Episode 421 - Show Notes
- If we were to go out to a local street corner and ask people what their questions of God would be, there is no doubt the question of suffering is at the top of everyone’s list. You’ve struggled with this haven’t you? I mean, why would a good God allow suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people?
- We have to start with the recognition that we there are some things we don’t know. We have finite minds. We can’t see what God sees, know what God knows, or understand what He understands. This is why we have faith. If we knew it all, we wouldn’t need faith. We would simply know it all. But with faith, we trust a God who sees and knows what we can’t.
- The question of suffering is a huge question and one we can’t completely answer in only five minutes, but let me give you a few things to think about. First, suffering is universal. While it may seem like some people have it easier than others, the truth is everyone suffers in one way or another. It comes to all of us because of our fallen, sinful world.
- While we all experience some kind of human suffering, we need to recognize that God is not immune to our suffering. Some people think of God is distant and immune to suffering. But the God of the Bible is not above suffering Himself.
- So, God understands suffering from our perspective because he experienced it. When we suffer God has empathy. As a loving Heavenly Father he cares when his children are suffering.
- No matter what happens to us in this life, God will use it all to help us grow to be more like Jesus. Sometimes it’s true that we grow more in the hard times than the good times.
Romans 5:12 - “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”
Psalms 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
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.”
Romans 8:29 says, (God) “predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
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