For me to understand pain and human suffering and especially in the Christian context, I had to come to two realizations.
Realization One. Sin brought pain.
Because of the choice made by our first parents in the garden of Eden, pain and suffering had a red carpet rolled out for them. Any woman who has screamed or cried during child birth can thank Eve for that. Any man who is frustrated by his job and his salary can salute Adam for that.
Realization number Two. God ALONE gives the okay or go ahead for pain to happen.
Humans can dish out pain on each other and the devil can inflict pain on innocent people ONLY if God allows it!
God is the pain referee. He is the only one who can blow the whistle to stop the inflictors from continuing to harm their victims. Let me explain.
After Adam and Eve sinned, God declared judgement on them. Adam was never just going to stroll through a beautiful orchard and eat whatever fruit he wanted. Even the chickens that used to come when he called were not going to be so easy to catch anymore. He would have to give chase and sweat and get frustrated before he could grab his dinner.
Pain free childbirth was lost even before it was ever experienced. Eve was promised a bit of hollering.
So, God did not cause the pain- He ALLOWED it. In other words, God was saying “You guys were having it easy when you did it my way, but now, since you value your independence so much, I am going to let you carry the consequences of your choices.”
Allow me a few more examples.
In the book of Job, we see that the Devil had to seek permission to hurt Job. The Devil has no authority to just run around and do whatever he wants-he must run his plans by the all knowing, all powerful God first. If the Almighty says “okay, do whatever you want but don’t kill him” The devil will squeal in delight and come at you with everything he can muster. But if God says “nada!” Then the poor devil shrivels hangs his head low and takes off sulking. We all know the answer that God gave in Job’s case!
The example of Jesus. In the gospels, we see the mob and Pharisees try to kill Jesus several times but they fail. A simple explanation is given for this- ‘because his hour had not yet come.’ What that statement means is that God had not given the go ahead…. Just yet. God delayed His consent so that Jesus could first accomplish what He needed to do. The point here is God has the last word.
The example of Paul. Paul had a “ thorn in his flesh” He asked God several times to take it away but God said, ”Nah, just hang in there with it Paul, you will be fine!” Do you see that? God didn’t give the pain, but He ALLOWED it to be there and to STAY there!
There are many other examples, but let me give one more. Dictators. Horrible rulers who kill and oppress fellow human beings. Herod, Hitler, Idi Amin and millions of others. Guess who let’s them come to power? Our loving God. God himself says that he sets up and topples rulers. He raises up Kingdoms and Kings and he brings them down. He ‘allows’ these horrible rulers to come to power and rule.God DOES NOT like or approve what they do, but he LET’S them inflict pain on others. We will explain why in a bit. Right now the main point that I want you to grasp is that God ALLOWS pain into our lives. I hope those are enough examples to drive that point home.
To answer the why God allows pain question, one of the things we have to look at is purpose. Yes, pain and purpose are not strange bed fellows. They go quite well together like bread and meat. And in God’s case, the end justifies the means. Let me explain that last statement. If God thinks (KNOWS!) that some kind of pain will fulfill his purposes- guess what? Somebody is about to start hurting Big time!
Let’s look at Job’s story again. The devil comes to give an account of himself to God ( and to probably seek permission to inflict some pain on some hapless people!) and after inquiring about the devil’s latest travel itinerary, God asks the fallen angel whether he had noticed Job. For those of you who are slow, God was basically bragging on Job. In essence what God was saying was “ Do you see how Job brings me glory?” And the devil in his wickedly sly style finds an opportunity to slip in and find a means to satisfy his sadistic nature. He tells God that his theory for why Job was so faithful is because God had put a “ hedge of protection about him.” You know how the rest of the story goes but there is one point I want you to see. Why did God allow it? Because God KNEW this was a perfect chance for His glory to be displayed. God in his omniscience knew that Job was going to remain faithful despite the calamities and tragedies that the devil was going to bring onto him! So it pleased God almighty to let Job be smitten with physicall, emotional and material disaster. Pain. Absolutely Raw Pain! In the end, God got the last laugh. He got all the glory from Job’s afflictions!
Let’s look at Jesus’ story again. Why did Jesus die? Why was God’s own son condemned to the worst kind of death at the time? Why did God ALLOW (remember this word?) His beloved and only begotten Son to be crucified? So that sinners might be saved,right? For what end? For what reason? What’s the purpose here? We said that God uses pain for His purposes. So for what purpose did God use His own son’s death? Same answer as in Job’s case- For His Glory!! Get it?
We who are sinners give God glory for sending His only begotten Son to save us through His death on the cross! So guess who get’s the last laugh again? God. His glory shines brightest when the peoples of the earth considers the death of Christ on the cross! We PRAISE ( read give glory) God for sending us His son Jesus to die for us. He get’s glory for the suffering and death of His Son!
Hmmm.. now I know what some of you guys are starting to think. Is God an ego maniac who would go to great lengths just to have His glory displayed? Does He regard my life and feelings as just a means for an ego boost? I thought God was love? So why do I get the feeling that my pain is being merely USED for God’s glory? Let’s look at these questions in the next blog……. TO BE CONTINUED!
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