WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING AND EVIL IN THIS WORLD?

Job 2:7-10

INTRODUCTION: Why would a God Who is love allow suffering and evil in His world? We experience evil, pain and suffering in this present world almost every day. We live in a world of wars, murders, rapes, robberies, hatred and suffering and our natural response is to wonder why our God allows it to be that way. That question: “Why” has been asked since the foundation of this world. People were asking it about the Holocaust of the Second World War. They asked why when the two jets hit the Twin Towers. “Why would a loving and good God allow so much suffering?” We don’t have all the answers but Jesus told us we would have times of suffering: John 16:33; 1 Corinthians 13:12.

I.   OUR GOD DID NOT CREATE SUFFERING AND EVIL BUT HE DOES ALLOW IT!

Skeptics love to ask the question: “Why didn’t God just create a world where there was no evil and where suffering didn’t exist?” The answer is “He did!” Genesis 1:31. God created mankind in His image but in order for us to experience His love He made us with a free will or we would just be robots. True love always involves a choice; that is why God gave mankind that ability. Yet all the way back to Adam and Eve mankind has misused that ability to choose to love and obey God or not. Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God led to two kinds of evil, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the immorality and pain we experience because we choose to be selfish: Romans 3:23: that is talking about moral sin. Much of this world’s suffering results from the sins of mankind. Natural evil are things like tornadoes, earthquakes and othercalamities we like to call “Acts of God.” These too are the indirect result of mankind’s sin. Romans 8:18-22. All evil, moral and natural are the results from man kinds rebellion against God.

II. ALTHOUGH EVIL AND SUFFERING ARE NOT GOOD, OUR GOD CAN USE IT TO ACCOMPLISH GOOD!

Nowhere in the Scriptures does it ever say God is the Author of evil and suffering, but it does say that God’s intention has always been to create good things out of bad things: Romans 8:28. If we are committed to following our God He has promised to make good things come out of the suffering we will endure in this world. Joseph was a prime example of God bringing good out of evil: Genesis 50:16-21. God still promises today that He will bring good out of the evil He allows us to suffer in this life. James 1:2-4. When we come into our times of suffering and pain we need to cry out to our God and ask Him not just “Why” but “What Lord, would you have me to learn from this?” God can and will use the pain He allows into our lives to protect us, to propel us, and to ultimately perfect what is missing within each of us.

      III.   ONE DAY ALL SUFFERING AND EVIL WILL BE GONE!

Many times skeptics say: “If God has the power to eradicate evil and suffering why doesn’t He just do it?” The answer is “one day God will do it!” One day all the curses of this world will be done away with: Revelation 21:1-4. Our God will deal with evil once and for all and it won’t be pretty: Revelation 20:11-15. One day each of us will give an accounting to our God:
Romans 14:10-12. Why doesn’t God just do it now? Because many are not yet ready for that day: 2 Peter 3:8-13. In the meantime as we are still experiencing pain and suffering God would tell us not to fear: Isaiah 41:10. We need to take our pain and sorrow to our Lord: Matthew 11:28-30. We are to take heart because our Lord Jesus has overcome this world! John 16:31.