Question 3: Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering

Did you know there is a Bible approach to suffering and pain?

You can trust an All-knowing, Loving, Powerful God!

We’ve all heard of the Problem of Evil and Suffering. It boils down to this: 

If God is All-knowing, All-powerful and Good why does He allow Evil and Suffering in the world? Something about this doesn’t make sense. And while it may just be an academic question to debate in a philosophy class, when YOU are hurting and suffering it takes on a whole different flavor. Unless, you can find some sort of answer to the question!

Here’s the argument: 

If I am hurting, maybe God can’t do anything about it! But we remember, God is all powerful, Nothing is too hard for the Lord! 

Well maybe he doesn’t Know – That could explain it! But the Bible says God knows everything! Maybe – we hate to even think it – God isn’t really good, or doesn’t love me. But we remember the Bible says God Is love! Maybe He loves some more than me but He’s love personified! So He must love me! 

For some the only way to reconcile this is: there is no god!

Many have gone down that path, winding up at that conclusion. Some I have known and love. It's painful to watch others in pain!

But: There’s a better answer than that? Suppose with me for a minute, there IS a good, powerful God. How do we answer the question about WHY there is evil and pain? 

There are lots of ways to suffer, right? It’s not all physical.

WHAT IS SUFFERING? How’s this? Suffering is experiencing some kind of pain that we consider to be not normal. Our bodies shouldn't hurt! Surely that’s not what God intended! How about the pain of loss? We think, It is not right that someone I love is gone. This hurts and I am suffering. How about the pain of rejection? Is it normal that everyone we love should love us back? How about abuse and subterfuge and criticism? How about poverty, illness and our own destructive behaviors?

(Do you see a little problem with how we define pain and suffering sometimes?)

  Then there is natural pain and moral pain. 

Natural pain is when we get sick or struck by lightning or slip and fall on an icy side-walk. 

Moral pain is when someone attacks us, inflicts undeserved pain upon us. 

But I can complicate that even more! What if your pain was caused by you? What if you drink your way to cirrhosis of the liver? What if you were running on the ice you slipped on? What I am saying is, sometimes there IS an answer to the Question “Why am I Suffering?” It could be “I did this to myself.” OR, “That person did this to me.” Or “I guess I shouldn’t have been running on the ice – in slick shoes – for no reason.”

     But if we filter out those times when we can answer the “why,” there are still times we don’t know Why we suffer! And if there is a Good, Omnipotent, Omniscient God, Why doesn’t He stop this?

  Defending God: 

There is a fancy word: Theodicy. It comes from two words for God and justice or trial. Theodicy is the defense of God’s Justice in light of evil and pain.

 Now there are religions where this isn’t as big an issue. Some religions explain it as good spirits and evil spirits, and if we keep the good spirits happy they’ll take care of us. When something bad happens that means you did something wrong! Come to think of it, many Christians live that way too! 

Now this can get complicated real fast but here are a couple ideas to guide your thinking:

First, Did God make everything good at creation? Yes! (Gen 1:31) God made the best world! And in that world he gave men choices. And man chose poorly! From then on, humanity has been under a curse. We have wicked hearts. We rebel against God. The earth is under God’s curse so we have to work the ground for food. Even the animals are at odds with us! SO -  I said all that to say, Evil came into the World as a Result of the Fall or Sin of Adam!

Second, Life is not a circle, it’s a line. Ever heard “what goes around comes around”? It can sure seem that way? But that’s not a biblical view. 

 Imagine you’re on a merry-go-round or Carousel. You’re on you horsey going up and down, round and round and you see someone nearby and as you go by you reach out and slap them upside the head! Now this is the Merry-go-round of life, so while that person is recovering you’re going around and you die and are reincarnated as someone else. So now you are approaching the guy your former self hit. But there you are, not knowing what you did in the previous life, minding your own business, up and down on your horsey when some yahoo punches you right in the nose! And you cry out, “Why does God all such pain and suffering?”

That’s NOT how it works! There is no reincarnation and there is no merry-go-round, and there is no endless karma where what goes around comes around. Yes, the Bible says we reap what we sow! But sin, evil and pain have a beginning and an end. 

It’s a Line, not a circle! God made all things good, and the day is coming when he will restore His people to perfect Goodness! Better than Adam and Eve enjoyed at the first! “God [Himself] shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Thirdly, there is one other idea very important to this whole idea of defending God’s justice.

But before I do I want to clarify the Questions we have been adressing.. I’ve been addressing two questions that are really different. One Question is “Why is there Pain and suffering in the World.” And the other question is “Why Am I hurting and suffering? What did I do? And Why isn’t God fixing it?”

This Third idea includes the idea that God understands that suffering is very important to us. The Bible is filled with words of anguish. There’s a whole book of "Lamentations" and the Book of Job. And the Book of Psalms shares in our grief! 

