Why does God allow suffering?

This post comes as a result of a question that was presented to me by a young teen aged girl several years ago. She observed all of the problems that are taking place in our world, and as a result she asked me, “If God is real, why is there so much suffering in the world?” It’s easy to relate to this question, because there is just so much wickedness going on. So then, I wish to answer the question, “Why does God allow suffereing?”

My purpose in this is to provide understanding of God's righteous judgment, and to show how sin effects our every day lives.

Human Suffering Started in Eden

 

1st we need to understand how it all got started. Genesis 2:15-17 says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest there of thou shalt surely die.” This is where all of our problems began. The problems, however, didn't begin with the command, but rather, they begin with what the 1st man did with the command.
 

Again, Genesis tells us that God planted the garden of Eden and then he put the man there in the garden (verse 15). The word garden carries important implications with it. The word garden is actually an English translation of the Hebrew word gan, which is derived from another Hebrew word -Hebrew, the word ganan which means; to hedge about, to protect, to defend and to be fenced in. So, what verse 15 actually implies is that when God placed Adam in the garden, he also placed Adam under his Protection. Adam was fenced in and hedged about with God's protection as long as he resided in the garden.
 

God, however, when creating Adam; didn't create him to be a brainless zombie. God gave him a mind of his own. Having created Adam this way, God gave him the choice to be obedient or to be disobedient. God provided Adam with everything that he needed, and all he had to do to keep the blessings of God; was to be obedient to God's command. The book of Genesis goes on to tell us that Adam disobeyed by eating of the forbidden fruit. And as a result, Adam did eventually die, but on the day that he ate of that tree he experienced spiritual death (that is to say, spiritual separation from God) and God put him and his wife out of the garden. By putting him out of the garden, God took away that fence or hedge of protection. And mankind has had nothing but problems ever since, because we have all inherited the sin nature of Adam. 

 

God gave Adam a choice … obey and live with my protection, or disobey and die without my protection. Adam made the wrong choice. Sin entered in, and with it came every kind of evil and affliction. And we are still suffering the consequences of Adam's decision. This is the origin of why there is suffering in this world.

 

From that point on, it became a necessity for mankind to offer atoning animal sacrifices in order to make peace with God, but as the earth’s population grew; many made no such attempts at peace with God. Evil and corruption grew rampant. So much so, that God destroyed all of mankind in the great flood, with the exception of Noah and his family who were spared in the Ark. 
 

After this, Noah and his sons and their wives again repopulated the earth. And again, evil and wickedness grew rampant. God, however, desired to give man another chance to make peace with him; not just through animal sacrifices, but also through obedience to his righteous commandments. So, he chose the children of Israel to be the people who would reveal sin and demonstrate righteousness to the nations. And in them, we have yet another example of how sins cause suffering. After delivering the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, God spent 40 years preparing them for entrance into the promised land - a land described as “overflowing with milk and honey.” This land was, in fact, their Garden of Eden.

Its all about Choices (Wrong Choices Bring Suffering)

 

God was going to bless Israel, as he had blessed Adam. But 1st, he prepared them by giving them thorough instructions in righteousness. And then, He gave them a choice, just as he gave Adam a choice. Deuteronomy 11:26 says, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God …” The choice was theirs. They could obey and experience the blessings of God, or they could disobey and suffer the curse. God was offering them that hedge/fence of protection, just as he had offered Adam. 

At first, they did pretty well, but as time passed they allowed evil influences to take over. They became very disobedient, and just as Adam was put out of the garden, the children of Israel were taken away from the promised land … their Garden of Eden. Their decisions to continue in sins, brought about their sufferings and destruction. As it was for Adam, and as it was for Israel, so it is for all, and it happens on multiple levels (more on that shortly). 

How did it get so bad?

 

But, how did they manage to let things get so out of control? The answer to that question can be found in Numbers 14:18, which says “The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the integrity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” The answer is generational curses! This is how it all got our of control for the Israelites, and this is also how it has gotten so out of control for the rest of us.
 

As we saw previously, in Deuteronomy chapter 11, God revealed sin and righteousness and gave them a choice between the two. In Numbers chapter 14 (above), He is revealing the true consequences of sin and iniquity. There, in verse 18, we are told that the LORD visits or avenges the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.
 

In other words, it boils down to God basically saying this (I'm adding my own words for clarity and emphasis); Cat if you disobey my commandments ( which are for your good), I won't stop you. If you really want to live a life of sin, I will let you; but the consequences of your actions will fall on you, on your children, and on your children's children, and on and on until someone breaks the cycle.

