Suffering in God’s world
SteepTurnpike Evangelical Church
“I’ve learnt one thing – people
who know the least anyways
seem to know it the loudest”
Andy Capp
Why does God allow suffering?
Where is God in suffering?
Where does suffering come from?
Does he care?
“In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth... And God saw all that he had
made, and it was very good”
Genesis chapter one
So the LORD God said...
“Cursed are you above all livestock.”
“I will make your pains in
childbearing very severe... Your
desire will be for your husband and
he will rule over you.”
“Cursed is the ground because of
you; through painful toil you will eat
of it... Until you return to the
ground.”
“The word suffering would not exist if man had not shaken his fist in his creators face”
John Blanchard
In response to your question, ‘What is wrong with
the world?’ – I am.
Yours faithfully,
G K Chesterton
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”
Jeremiah 17:9-10,
The Message
“God whispers to
us in our
pleasures, speaks
to us in our
consciences, but
shouts to us in our
pain; it is His
megaphone to a
deaf world.”
C S Lewis
Where is God in suffering?
“The Church has not been spending its
energy to go deep with the unfathomable
God of the Bible. Against the
overwhelming weight and seriousness of
the Bible, much of the church is
choosing... To become more light and
shallow and entertainment-orientated...
The popular God of fun-church is simply
too small and too affable to hold a
hurricane in his hand.”
John Piper
God’s relationship to evil
God never does evil
The Judge of all the earth will always do what is right
Genesis 18:25
“I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.”
Deuteronomy 32:3-4
God may send, permit or move
others to do evil
“I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create
darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the
LORD, who does all these things.”
Isaiah 45:7
“And the LORD said to Satan,
“Behold, all that he [Job] has is
in your hand”
Job 1:12
“Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit
from the LORD tormented him.”
1 Samuel 16:14
God may send, permit or move
others to do evil
“He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and
the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the
universe by the word of his power”
Hebrews 1:3 (English Standard Version)
Jesus is continually carrying along all things in
the universe by his word of power
“The time of earthly tears will only
last for earthly years” Joni Eareckson Tada
Does God care?
“For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only Son, that whoever
believes
in
him
should
not
perish
but
“I am just as certain that there is a God who creates and
have
life”
cares,
as eternal
I am that this
world is not as God designed it”
Roger Carswell
“If God is for us, who can be against us?...
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us
all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give
us all things?...
Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall trouble or
hardship or persecution or
famine or nakedness or danger
or sword?...
...In all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us.”
Some take-home points
“If anyone’s name was not found
written in the book of life, he
was thrown into the lake of fire”
Revelation 20:15
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away... God’s dwelling is now among the people and he will dwell with
them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no
more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of
things has passed away”
Revelation 21:1-5
“I have... Been in prison... Been flogged... Been exposed to
death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the
forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods,
once I was pelted with stones
, three
I was
“Our light
and times
momentary
shipwrecked, I spent a night and
day in the
sea, I have
troubles
areopen
achieving
for
us anbeen
eternal
glory thatfrom
far
been constantly on the move. I have
in danger
rivers, in danger from bandits, inoutweighs
danger fromthem
my own
people,
all...”
in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea, in danger from false believers. I have
laboured and toiled and often gone without sleep; I
have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without
food; I have been cold and naked...”
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”
Whatever
my lot You have
Taught
me to
say,
‘It is well, it is well
with
my
soul’