Psa 6:6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 

13:1-3 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? 

42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?

     There’s a story of a man who lost his son. Two men came to visit. The first man said God would give him strength, that in God’s wisdom there is a reason for this, and that he should cry out to God. The second man didn’t say a thing. He mourned with him, listened to him a lot, cried with him and prayed with him. The man who lost the sons knew that both men cared about him and had good intentions. But he couldn’t wait for the first man to leave, and he hated to see the second man go.

I have been that first man at times. Trying to help, I didn’t always help. 

But I can tell you that God will be that 2^nd man. The One who comes and bears your pain with you! If you belong to Him! And if you trust in Jesus Christ He promises to Never leave you or forsake you! 

But will that really help you? 

When we are hurting it’s hard to be aware of anything else. 

It’s hard to pray, hard to hope, hard to trust God!  

     Sin brought pain and suffering into the world! Not necessarily your sin! Even if you are not totally innocent, you may be suffering innocently! We live in a fallen world! Not the perfect One God created. And bad things happen to good people – because of Sin! 

So God brought the remedy! 

He didn’t just declare “There shall be no more sin!” No! God Suffered! He sent His Son. He came in the Form of a living, breathing, suffering Man. He was a "Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." He experienced excruciating physical pain. (Excruciating actually means, pain from the "Cross"). He experienced rejection and hatred. He experienced His Father’s Wrath being poured out on Him! God paid the price for Sin and Suffering! We have Not Yet experienced total deliverance from it. But the day will come, when All God’s People will come to Him, and He will bring Pain to an end!

If you are hurting today, can I tell you, God Knows Your Pain! And while He may not stop it now, He will be with you in it AND it will end!

Let me tell you something - I am not brave in the face of pain! I don’t like it. I have been mad at God. I have cried out to God for Him to stop the pain and yet it continued on. But I know that my redeemer lives, and on the earth again shall stand. And nothing shall separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.       

  Rom 9:14 What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Not at all!  He tells Moses: I will show mercy to whom I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. …For the Scripture tells Pharaoh: I raised you up for this, that I may display My power in you and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, He shows mercy to those He wants, and hardens those He wants to harden. …But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it “Why did you make me like this?”  has the potter no right over the clay, to make from one lump a vessel for honor and another for dishonor? And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and make His power known, endured with patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?… to make known the riches of His glory, on objects of mercy, He prepared beforehand for glory— on us, the ones He also called, not only from Jews but also from the Gentiles?

            Will you trust the Potter? We are just clay.

                             We need to trust Him. He is Strong, He is Powerful. He is Wise.

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[1] “Revelation 21:4”

Naomi's Perdicament

Even in affliction, See what God has done for you.

Believers, we should see God as both sovereign and compassionate.

As far as biblical women go, Esther is more popular than Ruth. Esther is a beautiful, Hebrew, Queen. There’s beauty, power, and being born in the right family going for Esther. Ruth is not Jewish, not a queen, and we don’t know if many people thought she was beautiful or not. Ruth’s husband dies young. Ruth’s mother-in-law is Jewish and tries to send her back to her own people.

Ruth and Naomi are practically homeless.

Now, Esther is a great story of course and its scripture. But it’s the story of someone who has it all and risks it all for her people.

The story of Ruth is the story of someone who didn’t have much to start with and DID lose it all. Esther is a story of courage. Ruth is a story of faithfulness, hard work, and the Goodness of God.

So we’ll save Esther for another time and look at the story of Ruth.

But Ruth’s story starts with a man named Elimelech.

Rth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land. A man of Bethlehem-Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, with his wife and his two sons. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem... They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

Imagine yourself in ancient Israel. The Midianite people or perhaps the Philistines have been invading every year and burning your crops just before the harvest. As a result you go to the fields and try to get a little, just enough to take you thru another year, or at least until the wheat is ready and maybe you’ll get some of that before the Midianites burn it too.

One day Elimelech had enough! He loads up the pick-up with all they can cram in the bed and he and hiw wife Naomi and the two boys head down the east side of the Jordan River toward the dead sea and the plains of Moab.

Now let me stop and say a word about the names of these people. Elimelech means either mighty King or God is King. What a strong name. What a name of faith and courage. And the man runs from his own land and people to a land of devil worshipers and idolators. Did he pray? Did he get counsel? Elimelech is married to Naomi, her name means pleasant. What a nice name for a wife, right. And that’s a good start for a good family. Then their sons are born and I don’t know what went wrong but their names are Weakly and Pining. Maybe they were sickly boys, or mama was sick, but it inserts a sour note in the lives of this Bethlehem family.

