the value of the suffering I was undergoing. But when I chose to rely on the promise of God instead of my lousy feelings, I realise that eternal victory belongs to Christ and I am his heir and daughter. I choose to tell myself I will believe I have the victory no matter how lousy I feel. Feelings come and go, but God never changes. He already has won the victory, so He's already taken away our pain. We just have got to look away from our circumstances and look to Him. When we ask God to take away our hurts, have confidence that He already has. Only when we are fully with Him again in heaven can we experience the complete release. Til then, just keep holding on.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
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