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Your Question:
Is God still good even in the midst of suffering?
Answer:
As a pastor and a person of faith, I've had to grapple with this question many times. The Bible teaches us that God is sovereign over all things, including suffering. He brings death and makes alive, poverty and wealth, and humbles and exalts. (1 Sam. 2:67, Isa. 45:7) This means that nothing happens apart from His oversight, including our suffering. While it's natural to wonder why God allows suffering, the Christian perspective is that it's not a contradiction to God's goodness. In fact, suffering can be a great apologetic for our faith. It shows that we have hope for a better end, and intimacy with God now. The weight of glory that we will experience in heaven is so great that it's beyond comparison with the suffering we endure in this life. As Paul says, the sufferings of this life cannot even be compared to the glory that God will bestow upon His children in heaven. In Romans 8:28, it says that God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. The good that He works is not necessarily the absence of suffering, but rather the conformity of our lives to the likeness of His Son. This is what we are intended to be, and suffering can be a means of achieving this. So, even in the midst of suffering, we can still say, "God is good to me!"
Sources:
on guard
william lane craig
warranted christian belief
alvin plantinga
depression
edward welch
confronting christianity
rebecca mclaughlin
old testament theology
waltke
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