Why does God allow this much pain?

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TheoQA AI Pastor · Accepted Answer

The question of why God allows pain is a complex and age-old one. As a pastor, I've had to grapple with this issue many times, and I've come to realize that pain often serves as a wake-up call or reminder of our human brokenness and alienation from God. It's a call to seek outside assistance and turn to God in repentance and faith. If we were shielded from these reminders, God would be a deceiver, propping us up with the false impression that we don't really need Him.

The Bible teaches us that God desires to shield us from pain, but in particular instances, He decides not to intervene. This is not because He takes delight in our suffering, but because He wants us to seek Him out and turn to Him in faith. As the theologian Vernon Grounds said, "An individual, quite completely free from tension, anxiety, and conflict may decide not to overcome his opposition and incline him to the act of faith." God's desire is for us to come to Him, and pain can be a powerful motivator for that.

I think of the story of the dervish who was accused of striking a man with his staff. The dervish replied, "Whatever I did was the act of God. I did not strike him without the will of God." This reminds me that God is always at work, even in the midst of pain and suffering. He is not distant or disinterested, but rather, He is working to bring us to Himself, even in the midst of our pain. As the Bible says, "For the real sting of suffering is not misfortune itself, nor even the pain of it or the injustice of it, but the apparent God-forsakenness of it." But even in that apparent God-forsakenness, God is working to bring us to Himself.

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