Why Does God Allow Suffering?

I’ve grappled with this question a lot over the last several months. No one in their right mind would ever seek out or willingly choose to suffer. And yet suffering is one of the most basic realities of human life. Everyone knows what it is to deal with both physical and emotional pain. I would guess that most people in our country today know as least one person if not several people battling cancer. But cancer is only one kind of a host of life-threatening illnesses that people face today. The vast majority of people in this world know what it is to suffer the loss of a loved one. Suffering is indiscriminate. It affects people of every race, gender, religion, economic status, and political viewpoint. Those who have never known suffering of any sort, need simply live a little longer and they will.

All of this begs the question: why? Why would an almighty, eternally loving God allow so many of His image bearers to suffer incredible pain and loss? The most obvious answer is that suffering is a result of man’s exercising his free will in rebellion to God and the resulting curse that came with that decision.

But for a believer, suffering is far more than just the result of the curse. As I have mulled over this topic, I have come up with approximately a dozen reasons why God allows people to suffer. I won’t be sharing all of those today, but what I have found is that for a believer suffering offers us several unique opportunities.

First, suffering allows us the opportunity to experience God’s grace in our lives. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the Apostle Paul discusses a thorn in the flesh that was given to him. He describes it as a messenger of Satan meaning that his thorn in the flesh was the result of a direct demonic attack. The Bible does not tell us what this thorn in the flesh was, but we do know that Paul described it as a means of keeping him both humble and weak. He tells us that he went to the Lord and asked Him to remove it three different times. In verse 9, Paul records God’s response: “My grace is sufficient (enough) for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” It is when we are at our weakest, that God’s grace is at it’s strongest in our lives if we choose to allow God to work in and through us. Paul responds to this interaction with God this way: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me…for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Sarah and I have often had people tell us, “I don’t know how you do it.” I have often responded, “What choice do we have? When curling up in the fetal position and sucking one’s thumb is not an option, you just find a way to do it.” But the better answer is that the only way we can do it is by the grace of God. When I started this blog, I chose the name gracesufficient.com because my heart’s desire was that God’s grace and power would be evident in our lives as went on this journey with cancer. And nine months into this journey, I sincerely hope that it has been. I most certainly have not felt strong. Most times I have felt like small child, completely powerless to do anything to change our situation. At times I have felt as if I were on the verge of a complete emotional breakdown. For the first time in my adult life, I have known what it is to cry myself to sleep and to wake up feeling like a baby for doing so. And I have come to the conclusion that it is only by God’s grace, day by day, that Sarah or I have been able to “do it.” My strength is feeble, but God’s grace is ENOUGH.

The second reason that I believe that God allows believers to suffer is that is gives us opportunity to exercise our faith. James 1:2-3a says “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations ( various trials); knowing this, that the trying of your faith…” It is not natural for us to think of trials as joyful things. As I stated earlier, we would never choose them for ourselves or our loved ones. However, when we view trials properly as a testing of our faith, our perspective changes. Faith that is not tested, that is never exercised is weak faith. Just like muscles that are never exercised or tested are weak muscles.

The testing of our faith comes when our life’s circumstances seem to contradict what we know to be true about our God. When we suffer, we have to chose by God’s grace to trust that He is still good all of the time. We have to chose to trust that this suffering is ultimately for our good and not our harm. We are forced to grapple with the reality that our suffering has occurred because God allowed it to. And He chose not to remove it when He could have. We have to chose by God’s grace to look for the blessings in the midst of the sorrow and pain.

I’m sure I have probably mentioned this before, but one of the things that Michael and I do every time we drive down to Ann Arbor is share three things that we are grateful for. This forces us to exercise our faith. It gives us an opportunity to choose to look for the good in the midst of the hard. It brings us back to the reality that our God is so good! And it puts us in the right frame of mind and sets the tone for our day. And the truth is that even in the midst of hardship, we have been so blessed!

The third lesson that God is teaching me about suffering, is that suffering gives the believer an opportunity to grow spiritually. James 3:3-4 say, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience (steadfastness). But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

I have yet to meet anyone who enjoys having their patience tried or stretched. I appreciate it when people are patient with me, but I often struggle to be patient with others. But patience (also referred to as longsuffering) is one of the fruits of the Spirit that suffering allows us to grow in. And the result of our growing in patience is the growth of our spiritual maturity to the point that we become fully mature spiritually. I have a long way to go in this department. Any of my family members could tell you that I am not a naturally patient person. But over the years, I have seen a spirit of peaceful patience in the lives of some godly men and women that God has allowed me to interact with. Most of them have been walking with the Lord closely for many decades. And they have given me an example to follow.

I will continue with the lessons that God is teaching me on suffering in future blog posts, but for now, today finds Michael and I, once again, back at in Ann Arbor. As I write this, Michael is in a recovery room on the fourth floor of Mott following a spinal tap and having a PICC line placed in his left arm. He is currently sleeping off the effects of the anesthetic and a late night/early morning. We don’t have to be up on the seventh floor for his oncology appointments for a couple of hours. So, I am letting him rest.

This afternoon Michael will be placed back on Blin, an immunotherapy drug. In laymen’s terms, this drug will turbocharge his immune system to attack and kill the leukemia. He will be connected via PICC line to a pump in a backpack 24/7 for the next month and receive this medication in small doses around the clock. We will still be making weekly trips to Mott for doctor’s appointments and to have his pump refilled.

He will be admitted late this afternoon or early evening on the seventh floor for observation as his body adjusts to the Blin. The last time Michael was on this drug, we were told to expect to be in the hospital for three to four days. Unfortunately, three to four days, turned into eighteen, as Michael suffered a number of side effect from the Blin, was completely taken off it, given a drug to help with the side effects, then eased back on to the Blin. Once his side effects were addressed and his body adjusted, Michael did very well on the Blin. He has been kept on the medication that offsets the side effects ever since, because we knew he would have another go around with Blin. The prayer request this time is that the side effects of the Blin will be mitigated from the start and that Michael would be able to come home by the end of the week.

My back continues to be an issue for me. It has become clear that I injured it over the Labor Day weekend more seriously than I previously thought and that my treatment will require more than chiropractic adjustments. Both my chiropractor and my family doctor believe that I likely have a bulged disk in my lower back that is compressing the nerves in my back and legs. I continue to deal with back and sciatic pain as well as numbness in my right hip.

I have an MRI coming up in a few weeks that we hope will give us some clarity as to exactly what is going on. It is my hope that my back can be treated without surgery. But I have put it through a lot of abuse over the years via multiple serious car accidents. Early last Monday morning, I ended up in the Emergency Room and had a CT scan done of my back. When my family doctor reviewed the results, he told me they were what he would expect to see in a 70-year-old. I have been put on a muscle relaxant and a steroid to combat inflammation, and they have drastically improved my ability to function. But I know these are temporary solutions that only mask the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause.

In the meantime, we continue to take one day at a time asking God for the grace that we need for each day.