Atheists have long pointed to the suffering in the world as “proof” that God cannot exist – claiming that if God were all powerful and all loving, he would not let suffering occur. But to find the very simple answer to this dilemma of why suffering exists, we need only take a step back from the question and ask why do humans exist?
The Scriptures make it clear that humanity exists because God wishes to share everything he has with his human children (Romans 8:32) – for all eternity (John 10:28). But as C.S. Lewis wisely pointed out, God will not give eternal life to anyone who will make themselves and others eternally unhappy. The only way this can be achieved is to have a physical world in which people are born but cannot live forever unless they choose to live in a way that would make them and others happy – and then those people are given eternal life by God (1 Corinthians 15:49–52).
Once we understand this great purpose of human life and see that a temporary physical existence is necessary before we can be trusted with an endless spiritual existence, it is not difficult to see that while we are physical beings, we have to be capable of experiencing pain. If we were not, we would unknowingly put our hands on burning hot objects, or injure and destroy ourselves in any of hundreds of other ways. We have to be able to experience pain – suffering – in order to live in a temporary physical world.
Some may ask, “Wouldn’t it be better if people were not born rather than being born into a life with the potential to experience pain or suffering?” But we should ask ourselves if a newborn baby that has to be slapped on the bottom by the delivering doctor – in order for the sudden pain to jolt it into breathing – would choose not to experience years and years of potentially happy and fulfilling life just to avoid that initial few seconds of hurting?
In exactly the same way, our experience of pain during the relatively brief years of our physical lifetime will be ultimately well worth enduring for the painless eternity we are offered in the life after this one. This is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18 ). Paul goes on to explain this in more detail:
“For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:22–24 NLT).
So suffering had to be for a short time if we are to live eternally without causing ourselves or others ongoing pain. But we must also realize that in this life we bring much suffering on ourselves – we all sin, and sin inevitably leads to suffering. Other suffering is accidental, or caused maliciously by others.
But God does not just allow us to suffer and ignore the fact that we do. He understands that suffering may try our faith. But he knows that if we trust him and endure, our faith is made stronger for being tested (James 1:2–4). He even uses our suffering to help us. God may allow pain to help us turn to him, to examine ourselves, and to become more like him. Also, we cannot really learn true empathy and kindness by simply deciding to have these qualities – they often come only by seeing how we need them ourselves when we suffer. Paul says this explicitly: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). Even Jesus learned through what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8) and was able to become an understanding helper to us (Hebrews 4:15–16). When we experience suffering, we also learn more of the depth of the love of Christ who endured immeasurable suffering on our behalf.
And there is yet another, extremely important dimension to the suffering that the Christian may endure. From John the Baptist, who was beheaded (Matthew 14:1–12), to Jesus and the early apostles, the New Testament is full of examples of those who suffered righteously. But if we suffer as a result of our faith – through persecution of some kind – then, as Peter wrote, “you share the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 4:12). And as Paul reminds us, we will be rewarded for this: “we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17).
Of course, even those who are spared persecution in this life encounter suffering in one form or another – we all do. And when we do, we can not only be confident that this is the only way God could make the world for our eventual benefit, but also that God will use the suffering we endure, if we ask him, to guide and grow us now, and to bless and reward us in that future time when he will end humanity’s temporary suffering, and he “will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4 NLT). Our present sufferings are, indeed, nothing compared with what God plans to give us as a result of them.
