SUFFERING: How God Wants to Reduce It TODAYSýnishorn

But Why Do Children & Innocent People Need to Suffer?

In our previous reading, we explored why Christians, who know what God wants but choose to disobey anyway, may suffer.

Now, we face the more challenging question of why those who have not heard the message of the Bible or are too young to understand must also suffer.

After all, if God is so good, why would He allow those who simply don't know His desires—or cannot know this—to suffer?

There are several possible answers. Firstly, the punishment for sin can affect families for generations, as God explained to Moses:

"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." – Exodus 34:6-7

Furthermore, the WHOLE EARTH is under the curse of sin, and so sickness and disaster are common all around the globe. No nation, family, or child is immune. Sin's power has pervaded all the earth. Only Jesus' second coming, the conquering of sin, death, and hell through His return, together with the renewal of all things, will finally put an end to all suffering.

You may wonder why—if we already have the message of Jesus and the power of forgiveness—we still must wait for the second coming before suffering ends. It hurts to wait; we don’t like it, and sometimes it leaves us wondering why God seems so absent.

Yet, as believers in Jesus and the saving power of the cross, we know that help is on the way. God cares, and we have a life hereafter; our time on earth is temporary:

"For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." – 2 Corinthians 5:4-5

Just as children go to school to learn, study, and face final exams to achieve their goals (even if they don‘t want to) so do we, as people on earth, endure trials and sufferings as a test of our faith, a refining fire, so that we too one day may achieve that which we seek.

I realize this may not be a fully satisfying answer to everyone, but I do know this: God has a plan already active TODAY to reduce suffering on this earth.

Really, it’s true!

Even better, we simply need to reach out and grasp it to make it happen. More on that in our next reading.