Spiritual guidance powered by AI and grounded in Scripture
Your Question:
Why does God allow us to suffer when we're trying to follow Him?
Answer:
As a pastor, I've had to grapple with this question many times. It seems that God allows us to suffer, not to punish us, but to refine us. He uses suffering to expose our inadequacy and drive us to cling to Him more closely. This is the ultimate reason why God fills our lives with troubles and hardships. But why does God allow us to suffer when we're trying to follow Him? I believe it's because He wants to strengthen us in our faith. He wants us to gain greater ability to trust Him and resist sin in the challenging path of obedience. We see this clearly in the life of Jesus, who learned obedience through what He suffered. He was made perfect through suffering, and we too can be made perfect through our sufferings. It's not that God causes the suffering, but He is gracious and loving enough to make it count. He will use our suffering for our good, to strengthen us and make us more like Him. I've seen this in my own life, and in the lives of those I've counseled. When we're faced with suffering, we have a choice: we can turn away from God, or we can turn to Him in trust and faith. And it's in those moments of trust and faith that we discover God's love and provision, even in the midst of suffering.
Sources:
depression
edward welch
warranted christian belief
alvin plantinga
jesus on trial
david limbaugh
god
j i packer knowing
systematic theology
wayne grudem
raising passionate jesus followers
phil diane comer
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