"...whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." - John 4:14 KJV
Probably the question that pastors are most frequently asked is: “Why is there suffering?” or “How could a just and righteous God permit such suffering if He loves us?” Clearly, many unbelievers (as well as some believers) tendentiously fault God for all of their and others’ suffering. Ironically, they do so even though many of them avow that they do not believe in God. Similarly, many professing Christians blame the devil whenever unpleasant things happen, because they think that nothing they perceive as unpleasant can come from God. That is, they equate God’s goodness with pleasantness, which is not a right comparison. Such a comparison can be likened to equating goodness with temporal pleasure, which is patently erroneous.
There are no simple answers to the deeply troubling question “why has suffering here occurred?” but the devil is not always to blame. There are numerous reasons found in the Bible for bad things happening to good people, here are only three: 1. Justice, that is, the just consequences for sin and disobedience; 2. Refinement, through which the righteous loving Father purifies and disciplines His beloved children; 3. Trials and temptations brought by the devil.
Before exploring these three reasons, keep in mind that things that appear to be “blessing” can often come from the devil. Many believe that the devil stalks the earth only to stir up misfortune and pain. But the devil doesn't win by simply bringing pain and suffering upon people—this is not his ultimate objective. The devil only “wins” when people turn away from God, his enemy. For example, the devil did not win his battle with God over the suffering, righteous Job. The devil was most certainly routed by the suffering, passion, and shed blood of Jesus. In fact, the suffering of the righteous can give victory and glory to God, so frequently the devil has more success in his battles against God by giving favor to people than by causing suffering. Because the devil is the Father of Lies (John 8:44), he can create situations that appear to be from God, luring people into sin through their excessive complacency or material success. Also, he can reward some unbelievers for worshipping him even without his having to deceive or to disguise his identity. The devil does not win when you're merely hurt. He does not win the fight for your soul until you lose faith and completely reject God. But faithfulness in the face of suffering is glorifying to God, and is His victory. The devil would much prefer to see millions of healthy, prosperous people reject God than to see even a few suffering people praise God even to the point of death. The devil cajoles and flatters as well as hurts and threatens. He tried to tempt Jesus into sin in the wilderness by offering worldly rewards—“all the kingdoms of the world”, in fact. Of course, our Perfect Savior had the perfect response to the devil’s tests: Jesus spoke the Word to utterly subdue temptation of the material, worldly blessings offered by the devil: “…the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” (Mat 4:8-10 KJV)
In fact, the way that the devil usually gets what he wants from believers is by tempting, flattering, and indulging. As the Prince of this World (John 14:30), the devil can use the things of this world for his own evil purposes. He doesn’t come to bring hardship only, but also to deceive, persuade, and bring darkness which men love (John 3:19). The devil’s lie is that he, rather than God, is good. He comes to you as the Angel of Light (2 Cor 11:14) but he is the Father of Lies. The best way to sway believers is to give them things that human nature desires, leading them to the false belief that the world can satisfy and fulfill without God. People have created their own gods in the world, things that give them temporal comfort and pleasure, and have become faithful to their own gods instead of to the Creator (Ro 1:23-25). Jesus’ response to the devil’s scheme in the wilderness cannot be overemphasized: we must worship God and Him only.
The devil’s most powerful weapon is lies, not harm, loss, or pain. The devil never wins by simply causing misery. We know of the saints and prophets who magnify glory to God through praise and thanksgiving to Him in spite of great suffering (Ja 5:10). The devil only wins when people surrender to adversity or temptation, reject God, and say things such as “God is not almighty”, or “God is not good”, or “God speaks lies”, or “there is no God”. But where there is faith and thanksgiving in the face of harsh adversity, the victory and the glory is God’s, while the devil is trampled.
The Word has the power to protect believers from the devil’s wiles (Pr 30:5, Ep 6:11-17). We know God through His Word. The Word is the plain Truth of God. Succinctly, the Word is God (John 1:1). Although we do not always understand His ways, which are higher than our ways (Is 55:9), we know by the Word that He is absolutely just, and the Bible tells us that pain and suffering, although perplexing to us, can work for good.
In the Bible, some suffering occurs as consequences for sinfulness, as the fair result for sin and wrongdoing (Ex 34:7, De 32:35, Ps 94:1, 1Th 4:6, He 10:30). There have been severe consequences to sin since the first in Eden (Ge 3:16-19). And as blessing and favor can come from the wily devil, suffering and hardship can come from the righteous Judge. Understood almost intuitively, justice is perhaps the simplest answer to the enigma of suffering in the world, but of course it is not nearly the complete answer—suffering comes upon good people even when sin is not being visited. Although justice for wrongs committed is the immediate explanation given to Job by his counselors to explain his suffering, we know from the eponymous book that answers are not always so straightforward.
Another explanation for suffering is God’s discipline. As a parent disciplines a beloved child, God the benevolent Father disciplines those whom He loves (Pr 3:11-12, He 12:5-6, Re 3:19). God’s discipline is painful, but His discipline works for our good as it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (He 12:10-11).
In addition to discipline, trials of purification occur as Christ leads His chosen toward maturity and perfection (Php 8-14). God takes those whom He loves and refines them by trials into treasured beings that are compared to precious metals made pure, having dross and impurities removed by fire, but more precious than gold (Job 23:10, Ps 66:9-12, Pr 17:3, Is 1:25-26, Zec 13:9, Mal 3:2-3,1 Pe 1:7). In weakness and in trials we are made strong (2 Cor 12: 9-10, 1 Pe 5:10). Not only can the righteous expect to take up the cross when they follow the Lord, but the Bible says to rejoice in suffering (1 Pe 1:6). The man who perseveres under trial is blessed, especially considering the end purposed by the Lord that reveals His compassion and mercy (Ja 1:12, 5:11).
Now back to the devil, who is responsible for some of our painful ordeals. In the Bible, Job is perhaps the most powerful example of an upright person under assault by the devil. But even though Job loses his family, his property, and his health, the devil loses the battle to God because at no point does Job “curse God” as the devil had wagered (1:11, 2:5). The devil does not win when he hurts people—he wins when people turn away from God. But even after Job loses his family, Job does not reject God. Instead, Job praises God (1:20-21). Job’s faith during profound agony brought glory to God and silenced the devil!
In Revelation 2, Jesus warns that the devil will have innocent people of Smyrna cast into prison and persecuted. But these sorts of tests are risky to the devil, because if the target withstands the test, then glory goes to God, and the devil hates that. Although the devil can bring adversity upon good people in an effort to get them to turn away from God, he knows that in order to win, it doesn't suffice to just attack the prosperity, health, and property of people; he must crush their faith in God above all.
In his first epistle, Peter speaks of suffering caused by the devil. Peter says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pe 5:8-11 NKJV)
There is no simple answer to the enigma of suffering, certainly no answer that can fit into the space of this short article. But answers do exist, and the answers can be found in the Word. The spirit war between good and evil is much greater than us, although we easily forget that when we are suffering. Often suffering, while unpleasant to us, brings glory and victory to God—consider the ultimate victory that was won because of the excruciating suffering of Jesus! Our suffering is only temporary, but our reward is eternal and shows God’s mercy and compassion (Ja 5:11; Re 2:7, 3:21).
Ron Blevins
Originally published in The Living Water Letter, December 2003,
by Living Water of Washington DC.
Last revised: December 11, 2003.