Why Does God Allow Suffering

Chapter 9
Introduction
Chapter 8 explored intellectual obstacles to wisdom that might
keep a person from accepting a Christian worldview.
Intellectual obstacles included the belief in Jesus as the only
way to salvation, coming to a clear understanding of what one
actually means by faith, and the problem of facing doubts as a
Christian. As was seen in Chapter 8, such obstacles, while very
real, are obstacles that also have clear answers. This chapter
will explore experiential obstacles to wisdom, including the
problems of evil, suffering, and the hiddenness of God.
Experiential Obstacles to Wisdom
A hurricane tears through a city leveling everything in its path.
Trees snap. Windows shatter. Power lines crash down upon the
earth. Beneath torrential rains, the sea breaks through the levees
and sends a seemingly endless crush of water racing through the
city streets. Cars are lifted up and carried along by the current.
Water floods houses and schools. People bail the invading
torrent and escape through windows, desperately scrambling up
onto their rooftops and screaming for help. Meanwhile, those
who are lucky enough to escape the floods cram on to highways
packed with cars. People honk their horns in desperation at the
long lines of fleeing vehicles that seemingly are going nowhere.
Many people will be injured, lose their belongings, or even die.
Rich or poor, young or old, the storm does not take notice of the
conditions or the dispositions of the people caught in its
clutches. Once the storm has passed, the survivors are grateful
for their lives, but many came home to discover that they had
nothing left but the foundations of their shattered houses and a
few once treasured belongings now water-soaked and buried in
mud.
Throughout the world, and in every town and city, people are
hurting and dying right this very second. Right now, children
and adults are suffering and dying from cancer, abuse,

starvation, and scores of vicious diseases. Loved ones who fall
victim to senseless acts of violence that far too often plague this
world will fail to come home. Car crashes on the highways and
accidents at work or in homes will snatch away even more
people today in the midst of their primes, and they will feel
helpless to stop it. Suffering can come in many forms, but, at
some point, everyone will suffer deep pain or loss—it is an
unavoidable fact of being human.
Some, who have yet to experience truly devastating suffering or
loss, might feel that frustrations over grades, clashes with
friends, the loss of a cell phone, or even a long line at a coffee
shop are all valid reasons to bemoan their lives. Yet, when they
enter into the darker valleys of life-altering suffering, their
perspectives quickly may change. For those who have suddenly
discovered that they have a condition such as cancer, HIV,
multiple sclerosis, or that they have just lost a friend or family
member, past complaints over nuisances such as a long line for
coffee can become regrettable in light of life-changing news.
When such devastating realities arrive, persons who are
suffering will almost assuredly wonder about God. Amidst their
grief, they will ask questions that have been repeated millions
of times throughout the history of the world: Where is God?
Why would a good and powerful God allow such suffering and
evil in this world? Why does not he simply stop it? Can he?
Does he want to? Is he good? Does he love me? Is he really
there?
This chapter addresses questions of why a both good and
powerful God would allow persons to suffer. For answers to
these questions, and to explore the role that suffering can play
in leading to dissatisfaction, disillusionment, and
discontentment, attention will be paid to both the Bible as well
as Irenaeus, a significant leader in the early Christian Church. .
These questions will lead to answers that will not always be
easy, but they will be answers that are authentic and that reveal
the plan for a great and ultimate good that has been prepared by
a loving Father for his beloved children.

Evil, Suffering, and the Hiddenness of God
What Are the Origins of Suffering and Evil?
Christians believe that God cares about all types of suffering. In
his great patience for humans, he cares about minor tensions in
their relationships and small worries just as much as he cares
about their greater pain and dying. The Bible says that God
wants people to bring all of their problems and worries to him
because he deeply cares about them (1 Peter 5:7 English
Standard Version). Christians also believe that the God who
cares so much about humanity is both completely good and
completely powerful. Within the Bible, the many people who
encountered God, and who have handed down their accounts
through the millennia, have shown again and again that God is
always both completely good and completely powerful. So, if
God truly cares for humans, God is completely good and God
has the power to help people, why then is there so much
suffering and evil in the world?
This first question about suffering is a philosophical question.
In asking why a good and powerful God would allow suffering
to enter the world, persons are trying to dig to understand why
evil exists if a completely good God is indeed the source of all
life and reality. The Christian worldview provides deep
philosophical thinking concerning the problem of evil, and
allows a deeper look into pastoral questions of how suffering
affects people in their real lives, the obstacles it creates in their
pursuit of wisdom and faith, and how they are called to live in
concrete situations of suffering. While philosophical enquiries
will focus on intellectual questions, concerns or objections, the
pastoral enquiries will focus more on the experiential and
psychological elements of suffering. Both lines of enquiry are
vital in order to understand how much experiences and emotions
often influence philosophical questions and objections.
Philosophical Questions
In the Christian worldview, suffering exists because humans
wished to experience a world that was opposite from that which
God intended, a world in which evil was possible as well as

good. In Genesis 1-3, it is seen that suffering came into the
world when the first humans wanted to experience what it was
like to know the difference between good and evil in order to be
like God. They got their wish, but knowing evil meant that they
now both knew and experienced everything that God, who is
perfectly good, would not do and also what he would not wish
for humans.
In his great love, God allowed humans to have what they
wanted, the chance to experience the opposite of his good.
However, they did not realize that being allowed to know evil,
the opposite of the good that God intended for them, and being
allowed to be like God, meant that they now had to keep
themselves alive and safe from harm. Because they were not
God, all of their attempts to heal, save, protect, and keep
themselves alive would not work. Humans were not God and
could not create life, sustain life, or even keep their own
relationships pure. Evil, suffering, lonely isolation, broken
relationships, and death were now natural outcomes in humans’
lives—lives in which they no longer trusted God as their Father,
protector, and sustainer. They had stepped outside God's
parental wisdom to know what was good for themselves apart
from he who alone was good and who created and defined the
good.
Like a husband or wife who violates the deep trust between two
spouses, humans had now violated that first, trusting innocence
of their love relationship with God. Humans stepped outside of
the pure relationship of love and trust that they had shared with
God, leaving them with no way to enter back into that pure and
trusting relationship again on their own. The relationship
seemingly could never be the same again because they had
betrayed God’s love and trust in their rebellion, making them
persons who could and would do evil, something that God
cannot tolerate in his holy presence where no evil existed
(Psalm 5:4). How could humans even enter his pure and holy
presence again now that they were tainted by evil and could not
do perfect good on their own? God said that for humans even to