This is exactly what happened to the children of Israel. Over time the consequences of their actions snowballed until they were removed from the land ( temporarily of course).

And exactly how did the LORD go about bringing those consequences to pass? He did it by removing He hedge of protection. Having that hedge of protection taken away from them not only allowed any nations to attack and defeat them, but it also allowed Satan and his demonic forces to attack and defeat them. Never forget that Satan is behind anything that has to do with bringing down God's people. But he is very limited to what he can do when God's hedge of protection is in place. That's why he's always working so hard to cause us to disobey God's commandments.

Our Enemy is Among Us

 

Satan was there in the garden of Eden influencing Adam to disobey God. He was there in the promised land influencing the children of Israel to disobey God. And I proclaim to you this day that the devil and his demonic forces are right here amongst us everyday, influencing us to be disobedient and walk contrary to God's wise commandments. I'm referring to both Christians and non-Christians alike, because Satan's goal is to keep Christians from growing and receiving the blessings of God, while preventing non-Christians from receiving God's gift of salvation in the first place.
 

Just like Adam and the people of Israel, we have access to God hedge of protection. And again, just like Adam and the people of Israel, Satan is actively working to ensure that God hedge of protection is never put in place. Today, God has provided not just one nation, but the entire world with a more perfect way to make peace with Him. He has given us His Son, Jesus Christ, to be a much better atonement sacrifice for sins. Nevertheless, He still requires obedience to his righteous commands.

Wide Spread Sufferings are due to an Entanglement of Curses

 

As Christians, we have a spiritual hedge of protection that has been made available to us through Jesus Christ, but this is not to say that we will not have afflictions and persecutions – we will, because sins are in the world. And because sins are in the world, curses (generational or otherwise) are also in the world and they are intricately entangled in today's society. In order to understand this entanglement, we need to understand the different levels of generational curses.
 

The 1st of these levels is the governmental level (referring to national, state or city governments), and it happens as a result of corrupt rulers. An example of this curse operating on this governmental level can be found in the well-known story of King David and Bathsheba (II Samuel 12). 
 

One day, David saw Bathsheba bathing herself. He liked what he saw, and he inquired of others to know who she was. And he was informed that she was Bathsheba the wife of Uriah. At this point, David should have taken a step backwards, but instead, he sent messengers to bring her to him. He lay with her, and she got pregnant. David knew that he had created a mess. So, he tried to cover it up by calling Uriah out a battlefield with hopes that he would lay with his wife, Bathsheba, and therefore come to believe that the baby was his. When that didn't work, David caused Uriah to be killed in battle.
 

David thought that he had gotten away with it, until about a year later when the Prophet Nathan confronted him and informed him of the curses that were coming his way. One of the things that he told David was that “by this deed (by this great sin) you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” In other words, he was informing David that because of his sin, those who hate God had been given a reason to blaspheme and despise him all the more (he became an excuse for sinning). All sort of problems came upon David and upon Israel, as a whole, because of his sins.

It's the same way today. If our nation's president (state's governor, city mayor) is wicked, that wickedness will bleed down into many of his subordinates and then down to the people. And when governments are corrupt, the people suffer. This is the situation all around the world, and it's one reason why there is so much suffering in the world. It's all because of the choices that mankind as a whole makes.
 

The 2nd level of generational curses operate at the family level, and an example of this can also be found in the story of David and Bathsheba. The judgment pronounced against the house of David in II Samuel, chapter 12 was that evil will rise up against him out of his own house, and that the sword would not depart from his house, and that his neighbor would lie with his wives in the sight of the sun, and that the child which was born out of his affair with Bathsheba would die.
 

It all came to pass. God’s hedge of protection was lifted and David’s family paid a bitter price because of his sins. As prophesied, his 1st child by Bathsheba died. His son, Amnon, raped his half-sister (David's daughter), Tamar. His other son, Absalom, killed Amnon for raping Tamar. Later, Absalom tried to take over his father's kingdom, tried to have his father (David) killed, had a tent spread on the roof of the palace where he laid with David’s wives in view of everyone, and then finally Absalom was killed in the ensuing battle. What a horrible price to pay.
 

And just as the sins of David affected his family, your sins and my sins also have an effect on our perspective families. Some sins produce bigger problems than others, but Satan will take whatever he can get, and he will use it to block God’s blessings for your family or even to go so far as to kill you and your family, if possible. When we choose to be disobedient to the Word of God, we automatically give the devil the legal right to attack us and our families. 
 