Now with the famine on, they head for Moab. Moab means ‘of the father.’ They were the descendants of a man named Moab. Do you remember who his parents were? His mother was the daughter of Lot, and the father was Lot himself. Yep, her son was ‘of the father.’ She got him seriously drunk and had his baby. God was not pleased with them. He gave permission for Israel to battle them and kill many of them.

But marriage with Moabite women was not forbidden as it was with other groups. It was the Moabites who hired the prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites so that Moab could defeat them. As ancient relatives, they may have been helpful but they weren’t.

So that sets the stage. Elimelech was afraid they would die of starvation in Israel so he goes to Moab and what happens? He died there. Then his two sons die

Hebrew tradition says they had had begun to observe Moabite religion. Moabites worshiped Chemosh and Ashtar and sometimes practiced human sacrifice. We do not know if it is true about there idolatry, but we do know that the father and the sons died. It might not have anything to do with sin. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Naomi was going thru a horrible time but the Bible says “many are the afflictions of the Righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.” (Psa 34:19) Acts 14:22 says it is thru many tribulations that we enter the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t say a couple of afflictions. It doesn’t say one or two tribulations. It says Many.

We will ALL face many problems in life, many horrible problems, and many tough times. And think, we have it better here in the USA than others around the world. But pain is pain no matter where you live.

Now let’s look at Naomi. (read 8-21) I get the feeling that these daughter-in-laws were pretty good ladies. They both went with Naomi. She persuaded Orpah to go home reluctantly, but Ruth wouldn’t budge. That says something about Ruth but we’ll come back to her. Naomi seems incredibly negative. We are used to seeing Bible heroes be strong and courageous. But let’s give Naomi a break, she just lost her husband and buried her own sons. I can understand some negativity. Listen to Naomi:

1:12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband to-night, and should bear sons; 13 would you tarry till they were grown?

1:19 So they went until they came to Bethlehem. And … when they were come to Bethlehem, all the city was moved...and the women said, Is this Naomi? 20 And she said, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and Jehovah hath brought me home empty; why call ye me Naomi, seeing Jehovah hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

Now that is a negative person. But is she wrong? Did she say anything wrong here?

She says she came home empty yet Ruth is there by her side to help and comfort. How about the fact that the famine is over and she is back home with family right at the beginning of the barley harvest? That’s a good thing right?

Then she says Jehovah has afflicted me. Could that be right? Yes it could be, and it is. “Many are the afflictions of the Righteous…” What is an affliction? It is the result of someone afflicting or attacking you. Who was the one who would bring blessings on Israel? It was Jehovah God right? Who was the one who would bring affliction on Israel? Same one, Jehovah God. (Deu 28:15) It is a sad thing that too many pulpits today do not preach the sovereignty of God.

WHY do we hurt?

Look at 2 options: Either God brings afflictions upon us, or God is allowing them to come upon us and he could stop them but doesn’t. What’s the difference? We are still afflicted!

Now 1 more option: God is not strong enough to stop the afflictions. Is that the God of the bible? Is that a God you want to serve? Is that the God who was powerful enough to create the heavens and the earth? NO.

God is all powerful and sovereign. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, BUT GOD! Two of the greatest words in the Bible. At least 93X the bible says “But God.”

We were dead in sins, but God.

Many are the afflictions… But God.

Joseph said “You meant it for evil, But God meant it for good.”

The battle is not yours, But God’s.

They laid Him in a tomb; But God raised Him from the dead!

When Naomi says God has afflicted me, she is dead on! But she forgot the story of Joseph. Joseph also went to a foreign land and was afflicted by God; But God delivered Him and made him a blessing to his family.

Naomi has more than Ruth, more than relatives, more than a rich nephew, and more than a barley harvest, and more than Elimelech: she has God Almighty the Might King, the Sovereign king.

Listen, when people are suffering under incredible loss, you don’t have to reinforce the afflictions of God, just take them to the Sovereign King who can deliver them out of them all!

This is the message of Hymns we Sing:

William Cowper wrote: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm....

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

We also sing:

Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength i find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my father's wise bestowment I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure, Gives unto each day what He deems best. Lovingly its part of Pain and Pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Now a word about Ruth. Especially for Valentine’s day. She knew what it meant to have Steadfast love! She modeled the Love of God for us! “The steadfast love of the Lord never fails. His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness o God.” (Lam 3:22f ESV)

Listen to Ruth’s promise: 1:16…Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried…

Jesus: "I will never ever leave you or forsake you." Can you see Ruth expressing God's love for Naomi. She embrace her people, she embraced her home, but most importantly she embraced her God.

Have you embraced the God of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father in heaven. Do it! Don’t put it off. Wrestle with God if you have to. But turn from your wicked ways and put your trust and hope in Jesus Christ who died for your sins, that you would be saved.