If God is all powerful and loving, why is there so much suffering in the world

If God is all powerful and loving, why is there so much suffering in the world

Why doesn't He just put a stop to it all?

Stes de Necker

It is often asked why is there suffering in the world if God is all powerful and loving.  Why doesn't He stop it?  Can He or is He weaker than we think? 

Suffering can fall into three simple categories: emotional, mental, and physical suffering.  But, there are a variety of causes for suffering:  morally corrupt (evil) people, disease, earthquakes, floods, famine, etc.

‘Earthquake Claims 10,000 in India.’ ‘Thousands Perish in Bangladesh’s Flood.’ Tragedy is constantly in the news, including large-scale, ‘senseless’ disasters that snuff out the lives of thousands, such as the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

Nor is tragedy confined to today—it wasn’t too long ago that an evil regime wiped out 6 million Jews and many others.

In addition to the headline events, each of us suffers pain at one time or another—illness, headaches, accidents and death. It’s not surprising, when the burdens become too great, that people cry out to God in anguish, ‘Why don’t you do anything? Don’t you care?’

This world is full of suffering and pain, and God does allow it. And while we may understand to a point why God had to allow suffering, why doesn’t he end it now? Why has he allowed it to continue so long? That is a troubling question.

A perfect and holy God created a perfect world. He “looked over all he made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way” (Genesis 1:31 nlt). Yet not for long.

Because of free will, humans had a choice of God’s way or their way. They chose their way, and sin and evil entered the world. The perfect paradise God had created was destroyed. And from that moment forward—multiplied thousands of years—hunger, disease, hatred, wars, and untold heartache have plagued the human race.

It is true God has promised to redeem those who trust in his Son for salvation and to restore creation back to his original design. But why is God taking so long to correct the tragic mess humans have made of this world?

We confess that we cannot satisfactorily explain why God has allowed suffering for as long as he has.

But why God is taking so long to end pain and suffering is truly a perplexing question. Over 2500 years ago Habakkuk, a prophet of Judah, had the same question. He lived at a time when Judah was violent and wicked, and many innocents suffered. The prophet asked, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! ‘Violence is everywhere!’ I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery?” (Habakkuk 1:1-3). It appeared to Habakkuk that God was ignoring the problem of pain and suffering.

Job had a similar complaint. He had a large stock of animals that were stolen, and all his farmhands were killed. His house was destroyed and all of his children died. He contracted a terrible case of boils from head to foot. And as he sat in misery scraping his running sores with broken pieces of pottery, the only comfort and advice he got from his wife was, “Curse God and die” ( Job 2:9).

Instead, Job cursed the day he was born and asked, “Why is life given to those with no future, those destined by God to live in distress?...I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes” ( Job 3:23,26 nlt). He could not understand why God would allow such suffering for those without a future.

King David had his questions for God too. He was misunderstood, mistreated, and betrayed, and he suffered at the hands of his enemies. He cried out, "O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?...Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!" (Psalm 13:1-3).

What is God’s answer? Why doesn’t he stop the madness? Today in the twenty-first century violence is everywhere. Life is also given to those with no real future. We see the misery and hopelessness of the starving and broken. Where is God? Why does he let it go on?

Even Jesus asked why. Jesus, who was very God and very man, also had the same question. He knew he was to suffer and die a cruel death for the sins of the world. Yet just before his crucifixion he prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39).

It is not strange that on a human level Jesus didn’t want to suffer. It is clear that he was struggling with the knowledge that he would experience great pain and suffering. Humanly he didn’t want to endure the torturous death of the cross—yet he would do it for his Father.

And hours later Jesus asks perhaps the most perplexing question of all time. While he is hanging on the cross, dying a hideous death, he musters the strength to ask, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46). What a question to come from the Son of God to his Father! Jesus was actually quoting Psalm 22:1, where King David asked that question. David followed up that question with, “Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” (Psalm 22:1-2).

It is as if Jesus spoke on behalf of the entire human race with this question: “Why, God, have you abandoned us?” It was as if his cry was amplified to echo back to the expulsion of the first couple from the Garden of Eden and forward to the end of time, asking, “Why don’t you do something about this now?”

We don’t know if or how God answered his Son on the cross. The questions of Habakkuk, Job, and David were left unexplained. Search all of Scripture and you will find very few answers. The apostle Peter suggests that God is waiting for more people to come to him. “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return,” Peter says. “No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent…the Lord is waiting so that people have time to be saved” (2 Peter 3:9,15).

Listen to what God said to Habakkuk. “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it” (Habakkuk 1:5).

Yes, he had a plan then and he still does. He had a reason for doing what he was doing, he just wasn’t going to explain it all to Habakkuk. Sure—God could explain to us today why there is suffering and why he is taking centuries to accomplish his ultimate goal of “reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

He could explain why he hasn’t yet recreated this world as a place where “there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). But he has chosen not to explain it to us. Yet that doesn’t mean we don’t have an answer.

It seems that God gave Habakkuk understanding of how he wanted him—and all of us—to respond.

Rather than trying to figure out the details of his plan, God wants us to focus on him as a person. He told Habakkuk that these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith (Habakkuk 2:3-4) 

There it is: God wants us to trust in him personally even if we don’t understand his plan.

Job finally got the same message—that he was to put faith in the person of God. Job said to him, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me” ( Job 42:2-3). And how did he come to the conclusion that God’s ways and his plans were beyond his comprehension? By knowing God the person. “I had only heard about you before,” Job said, “but now I have seen you with my own eyes” ( Job 42:5). His focus was no longer on a plan, but in a person whom he trusted to know what he was doing.

King David understood the message that he was to live by faith in the person of God, too. Right after he asked God, “Why have you abandoned me?” he declared, “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them…they trusted in you and were never disgraced” (Psalm 22:3-5). Read the entirety of Psalm 22 and you will find David got the message. He may not have understood why God delayed in making all things right, but he believed he was good and knew what he was doing. And while Jesus as God knew that his suffering was the only solution for sin, suffering, and death, he modelled for us what we must do—place our faith and trust in God, who does all things right in his right timing.

We may not understand God’s plan, but we can trust in his person. He is faithful and just and always judges rightly. And he is always with us. Jesus said, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” ( John 14:27).

He prayed to his Father to send us his Spirit—the Holy Spirit to guide us, comfort us, and be with us no matter what happens. Jesus said, “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Ultimately, God is allowing evil in the world for a purpose, otherwise, he would not let it exist.

Therefore, we must trust Him that He knows what He is doing.