Suffering: Why We Shouldn’t Try to Avoid It

C. S. Lewis wrote in The Problem
of Pain: “If God were good, He would wish to make His
creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to
do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks
either goodness, or power, or both. This is the problem of pain in its
simplest form.”

Of the many questions raised by suffering
and evil, these four capture most of the heart issues:

1. Does God know? (the issue of His omniscience)
2. Does God care?·(the issue of His benevolence and love)
3. Can He do anything about it? (the issue of His omnipotence)
4. If He knows, cares, and can do something about it, why doesn’t He?·(the·issue of His purposes and will)

So much about suffering and evil remains opaque and impenetrable. On the other
hand, a lot is knowable.

Here’s the elevator speech:

• In this world we all will suffer. Faithful Christians suffer (see 1 Pet.
  4:12; John 16:33). The perfection of creation was corrupted by the fall
  and, with it, human nature. So, because of the fall, we must do our work
  while feeling the prick of thorns. Humans are not capable of not sinning
  in their own strength. As it is, suffering plays a large part in the
  Christian faith on the road to redemption.
• We are called
  to suffer. We all must go through hardships (see Phil. 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:21;
  Acts 14:22; 1 John 3:13). Not only have we been given the privilege of
  trusting Christ, but also of suffering for Him. He said, “In this
  world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
  world” (John 16:33).
• There is
  purpose to suffering. We can handle anything if we think it is for a
  purpose (Rom. 8:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; Rom. 5:3-5). “Our light
  and momentary problems are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs
  them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).
• There is
  comfort in suffering—because there is purpose to it (Ps. 119: 67, 71, 75,
  92; Heb. 12:7-11). Like David we all can say, “It was good for me to
  be afflicted. Now I obey your law.” God uses suffering to redirect
  us back to Himself.

I love suffering. Not while it is happening, of course. But as I look back,
most of the progress in my life took place after God “refined”
(by fire) something that I could/would never have dealt with on my own.
Some of our greatest heroes discovered and declared this truth: Daniel
(Dan. 11:35), Paul (2 Cor. 12:8-10), Peter (1 Pet. 5:10), and James (James
1:2-4).

I love suffering because it produces in
me the life of Christ, and I know of no other way to get it. I haven’t
been able to get it by self-will. I didn’t get it through prosperity. It
hasn’t come to me through learning.

 Great Quote:
“He whom God loveth he beateth the hell out of.”
—Jamie Buckingham, writer and pastor

Patrick
Morley began teaching a weekly Bible study to a handful of men on
Friday mornings in March 1986. This group grew to the 160 men who meet
weekly in Winter Park, Fla. Since 2000, Internet technology has enabled
thousands of men from around the world to participate each week by viewing or
listening to the study. Pat is the author of The Man in the Mirror, a
landmark best-seller for men drawn from Pat’s own search for a deeper
relationship with God. For more teachings by Pat, go to pastoringmen.com,
or visit his ministry online at maninthemirror.org.