look upon his holy face would now cause their deaths (Exodus
33:20). In the present world, a person carrying germs or disease
might harm a patient in a sanitized hospital room, while with
God it was the opposite. Bringing human sins into God’s pure
presence would instead harm humans who would be unable to
survive his holy presence without first undergoing a radical
purification enabling them to do so.
As discussed, once humans chose to step outside of God’s
wisdom, love, and protection to know and experience life apart
from God’s will for them, and choose their own “good,” they
now had to accept the consequences of living in a world where
evil was a possibility. The possibility of evil included even
natural disasters and diseases that have not been caused by
humans, but are a part of this fallen world. Humans could now
both hurt and be hurt in a world where they were now free to
experience the consequences of their choices. Even worse,
humans were now separated from the loving intimacy that they
once shared with God, causing even more suffering in the
experience of inner loneliness that humans feel without the
intimate connection to their Creator for whom they were made.
Yet, in Genesis 3:15, and in God’s subsequent promises to
Adam and Eve’s descendants, God also begins to hint that
someday someone is coming who will make things right again.
Even in the moment of his being rejected by humans, as seen in
Genesis 3, God shows his great goodness and love by alluding
to the fact that he will one day pursue humans into the broken
world of suffering, loneliness, and death on a rescue mission
that will cost God even more pain in the death of his only
begotten Son, Jesus.
Is Suffering Fair?
Some will naturally question whether it is fair of God to
continue to let everyone suffer in this world because of a
rebellion that took place so long ago. From a biblical
perspective, all persons are now sinners from their births
because they are all born into a sinful world (Psalm 51:5); all
humanity is tainted by evil and all, eventually, will choose to

sin. “All fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), forever
failing to be pure enough to enter into God’s perfect presence
again on their own. This broken world in which humans are
born is a simple reality, a clear consequence of the first humans
having chosen to step outside of God’s will for them and to go
their own way. This may not seem fair, but, just like the
presence of the laws of nature, it is an actuality that humans
find themselves living within, both the young and old, believer
and nonbeliever.
Christians believe that persons are born into a broken world
where suffering is a reality that affects every person. However,
Christians also believe that Jesus, as God, came into this same
broken world and died in order to rescue them for eternal life
with him. This act of saving is far more than fair, but, instead,
is astonishingly full of grace, especially when one considers
that Jesus died for the same humans who rejected God first in
the Garden of Eden and then again, when they nailed Jesus to a
cross. Yet, for those who refuse to believe and obey the good
news of Jesus, while their suffering might provide opportunities
to grow as persons or learn valuable lessons, the Bible shows
that those who do not accept the purifying death of Jesus in
their place will continue to suffer the consequences of
humanity’s rebellion to God. Being allowed to suffer the
consequences of humanity’s rebellion includes being allowed to
suffer and eventually die without the joy, peace, and restoration
promised to those who follow Jesus (1 Peter 4:17-18). It seems
that God will not force persons to be rescued from this world of
suffering if they do not want to be rescued, though it may break
his heart.
Why Do Those Who Trust in God Suffer?
Then why are Christians still suffering so much now? The Bible
promises followers of Jesus that they will be in eternal life in
heaven with God where there will be no more death or tears
(Revelation 21:4). What about the present? Should those who
have confessed their sins to God, repented for their wrong
choices, and asked Jesus to save them still be suffering so much

in this world today? Would it not make sense that once someone
trusts Jesus to save them from their sins, that he would not only
take away sinful desires and loneliness from their hearts, but
also would remove the consequences of sins and bring them
healing, success, and complete fulfillment in their lives right
now? Is it not unfair of God to let his most faithful followers
suffer now as much as those who refuse to follow God and obey
the good news of Jesus (1 Peter 1:12-18) or who habitually and
intentionally do evil against God and others?
Christians admit that disobeying God and questioning God’s
goodness is wrong, and they have trusted Jesus to save them.
Thus, when truly deep suffering comes into their lives,
Christians will often pray to God for healing or rescue. They
will trust God for healing or rescue because they rightly believe
that he both cares about them in his goodness and that he also
has the ability to heal or rescue them in his power. However,
while many have received answers to their prayers, others who
have yet to experience healing or rescue will wonder why God
has not yet answered their cries for help. Questions of why a
good and powerful God would not appear to answer trusting
believers' prayers for healing, at the very moment they ask, can
lead to a crisis of faith for many as they wrestle with questions
of their own beliefs, goodness, sins, self-worth, and
relationships with God. Does he hear their prayers? Does he
care about them?
The Bible clearly shows that God does care (John 3:16), that he
has the power to heal (Psalm 103:2), that he can be trusted to
keep his promises (2 Corinthians 7:1), and that he can do
ultimate good for those who love him (Romans 8:28). However,
even for those who believe the Bible, the process of waiting for
healing or rescue can chip away at even the strongest faith. The
bleakness of suffering can cause even faithful persons to
boomerang back and forth from faith and hope to doubt and
despair. One day they might be confident that God is with them
and that they can wait for him patiently, while the next day they
grow anxious, convinced that they are suffering because of

