This question has been asked from time in memorial. Everyone wants to know if there is a God, why does God allow suffering. If you watch TV you see the world-wide suffering in many other countries of children going hungry, armies invading countries and raping women, child slavery, prostitution rings of children, disease, and famines. Why does an all loving powerful God allow this to happen to what appears to be decently well mannered people and innocent children.

Believe it or not, it is a question for the ages, it is a question that if we studied it scripturally it would take a week to finish; so in this article let’s just hit a few key points.

In the Garden of Eden, a huge event happened. To tell it plainly God created man from dirt and breathe life into the man, and the man became a living soul. The man was designed to learn everything from God, his Father, and eventually take on the works of God’s hands. The only thing is God made the man to have the choice to follow Him or to follow his own way, which is death. Essentially, man was not created to die but has since found a way to do it by being disobedient to God his maker.

Many parents can agree with this, when a teenage child becomes so unruly, so lawless, and disobedient it is time to put that child out of the house to fend for them-selves. This is exactly what the God of Heaven and Earth did with Adam for his poor decision and lack of obedience. Now without the protection from God, how can you not expect suffering? It can be big suffering like starving in an underdeveloped country or it can be small suffering such as losing out on a promotion for a job and living check to check. The bible says your sins have separated you from God (Isaiah 59 v2).

What if we reconcile with God through Jesus Christ? If you’ve done that, what you may have noticed is that you have a certain level peace in life and you are guided better but you still ultimately face challenges and hardships. It is for the same reason you challenge your children and give them hardships; to enforce discipline and administer punishments for bad behavior. God still does this to you even if you’ve been baptized in the blood of Jesus; He says He chastises those He loves (Hebrews 12 v6). The Lord still must collect from you for all your evil you’ve done; it is similar to being forgiven for crime; you are forgiven but still must pay your debt to society. In this case you debt to God

Another reason God allows suffering is to show His power. Since things have gotten out of control since the Garden of Eden, God uses suffering to show the wonderful works of God. A blind man can see, a cripple man can walk, a deaf man can hear, a terminally ill woman is made whole, and the dead is raised to life. We see a doctor perform a life saving surgery and we praise and sit in awe of the doctor; but the doctor was created by God. God allows suffering to show the breathtaking works of God.

If you want to avoid suffering as much as possible I first recommend you make peace with God by going through Jesus Christ. Get in a good bible based organization, learn about the real Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, get baptized in the name of Jesus, and walk in His ways doubting nothing. If you do this I believe you’ve put yourself in the path of salvation and will eliminate a great deal of grief and affliction in your life. You now know a bit more why God allows suffering; use it as a spring board, study more, and then go help others.

Koko Ishe