My brother-n-law is a Paramedic and on Saturday night I got a text from my mom that he was in an accident was being flown to Vanderbilt Hospital. He and my sister have two boys, Nate who is 5 and Riley who is 6. I wanted to pray for Seth’s protection, for his safety, for his family to not worry, but I did not know how to do that. I didn’t know how to pray about his accident because what if it was God’s will that he would die? And then would it be God’s will that my sister and nephews, and many more suffer?
Why does God allow suffering in the world? Is it actually God’s will? Or is it just something God allows and makes good out of?
Did God want my friend to suffer through rape so she could have more of Jesus, or did he just allow it, and will work it out for her good? Why would God design suffering like that? Why did Christ have to suffer? Why do we have to suffer to be like him and understand his love? Why did God design it that way? God could have designed it however He wanted.
Sometimes I think maybe I’m just entitled and don’t want to suffer. Mostly I just never learned that part of theology or theodicy, so I don’t want to accept it because it feels contrary to what I’ve learned to see as love. Also, I struggle with knowing how to pray or trust God if suffering could potentially be God’s will.
In “Cry of the Soul” Dan Allender says, "The irony of questioning God is that it honors Him: it turns our hearts away from ungodly despair toward a passionate desire to comprehend him." (Allender & Longman, 1994).
I’m trying to learn how to talk to God about this stuff without Him feeling so far away. I think I keep God far away because I’m scared of His answer to all of these questions, but at the same time I’m desperate for His love — the kind of overwhelming, heart blowing up kind of love that I’ve heard others talk about.
Suffering confuses me because I don’t have a really helpful answer. I have good Christian answers, but nothing super helpful. I want to help those who suffer, and offer Christ love and hope to them, but sometimes this confusion about why suffering happens in the first place makes that difficult.
Do you allow yourself to question God? What have you learned about suffering? I’d love to hear your insights and wisdom into this topic- please send me a message or leave a comment.
(If you were wondering, my brother-n-law is okay. He is in pain, has some bruises, and has 9 stitches in his head and 3 in his finger, but he is at home recovering.)