some fault of their own. They might wonder if they need to take
matters into their own hands and worry about how they
themselves might fix their situations. The day after that they
might change their perspective once again and grow angry with
God, convinced that they are innocent and undeserving of their
painful situations, wondering why he is taking so long to do
right by them.
This same tortured human frustration appears in the Bible in
which some of God’s people asked the same anxious questions
that are asked today. Where is God amidst suffering? Why is he
taking so long to answer prayers? These questions are not new.
A great example of one person in the Bible who questioned
fairness, justice, and the presence of God in the midst of
suffering is found in the Book of Job, which is a powerful story
of one man’s suffering and God’s eventual answer.
Albrecht Durer, Job and his Wife, 1504. Städel Museum,
Frankfurt, Germany.
In the Book of Job, the author narrates the story of a man named
Job whose life quickly changes from one of prosperity to one of
suffering. Job was a man of faith who loved God, lived a
righteous life and even took care of the poor. Then, one day all
of Job's animals were stolen and his servants killed. Following
that, he lost his children in a tragic disaster and he became sick
with a horrible disease all in one sweep. Job had not done
anything wrong, had not made God angry, and was not being
judged, so why him? Why was he suffering so much so
suddenly? Imagine losing one’s family and suddenly being
covered head-to-toe in sores. What could a person do? It is
likely anyone would do as Job did: crash to the ground, sit in
the dirt, and feel sorry for himself. Job’s wife, the only member
of his family who did not die, in an all-time classless move, told
him to curse God and then just go die.
As he sat on the ground, Job did not curse God, but he did grow
angry. He did not feel that his suffering was fair, and he cursed
the day he was born: “Let the day perish on which I was born,

and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived’” (Job 3:3). Some
of Job’s friends came to visit him and did not even recognize
him because of his sores. Repulsed by his condition, some of his
friends tried to convince him that his suffering must have been
because of some sin, or lack of faith, or some other reason that
had to make sense; however, Job could not think of anything he
had done to deserve this. He had led a good life. How could
God let this happen to him? How was this fair? Job cried out to
God:
My soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken
hold of me … The night racks my bones, and the pain that
gnaws me takes no rest … I cry to you and you do not answer
me; I stand, and you only look at me … my bones burn with
heat (Job 30:16-17, 20-21, 30).
For a good period of time, Job and his friends debated why Job
is suffering. Some of them blamed Job, and others appeared to
even question God. What they may have forgotten was that God
can hear and see everything. At last, having heard enough, God
appeared to Job and his friends, and spoke to them out of a
storm and addressed their complaints. While God did not blame
Job for asking questions or suffering in anxiety, God asked the
astonished group of Job’s friends who had been blaming
everyone and everything for Job’s suffering, even God, “Will
you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you
may be in the right? Have you an arm like God, and can you
thunder with a voice like his?” (Job 40:8-9).
After recovering from the shock of God’s arrival, how many
persons would give anything to have God show up in such a
visible and audible way and answer their questions? Job
actually got his shot at being able to hear God audibly and
speak to him. Instead of demanding that God treat him fairly, he
listened to God recount his awesome power in creating and
sustaining the world. Overwhelmed by God’s greatness, Job
realized his ideas of what was fair and of what he deserved were
ridiculous. In the face of the Creator of the universe, Job likely
realized that he was a creature who did not even deserve to be

alive, nor to hear, nor feel, nor see, nor speak. Did Job give
himself life? No. Did he give himself the family, health, and
wealth that he had before? No. It was all a gift from God.
Fairness would have been for Job to have never even been born
or to have come into existence. In the presence of his eternal
Creator, Job seemed to realize the wonders God had worked in
even allowing humans to know life or to even possess the
mental ability to recognize and experience the good and the
wonderful by which humans even understand evil and know that
they are suffering in comparison. When Job finally answered
God, he does so humbly:
I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful
for me, which I did not know … I had heard of you by the
hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise
myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42: 2-3, 5-6).
In God’s wonderful presence, Job was humbled like a child who
had questioned the existence of the sun in the middle of the
night. Before God, Job was satisfied that God had not afflicted
him, nor abandoned him, but that God was always watching,
always caring for him, and is completely good. He also realized
that God does not have to justify himself to human beings any
more than human beings have to answer to their household
plants. Yet, in his mercy, God came to Job and answered him
and his friends, revealing himself as good even in the act of
answering them. Having repented for his questioning of God’s
goodness to him, Job was healed and restored. Job experienced
the truth that Paul later wrote about in the New Testament Book
of Romans when he said, “We know that for those who love God
all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). For those who, like
Job, truly desire to love God and align with God’s purpose, they
can trust that, even amidst the worst suffering, God will bring
about his ultimate good. Fortunately, God’s good will also bring
about the best possible good for those who love him.
The story of Job shows, first, that suffering comes to persons
regardless of how righteous they are. Second, it shows that it is

