HUMAN SUFFERING
In creating the physical world, God
made a place that is complete for what he intended to accomplish with it. If man had never sinned he could have remained
in the Garden of Eden paradise forever. However,
because God knows all that is the object of knowledge (omniscience), he knew
that man of his own free will would sin and thereby be alienated from him. Hence, from eternity in the mind of God there
was found the great scheme of redemption (Ephesians
3:7-11). Therefore, the world today
is a place of preparation for eternity. If
life in the flesh in this material world is used for that purpose, one rids
himself of all manner of worry, frustration, and anguish that characterizes
those who live in the flesh as if this world is their permanent abode. Hence, when all is said and done, we
understand that God never intended for the world to be man's eternal home, but
an environment wherein man could prepare to be with God eternally in heaven (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14; Matthew 6:33; II Corinthians 5:1-10; I
Corinthians 15:42-49; Revelation 2:10).
Because "God is love" (I John 4:8), he could not create man as some kind of robot. In giving man a free will, he made it possible
for him to make choices. When man makes
wrong choices he must suffer for his bad selections. Without suffering the
consequences of bad choices, man does not learn to value good over evil. Without the space for a detailed study let us
briefly note that man under goes suffering due to a number of reasons.
Wrong Personal Choices: Man is at
fault when he murders, steals and rapes. Because God made man with freedom of choice,
he does not stop the crime nor set aside the consequences of such sins AT THIS
TIME (I John 3:4; I Peter
Wrong Personal Choices Made by Others:
When a deranged person decides to shoot as many school children as possible,
such children are not necessarily suffering from any thing wrong they did, but
because of the wrong committed by the deranged person.
Wrong Personal Choices of Our
Forefathers: Today we reap the benefits of Pasteur,
In the area of sexual relations,
venereal diseases are examples of what happens to man when he violates God's
laws (Romans
God's natural laws are constant,
consistent, and dependable. When we violate them in ignorance, innocence, or otherwise, we
suffer the consequences. How terrible it would be if man never knew
whether the law of gravity was going to work or not.
While I do not understand all of
the design, purpose, and value of pain, I do know that it is an indicator with
which man is better than he is without it. How many serious injuries are avoided because
of painful warnings? Painful suffering
and other kinds of trial develop the mind with the understanding that all
things in this physical world are uncertain, fleeting and will cease altogether
someday (James 1:1-5). The sufferings of this present world cause the
wise to prepare so they will not miss heaven (Job
Before Jesus gave up the form of
God, he, being omniscient, knew man's plight. Yet, knowing such, he chose to give up the
form of God and take upon himself the form of mankind. He thereby exposed himself to the actual life
and experiences of a sin plagued world. What
an amazing testimony to God's love for mankind! No one can ever accuse the Lord of not
understanding what it is like to actually suffer (Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews
After days of prayer and fasting on
behalf of his sick child, King David's child died. David did not continue mourning, but arose; and
in his answer to those who questioned why, with the child's death, he did not
continue mourning, he revealed the inner strength that has always characterized
the faithful: "Can I bring him back
again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me" (II Samuel
In this life we can never
understand all that is involved in suffering because we do not know the whole
design of God for man (Romans