What About Suffering?Sýnishorn

Why is God so slow? Why do we have to wait thousands of years for the world to be free from suffering, pain, and evil? Why is God so slow to heal our loved ones and overturn evil regimes?

Jesus tells His followers a parable about a farmer who sows some seeds. An enemy comes in the night and sows weeds among the wheat. What’s the farmer going to do when he finds out? The farmer decides to wait; pulling the weeds up before the wheat has grown would destroy his harvest.

One of the guys who heard that parable went on to write a letter to churches that were wondering why it was taking Jesus so long to get rid of suffering. Peter, the guy who wrote the letter, explains that God isn’t being slow; He’s being patient. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but He wants everyone, who are like rebellious children who’ve run away from home, to return to Him and live.

Judgment is the means by which the world will be freed from suffering. You might know the story of the Israelites escaping their oppressive enslavers in Egypt, following Moses through the sea. It happened because God judged Egypt. What was judgment for Egypt was freedom for Israel.

It’s going to be the same with us. What’s judgment for the weed is freedom for the wheat. The problem is, we aren’t the wheat. Which of us hasn’t hurt someone close to us? If God removed all our suffering, how long would we last before we brought it back? How long could we keep up choosing love before we return again to convenience, a mean comment, or a tasty bit of gossip? Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and then the priests started making plans to make him dead again.

We might not realise it, but suffering isn’t our biggest problem. Suffering is a side effect of our biggest problem. We’ve rejected the God who made us and His ways with our own fickle fancies. Until this problem is solved, suffering can only ever be relieved, not removed.

God has made a way for our fickle hearts to die with Jesus and for us to receive life instead of death, a heart that loves God instead of a hardened heart. We’re living in a time of amnesty. God withholds His judgment, patiently waiting for us to turn and live.

It’s easy for us to recognise the problems in the rest of the world. It’s harder to see them in ourselves. Are you asking God to do something about the world without including yourself in its list of problems? What aspects of your character do you want God to make new?