all right to ask questions of God. Third, the story shows that
humans should not blame God for evil nor question his
goodness. God has already shown his goodness in giving the
gift of life itself. To demand that God make lives here-and-now
go exactly as people wish them to be is to treat God as if he
were genie for them to command or to act as if they had been
appointed to a committee that oversees God’s actions. Fourth,
the Book of Job illustrates that it should be enough for humans
who do trust in God to know that their Creator sees them, hears
them, loves them, is with them, and will be revealed as
completely good in the end. Finally, in Job, the story gives a
clear reminder that things will work together for good for those
who love God.
Though the Book of Job provides some key answers, God does
not seem to answer the “why” questions of suffering; rather, he
focused on who he is, asking Job to trust in God himself and not
in Job’s own comprehension of why he was suffering. Yet, some
persons who trust in God today might continue to struggle with
the question of why a completely good and powerful God has
allowed suffering in the first place, especially for Christians.
Fortunately, there are more in-depth answers to the “why”
questions of suffering found within both the Bible and Christian
theology.
Why Did Jesus Suffer?
People often ask why God lets good people suffer, or, at the
very least, why he lets his people suffer; however, according to
the Bible, there was only one truly good person who did not
deserve to suffer—Jesus. Jesus came into this world as God the
Father’s only begotten Son. He lived a life so characterized by
love that, with the exception of Jesus' claims of divinity, even
his enemies could find nothing wrong with him. Jesus' enemies
could not get their minds around the idea that God really could
be standing right in front of them. Jesus reached out to the poor,
widows, orphans, the sick, the broken, the lonely, the lost, and
the marginalized in a way that forever changed the world. He
healed not only sick bodies, but also sick hearts and souls. The

life of Jesus is the single greatest example of kindness,
generosity, and love that has ever been seen upon this planet.
Then, despite his love, Jesus was betrayed, abandoned by his
friends, arrested though innocent, falsely charged, brutally
beaten, tortured, and then executed by the Romans in the most
horrific way imaginable.
Why did Jesus suffer so much? He suffered because he came to
live a life entirely for others. His was the only human life that
was ever lived not for a person’s own desires, not even in one
selfish moment, but solely for God the Father and then also for
those who would follow Jesus and trust in his life and death on
their behalf (Bonhoeffer, 1953/1997). Jesus was the only person
who could come into this world where evil was possible and
live without questioning the Father or doing anything that
departed from his Father’s will.
Unlike even Job, Jesus never asked whether his suffering was
fair: It was not. He also did not demand that his Father deliver
him from his suffering, though he knew it was possible for his
Father to deliver him from the cross (Mark 14:36). Even more,
as God, Jesus himself had the power to end his own suffering at
any moment, but he did not. Why? His Father had sent him to
suffer and die for those who would trust in him, living a perfect
life in their place from the cradle to his death on the cross.
Though it was not fair, Jesus had to trust that God was good and
that, in the end, everything would be good for Jesus too. Such
trust had to be kept through suffering and even to the last breath
of life. Despite horrendous pain inflicted by the worst possible
cruelties of human beings, Jesus remained true.
It is Jesus’ complete obedience to his Father, even unto his
death for the sake of those whom the Father would give him,
that proves Jesus is truly God. “This 'being there for others'
maintained till death, that is the ground of his omnipotence,
omniscience, and omnipresence. Faith is participation in this
being of Jesus (incarnation, cross, resurrection)” (Bonhoeffer,
1953/1997, pp. 381-382). Because Jesus lived this perfect life
on behalf of those who would trust him, it not only can be seen

that Jesus is truly God, but also that persons can also trust that
he is able to make them pure and will bring them into intimate
fellowship with the Triune God. All a person needs to do is
believe in Jesus as, “the way and the truth and the life” (John
14:6).
Theodicy: A Defense of God’s Goodness and Power
A more in-depth theological explanation of, and defense for,
why a good and powerful God would allow suffering and evil is
called a theodicy. A theodicy, from the Greek words for God
and justice, is a defense of God’s goodness and power despite
the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Within the Bible
and Christian history there are many more people whose lives
provide answers to the “why” questions of suffering as well as
show how God is good even amidst such evil in this world.
In his theodicy, Irenaeus, an early church father who suffered
for his faith in Jesus, helps Christians understand why God
allows evil and suffering to come to his children. His answer is
that suffering helps to transform Christians into persons who are
ready to live in God’s holy presence.
Irenaeus said that when Adam and Eve were first created, they
resembled God’s full image (Genesis 1:26-27) in a way that
humans would not be able to do after Adam and Eve sinned
against God. Though God is spirit, and human beings, of course,
have physical bodies, Adam and Eve resembled God in image in
that, unlike animals that are only material beings, humans also
had a soul or spirit. Even further, they originally were made in
God’s moral likeness as well. Humans not only had souls or
spirits, but also were morally pure. When, according to
Irenaeus, they used their God-gifted freedom to simply follow
their passions and do what felt good at the time by taking the
fruit that God warned them not to eat, they ceased to resemble
God in their character. Godly character would mean to trust and
obey God, and, now, they no longer did this. Though humans
still bore God’s image in the fact that they still had souls or
spirits, they were no longer able to do perfect good on their
own. Humans were now sinful and impure in their nature. All

persons’ minds, abilities, and natures were now corrupted by
sin; therefore, they could no longer reflect God’s full image by
doing the soul-satisfying good that they knew they should do
(Romans 7). Irenaeus, referencing Psalm 49, said:
Having been created a rational being … [humans] lost the true
rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of
God, giving [themselves] over to every earthly spirit, and
serving all lusts; as says the prophet, “Man, being in honour,
did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and
made like to them (Irenaeus, 1884/2007, p. 466).
Irenaeus: A Receiver of the Teachings of the Apostles of Jesus
Irenaeus is considered a father of the Christian church, being
one of the earliest leaders of the church after the time of Jesus
and his disciples. Irenaeus was born sometime around 120 AD,
fewer than 100 years after Jesus' death. When he was young,
Irenaeus heard the teachings Polycarp, a Christian bishop who
was discipled by one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, the
Apostle John (Wace, 1994).
Irenaeus became the bishop of the Roman Empire city of Lyons,
part of modern-day France, in a time when worshiping Jesus as
God, and not Caesar, was punishable by death. In fact, the
reason Ireneaus received this position was because the city's
former bishop was killed for this very reason. Irenaeus would
also be executed for being a follower of Jesus as God, but
before his death, he would teach other Christians what he had
learned about why God allows evil and suffering to come to his
children and how humans might become the people God created
them to be.
Humans had followed their passions and opposed God’s will
and chased after things that God would not do or intend in order
to try to satisfy and fulfill their material desires. This, in turn,
led to separation from God and, eventually, death. Yet, all was
not lost. God knew humans could never live a life of complete
obedience and surrender in which they denied all of the sinful
desires of the flesh that eventually lead to heartache, isolation,
and death. So, he sent Jesus to live the life of complete