For example: because of the sins of a drug dealer, the whole family could end up dead over a drug deal gone wrong. If you allow yourself to watch corrupt things on TV or listen to corrupt music, Satan will use those things to warp your way of thinking, and if he can warp your thinking, it can cause you to sin against God. If you like to spend your time watching pornography, don't be surprised when the devil has your (present or future) marriage turned upside down. Contrary to popular belief, pornography is not good for your marriage, because the devil will have your eyes and mind everywhere except on your husband or wife. Satan will take whatever you give him. And if he succeeds in destroying the family, he also succeeds in gaining other foot holes that can be used to influence the thought of the ex-husband, the ex-wife, and the children must grow up without their mother or father in their lives. And thus, the sufferings continue. This is yet another reason why there is so much suffering in the world.
 

The third level of the curses operation happens on the individual level. David had to endure many heart aches and pains as a result of his great sin. His baby boy died. His daughter (Tamar) was raped by his son (Amnon). His other son (Absalom) killed Amnon for raping her. Absalom later attempted to kill David and take over his kingdom, and he laid with David’s wives, in a tent that was placed on the roof of the palace so that everyone could see. And finally, Absalom was killed in battle.
 

All of these things happened as a direct result of David’s great sin. He endured years of heart ach because of what he did. And it’s the same for you and me. You may still be suffering because of some bad decision you made years ago, even as I am. But no matter what your past sins may be, there is good news. The Word of God informs us that David repented and that God forgave him. He admitted himself that he was worthy of death, but because he repented he was told “The Lord has put away thy sin, thou shall not die.” If you are unsaved or unrepentant death is knocking at your door, but if you will follow David’s example; by repenting of your sins, and also by receiving Christ as both Savior and Lord, God will do for you what he did for David. He will forgive you.

Victory in the Midst of Suffering

 

But even so, we must remember that the earthly consequences of mankind's collective decisions are still with us. We still must endure sufferings (I am a prime example of that), but even these things can be used for good, if we work towards pleasing God. We saw an example of curses operating on all three main levels through the biblical story of King David and Bathsheba. And when he was confronted, he repented and God forgave him, but still as a result of his great sin, great turmoil came upon the nation of Israel, upon his family, and of course upon him personally. 
 

All of this is applicable to mankind today. We suffer because of past decisions, but if we will follow David’s example by repenting and turning to God, those same negatives can be turned into positives. See, David's sin created a great big mess in his life, but in spite of all that, God took David's great big mess and turned into something beautiful. A large portion of the book of Psalms was written by David and some of the greatest Psalms came from this experience. And, as most of us know, we are still reaping the benefits of his writings some 3000 years later. In spite of the bad reputation David create for himself, when he became old and when he died, he was then and is still now celebrated as a humble man of God.
 

And, just as God took David's mess and turned it into something beautiful; he can take your mess and turned it into something beautiful, … no matter what your mess maybe. On the other hand, there might be someone reading who has been victimized in some form or fashion. Whatever the situation may be, it is important that you realize; Satan will use that scar in your life to render you useless to the kingdom of God and even make you more useful to his kingdom of darkness, if you let him. And, whatever your situation may be, God can take it and make something beautiful, if you let him. He can take the devil’s own mess and use it against him, for the benefit of the kingdom of God. Suffering most certainly does exist in our world, but God can give us victory in the midst of suffering.

 

In conclusion, mankind has the option to either obey God and be blessed, or to disobey him and the cursed. And such curses can be passed on from generation to generation (from parents to children to children and on and on) until the cycle is broken. This is a cycle of curses known as generational curses, and we have seen how they are intricately entangled with one another. It is this entanglement of curses, operating on multiple levels (through government, family, and individuals) that enables Satan to work freely and that causes every kind of suffering and evil doing to manifest. It’s all about the choices that we as a whole have made.

Lets Make Right Choices!

 

Now for the young people out there that have been blessed not to have had any major harm done to yourselves as of yet; the Word of God has friendly advice for you also. Ecclesiastes 11:9 says, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”

In other words, the Word of God is saying to you (I'm paraphrasing), “If you want to do things your way and not God's way, go ahead and do it. If you want to follow the in crowd; go ahead, knock yourself out. But know this. You will suffer the consequences of your actions, one way or another.” 

Sins can be forgiven, but consequences stick. So, I would advise you to be obedient to God's wise commands. After all, there are already enough generational curses going around without your help, and these curses are at work on all levels. 

This lets us know that we absolutely will have trials, and tribulations, and sufferings in this world. Satan comes for no other reason but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. So, my advice to you is … don't help him! Instead, turn to the salvation and wisdom that can only be found in Jesus Christ, because He is the one who came that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. It's all about the choices that we make.