What good is a God who lets us suffer so much?

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TheoQA AI Pastor · Accepted Answer

When I think about a God who lets us suffer, I'm reminded that He is sovereign over all things. He brings death and makes alive, and He is the one who sends poverty and wealth, humbles and exalts. This doesn't mean that He causes the suffering, but rather that He is gracious and loving enough to make it count for our good. Just like how an ostrich may be awkward and can't fly, but it can outrace a majestic steed, God may be showing us that He superintends everything, that He cares, and that He is perfectly fair and just.

As I reflect on this, I'm reminded of the concept of a suffering God who voluntarily opens Himself to the possibility of being affected by His creatures. This is an accepted suffering, a free suffering of love, as opposed to an unwilling suffering. Without such suffering, we cannot speak of a God of love. And it's in this suffering that we can come to know God, the locus of infinite goodness and love. The sufferings of this life cannot even be compared to the weight of glory that is placed on His children in heaven, where we will experience an incomparable good, the fulfillment of human existence.

For me, the answer to the question of evil is Jesus Christ. God suffered with us when He didn't have to. He was so intent on creating us that He subjected Himself to the world of suffering necessitated by our infusion with (and abuse of) free will. Christianity is the only religion in which God suffers along with us. And to suffer and die is the very reason Christ came into the world, as Bishop Fulton Sheen explains, because His death was necessary for our salvation. In this, I find comfort and peace, knowing that God's love and goodness are not just words, but a reality that I can experience in the midst of suffering.

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