obedience in their place. After Jesus' resurrection and reunion
with his Father, according to Irenaeus, Jesus had now made it
possible for human beings to become what they were originally
created to be: God's image bearers, in image and likeness,
meaning humans could have a character overflowing with
purity, goodness, and love.
How could humans become complete persons again, persons
who might reflect God’s good character and even look like
Jesus in their purity, goodness, and love? Irenaeus said that
when people surrender their lives and wills to God through the
acceptance of the life and death of Jesus in their place, in their
brokenness, humility, and confession, God gives himself to
them by filling them with his Spirit. God promises to send his
Spirit to those who trust in Jesus as their savior. By the power
of his Spirit working in their lives, he will transform them into
the persons that they could never become on their own—persons
who are no longer controlled simply by selfish impulses and
passions, but persons who are instead made more like Jesus.
They will be persons who not only conceive of what a healthy
and satisfying internal life might look like, but who actually
become healthy and satisfied in their souls and minds (Romans
12:2). They also, by the work of God’s Spirit in their lives, will
not simply talk about love, or love only in the flesh, but truly
and deeply love one another in the way that Jesus loved his
followers (John 13:35). Jesus laid down his life for people who
rejected him and forgave them even as he was dying. What
greater evidence of authentic, sacrificial love has ever been
seen?
If Christians never suffered, they would never be forced to grow
up to become their Father’s true image bearers: people who
love, trust, do good to others, and forgive their enemies even
amidst hurt, rejection, and brokenness. Suffering forces the
issue. When Christians fall, they are forced to develop patience,
hope, faith, love, and even courage. If God simply took away
every problem the moment they asked, they would not have to
trust God, nor realize the amazing love that God showed for his

children in the death of Jesus. By accepting Jesus, even amidst
suffering, Christians are able to both join Jesus in his suffering
as well as in his resurrection (Romans 8:16-17).
Dissatisfaction, Discontentment, and Disillusionment
Whether or not persons might embrace the challenge of learning
to mature in their faith and character amidst suffering,
emotional experiences of suffering can still lead to moments of
frustration, questioning, and feelings of hopelessness. Emotions
are often more powerful persuaders than reason or evidence and
quickly can become obstacles between a person and his or her
faith in God.
Many people who are struggling with faith in God, or who do
not have faith in God at all, have often chosen not to believe in
God because of distressing incident in their lives. At some
point, they or someone they loved was hurt, suffered, or died,
and God did not appear to answer them or rescue them. In the
moments and days that follow such a crisis, frustrations and
emotional wounds often turn into anger at God and sometimes
dissatisfaction, discontentment, and disillusionment with God.
Because such views toward God are often emotionally based,
one might ask whether people in such situations have really lost
faith in God or whether, instead, they are truly hoping to
provoke God in the hope that he will answer them. Yet, the
same painful emotions are experienced by those who do, and
continue to, believe in God and who are trying hard not to
question him or be angry with him. Amidst the emotional pain
caused by experiences of suffering, even the most faithful
people can experience emotions such as anger or despair that
appear as obstacles between themselves and their continued
belief in a good and powerful God who loves them.
C.S. Lewis: A Life of Suffering and Questioning
During his life, C.S. Lewis went from faith, to atheism, and
back to faith because of his own suffering. After losing his
mother as a child, he came to deny God’s existence. Later, as an
atheistic intellectual at Oxford University, through Christian
friends, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, he began to realize that it

actually was logically consistent to conclude that there was, in
fact, a God. If not, his anger at the unjustness of his mother’s
death made no sense because he would have nothing by which,
in comparison, to call her death unjust if it was simply natural.
He, again, suffered and wrestled with God when his wife, Joy,
died of cancer. Despite his grief, he concluded that what is
important is that people let God love them on his terms, not
theirs, and that people must trust that their suffering in this life
is somehow part of entering into the eternal joy that is to come
in heaven.
When C.S. Lewis lost his wife to cancer, despite being a leading
apologist of the Christian faith, he found himself wrestling to
discover how much he really trusted God’s goodness amidst so
much emotional pain. “You never know how much you really
believe until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and
death to you” (Lewis, 1983, p. 34). Before losing his wife, he
had often said that suffering is God’s gift to Christians, a gift
that helps them to grow up and leave a childish existence behind
for a more mature one. Pain was a gift that helped people
awaken to the real world so that they could hear and see God
more clearly. Yet, did he really still trust in God’s goodness
after his wife died of cancer? The experience of her suffering
and death was so hard to take that he even prayed to die in her
place. Yet, despite his faith and all the prayers and pleading
with God, she still died.
As with Job, many of Lewis’ religious friends were not a big
help, tossing religious sayings his way, such as that his wife
was now “in God’s hands” (1983, p. 39). Lewis told such
friends, “Don’t come talking to me about the consolations of
religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand” (1983, p.
37). His friends may not have understood how flippant they
sounded, quoting promises from a position of comfort while not
actually sharing in the currently felt pain of the other person.
Amidst his grief, all Lewis could focus on was the fact that
after all the promises and beliefs, he just wanted to be with his
wife, and he hurt for her presence.

Lewis would finally surrender his questions, angst, and pain to
God. As he processed, he began to see that his wife had been at
such peace as she died, knowing she was going to a better place.
If she had truly gone to a better place, then to have her back
again would be to retrieve her from the perfect eternal existence
where pain and suffering were no more. In other words, would
his wife wish to come back into a life of suffering, cancer, evil,
and death after having now lived in a world of perfect peace
with her Father? Lewis was finally able to trust God again,
focusing on the coming of heaven and the life God’s children
were truly made for, but only after a period of tremendous anger
and doubting. Could it be that it is precisely that surrender
itself, trusting God amidst anger, doubting and not-knowing,
that gives one the victory God desires for those who trust in
him?
Like Lewis, even the strongest Christians struggle with the fact
that, though they believe that the biblical answers about how
suffering matures followers of Jesus Christ into persons who are
more like God, the Christian answers on suffering are not easy
answers. The biblical answers on suffering can be among the
most difficult answers provided by any worldview. When people
want healing now, the return of a loved one, or to be saved from
horrible situations, it can be hard to process that the answer
from the Bible is to look to the life to come. In the same way
patients trust that a good surgeon can handle a difficult
procedure, so, too, must Christians trust that God is making
them ready for heaven, which is often a painful journey of faith.
Jesus promised that he is “making all things new” (Revelation
21:5). Will Christians trust him to shape them and make them
more like Christ until the process is finished? Will they trust
God that, when their journey is complete, he will be revealed as
having worked, “all things together for good” (Romans 8:28) in
the end? Can Christians also trust that God loves them and is
here with them via the presence of his Spirit even now? Can
they really surrender to him despite the angst and questions and
allow him to love them? What if this is all he wants, not people

who never question nor grow angry, but people who amidst their
doubts, anger, and hopelessness still surrender to God and allow
themselves to love and be loved by the Father, saying, “God, I
belong to you"?
Moral Failures within Christian Community
A faith in God that is only based upon God giving someone
what he or she wants right now will not be a faith that is long
lasting. Such a faith is based upon conditions that an individual
has set for God and not upon trust in God himself. Yet, when
people hurt or feel empty and do not believe that God is
fulfilling their prayers and desires when or as they wish, many
people, including Christians, have, at times, decided to take
matters into their own hands, seeking to comfort or fulfill
themselves with other relationships or things.
Idols
In ancient Israel, when people got tired of waiting for God to
immediately bless them as they wished, or even lost faith that
God would help them, many would turn to idols made of wood
or stone and would worship them along with God, or even
instead of God. Many in Israel would even take part in
ritualistic prostitution in their search for solutions to their daily
problems. They hoped that the idols they had made could work
some magic and bring them healing or fulfillment, or that, at the
very least, the wine, sex, and festivals of the pagan religions
might serve as a crutch to ease their pain. Today, people might
not see the actual worshiping of statues or religious prostitutes
at shrines along highways, but it does not mean people do not
still turn to other forms of idols when they grow disillusioned
or waver in their faith in God.
Idols of Yesterday and Today
“For they also built for themselves high places and sacred
pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every
luxuriant tree” (1 Kings 14:23). One can read throughout the
Old Testament about Israel’s constant battle to trust God as a
nation rather than fleeing to worship false idols and commit
pagan acts whenever trouble came or God did not answer them

immediately. One goddess, whose symbols they often
worshiped, was the Semitic goddess of fertility, Asherah. Her
symbol was a wooden pole or tree that likely had a connection
with fertility rights.
God repeatedly commanded his children not to set up shrines to
false gods or goddesses on their hilltops, but often, they would
even place them beside altars to God, mixing idols with true
religion. Their disobedience and failure to wait upon God and
trust in his power and goodness were among the reasons for
God’s eventual removal of his protection over Israel, and the
smaller kingdom that split off from Israel, Judah. Why turn to
idols on sacred hills and in sacred groves? Perhaps because they
gave people places to go to for immediate gratification because
the false priests or priestesses there made them promises they
wanted to hear. Whatever the reasons, turning to idols to fulfill,
help, and comfort them showed that they did not really trust
God or believe in his power and goodness. What about people
today? What might be the modern high places or idols that they
turn to when people are sick, afraid, wounded, or ashamed? Do
people know how to wait upon God, or do they search for
immediate gratification to ease pain?
When modern people feel disillusioned, typically, they seek the
comfort of modern idols that can include anything from
addictions to things such as drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity,
pornography, or even the pornography of violent films or
games, to more subtle forms of self-comfort that range from
sports to TV shows, movies, shopping, video games, or comfort-
eating. Further, modern idols could also include secular groups
or activities, such as a political party, culture, subculture, or
sports team in which people seek to find identity and
fulfillment. Even the process of seeking to project an idealized
image of one’s self via social networking sites could become an
idol. The thing or activity actually can be very good; however,
when people turn to this thing or activity as their salvation from
their angst or emptiness rather than turning to God, that is when
people risk making things, groups, or activities into idols.

Using social networking sites, for example, can be a great way
to connect with others and share life. Yet, if people are turning
to social networking in search of fulfillment, they often might
end up feeling even more isolated than before, as if they are
standing at a window observing the lives of other people who
are living more fulfilling lives than their own. It is not that
engagement in social networking leads to isolation, but it can be
the result for a person using it to find fulfillment.
From the Christian perspective, the need for fulfillment that
drives people from one thing to the next in search of
satisfaction actually is the inherent human desire for God. A
person surfing through countless websites, pictures, videos, and
social media sites on the Internet might not realize that, in their
search for illumination or fulfillment, what they truly are
searching for is a love relationship with God. God offers people
authentic and complete satisfaction in knowing and being
known within a soul-satisfying relationship with him and with
others who seek him. However, though people inherently know
that material things have never before satisfied their souls, they
continue to turn to momentary distractions, things, and
activities to ease their pain. In the same way, ancient Israel also
once turned to idols that they could touch, see, and feel rather
than lifting up their eyes to the eternal God who offered them
life.
From the Christian perspective, then, idols can be any things,
activities, groups, or identities that stand in the way of God’s
reaching peoples' hearts, filling them with his love, and helping
them to surrender their lives to him so that they might enter into
holistic, Christ-centered community. Idols are also those things
that ultimately lead to isolation rather than fulfillment in
community with others. While many of the things or activities
already mentioned might be done in groups and bring great joy,
if people turn to these things or activities alone as their hope for
fulfillment, the end result is often the isolation of the
individual. God does not desire for us to be lost to isolation but,
instead, to know satisfying life together.

Comfort in Community
God has not left people alone to suffer or to have to turn to
things, activities, or secular groups as their only sources of
hope. God has promised to come and comfort people through his
Holy Spirit if they will surrender to him and let themselves be
loved. Just as wonderful, God also offers those who follow
Jesus a human community, found in the church, where they can
experience God’s love and presence daily through one another.
All around the world there are people who have been
transformed by the love of Jesus Christ and who have a capacity
for great love and friendship. These people of Jesus, also called
Christians, are people with whom one can share their burdens
and wounds in a tangible, human way. God has filled Christians
with his Spirit so that they might not only feel loved and
fulfilled within themselves, but also so they can be the visible
love and presence of Jesus to people all around them. God has
made humans to be an authentic human community, living life
together as people who help to carry each other’s pains and
weaknesses rather than suffering alone; however, people often
miss opportunities for real, life-giving fellowship because they
have learned to hide their pain and themselves in different
activities and distractions. Turning on a cell phone, computer,
Netflix, sports, or a gaming console is often easier for people
than confessing their pain and struggles to another living person
who might look them in the eyes and gather them into their
embrace. Without being authentic with other humans, people
miss the experience of the love and presence of God that might
be shared between two or more people, a satisfaction of God-
filled community that no other thing can replace.
People want real, loving, and satisfying community with others.
They want places where they can share their hopes, joys, wins,
sins, fears, quirks, and pains. Yet, people often live alone in
terms of being known authentically. People suffer alone because
they have lived their lives alone. They protect their true selves
from others for so long because of the fear of being known,
being exposed, and being rejected for their shortcomings and

doubts. Yet, this fear also often isolates them from authentic
and satisfying life with others with whom Christ would unite
them. What starts out as self-preservation in trying to hide
one’s shortcomings, sins, or quirks often leads to one’s self-
punishment when suffering enters into his or her life and it
becomes clear that there is no one with whom to share the pain.
People were not meant to live or suffer alone. God loves them
and wants to share in both their joy and pain. To let God love
them is to also let others know them, see them, hear them, and
love them in authentic community. To be known authentically
means to be known not only in times of pain, but even in times
when people feel healthy and self-sufficient. How do people
find such a community where true love could be experienced
and burdens could be carried together? The first step is to go
where loving and honest Christians are and ask to meet one-on-
one or in small groups where they can begin to share their true
selves together as the church, the body of Christ. Many have
longed for exactly such a community where they can love and
be known in authenticity without fear. Often, they are waiting
desperately for someone else to reach out to them. Why, then,
do so many Christians stay in isolation and avoid God’s gift of
fellowship?
Unfortunately, far too many Christians, including some
Christian pastors and leaders, have been unable to enter into a
community where they can be known and loved in their
unguarded, true selves. They might attend a church on Sunday
but fail to join the church by truly entering into authentic
community with other believers in Christ with whom they can
make themselves transparent and vulnerable. They often long to
find the presence of Christ among others and be in a community
of grace and have their burdens taken away; however, they are
afraid of the judgment that has been leveled far too often at
Christians who confess their shortcomings. Because of this,
many people remain isolated and trapped with their questions,
doubts, addictions, and idols for fear of losing their reputations,
families, churches, or ministries should their questions,

struggles, or addictions become known.
The Apostle Paul tells Christians that there is, “Now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
What if Christians really believed this truth with their whole
hearts? Can they truly be people who step away from idols and
attempts to hide their true selves and into the light of
community, trusting that, if they confess their sins and struggles
to others, their unguarded confessions will not be used against
them, but that there will instead be an effort to bring them into
healing? Conversely, can followers of Jesus truly be people who
provide that trusting community where others feel free to
surrender their lives to God in authentic life together, knowing
they will experience forgiveness, love, and the help of brothers
and sisters in their journey toward transformation? How
refreshing it would be to live in such trusting relationships. It
would be like an ocean wave washing through their soul and
setting them free in the joy of knowing and being known.
In the end, there are only two types of lives that will have been
lived: surrendered lives and unsurrendered lives. People either
allow God to be their father and the source of their satisfaction,
or they continue to seek healing, satisfaction, and fulfillment on
their own apart from God. One way that a person can surrender
to God is to take the first difficult step into authentic
community by confessing one's true heart, hopes, sins, fears,
and wounds to other Christians; consequently, they can stop
trying to fix or satisfy themselves with things and, instead, let
God and others carry them into healing. People cannot remain in
their sin and isolation forever if they want to be set free and
made whole. The church of Jesus, his community of brothers
and sisters found throughout the world, offers forgiveness, love,
and transformation through the death of Jesus for their sins and
the gift of the God’s Spirit who comes to comfort and transform
people into the full likeness of God. With believers of Jesus
present in every corner of the world, people do not have to
remain alone in the darkness, but can live in the light of God’s
community with their wounds, doubts, and frustrations,

surrendering to God and sharing life with others, being known
and truly loved.
Conclusion
In a person’s life and suffering, experiential obstacles to
wisdom quickly arise, including the need to understand
suffering, discover what is fair, be delivered from suffering,
understand where God is in all of it, and trust that he can
provide healing, love and fulfillment in this present world.
The experiential obstacles to wisdom are not impossible to
overcome. Yet, to overcome such obstacles requires serious
reflection upon what the Bible has to say about suffering, the
goodness of God, his presence with people amidst their
suffering, and faith that God will keep his word and bring those
who trust him unto eternal life with him. Chapter 10 will
examine emotional obstacles to wisdom and the ways in which
Jesus helps people to overcome the feelings and responses that
might threaten their faith and their continued pursuit of godly
wisdom.
A Present and Future Hope?
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from
your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; If I make
my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there” (Psalm 139:7-8). In this
psalm of King David, he acknowledges that, despite all of his
suffering, including having to flee for his life, hide in caves,
lose his friends, his wife, and even having his son wage war on
him, God is with him everywhere. No matter how far he sinks in
trouble or despair, even down into Sheol, as they called the
place of the dead, still God is with him. God is both omniscient
and omnipresent. He sees our hurts and pains, he cares and he is
with us.
People realized God’s presence even more when Jesus came to
earth physically. Through Jesus, God came in actual human
flesh to suffer with humanity and die among them at their
hands. Though people rejected him, he rose again to offer them
a life with him in eternity where people will have new bodies
just as Jesus did when he rose from the grave—bodies that will

never die again. He stands with people now in their pain, and he
promises them a day when those who love him will have no
more pain:
He will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself will be among them, and he will wipe away every
tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death;
there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain
(Revelation 21:3-4).
Chapter Review
Main Ideas
· In a person’s life and suffering, people are often concerned
with fairness, but God has offered each person more than what
is fair. Human beings do not deserve to live life in the first
place: it is a gift.
· Suffering will come to every person in this fallen world no
matter who they are. Even Jesus suffered. However, suffering
also gives persons a chance to surrender to God and trust in his
goodness, just as Jesus did, by accepting the life and death of
Jesus in their place, and trusting that God will be revealed as
good in the end. Further, if they will allow him, amidst the
struggles of this present life God will shape those who trust
Jesus into true children in his likeness, persons made ready for
eternal life with him.
· In suffering, emptiness, and wounding, everyone is tempted to
turn to other people or things to ease their pain. Yet, God has
not left them alone in the darkness. He already answered the
prayers of those who trust him when he sent Jesus to suffer with
humans and for them. Even more, God sends his Spirit to
comfort those who follow Jesus and to transform their hearts
and minds to be more like him in their character.
· God has also provided other people all around the world who
together form a community of sisters and brothers (the church)
to illuminate the darkness and fill an individual’s emptiness
with the love of God, shared together as they move toward their
eternal lives in heaven.
Key Terms

· Evil: something that is immoral, bad, and/or causes harm.
· Image and Likeness: humans are a reflection of God's image in
both their natural being and good character.
· Omnipotence: all-powerful
· Omniscience: all-knowing
· Omnipresence: all-present
· Omnibenevolence: all goodness
· Pastoral: Related to ministry, including the giving of spiritual
guidance and care.
· Sheol: The underworld.
· Suffering: pain or agony that can be experienced physically,
mentally or spiritually.
· Theodicy: the Christian defense of God’s infinite goodness
and power despite the presence of evil and suffering.
Application of Knowledge
· Suffering and pain come to all people. This can help people to
focus not only on why they are suffering, or why such suffering
is happening to them, but also on what they can learn amidst
their suffering and how they can grow. It is not the fact that one
suffers, but how one responds to that suffering that defines who
he or she is.
· A key purpose for people's lives on earth is to learn to
surrender to God as their Father. This can be practiced by
giving up ideas of what is just, what is seen as an entitlement,
or what is thought to be deserved. This helps people, instead,
focus on being grateful for what they have been given, even if it
is only life itself. Surrendering looks different for each person,
but control over life must be released, and trust placed in God
to lead him or her into God's good plan for the life to come, no
matter how much pain is being endured at the moment.
· People also can practice surrendering to God by accepting that
only Jesus could live a perfect life—no one else can and no one
else has to. By letting Jesus live that life for them, and die in
their place, people can come to terms with the fact that they
cannot save themselves, but he can. Jesus is waiting for each
individual to let him carry his or her burdens, pains, and selves

(Isaiah 53:4-5). He is the cure for suffering. He is the one who
opens the door for anyone who would trust him to step into a
life with no more dying or pain, but life eternal.
Questions for Reflection
1. Why does God let even righteous people suffer in the Bible?
2. If Jesus was God, and never did evil, why did he have to
suffer so much?
3. Does God simply leave people alone to suffer on earth in
their lives here and now?
Resources for Further Reading
· Lewis, C.S. (1996). The problem of pain. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers. (Original work published in 1940).
· Attenborough, R [Producer and Director]. (1993).
Shadowlands [Motion Picture]. United Kingdom: HBO Home
Video.
· Vanauken, S. (1977). A severe mercy. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers.
References
Bonhoeffer, D. (1997). Letters and papers from prison. New
York, NY: Touchstone. (Original work published in 1953)
Irenaeus. (2007). Against Heresies. In A. Roberts & J.
Donaldson (Series Eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Apostolic
Fathers, Justin Martyr, Inrenaeus (pp. 466) New York, NY:
Cosimo. (Original work published 1885)
Lewis, C. S. (1983). A grief observed. New York, NY: Random
House Publishing Group. (Original work published in 1961)
Wace, H (1994). Dictionary of Christian biography and
literature to the end of the sixth century A.D., with an account
of the principal sects and heresies. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishers. Retrieved from
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Irenaeus,%20
bp.%20of%20Lyons
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