Why does God allow suffering?
If you’ve ever wrestled with this question, you’re not alone. I’m right there with you.
Many Christians struggle to reconcile their faith with the harsh realities of pain and hardship—especially when other Christians and non-Christians don’t seem to be experiencing the same sort of difficulties.
And that changes the question ever so slightly, doesn’t it?
No longer is the question, Why does God allow suffering? Instead, it’s, Why is God allowing me to suffer? Or, Why is God allowing my loved one to suffer?
Those are hard questions!
Questions we want clear and definitive answers to. Questions made even more difficult because God doesn’t give us explicit answers to them in his Word.
As much as I want him to, God doesn’t say to me, “Alex, I’m allowing you to suffer for this exact reason . . .”
What did God say to Job when the sinful man pressed his Creator, demanding answers for his suffering?
Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:2-7)
And those are just God’s opening questions. He uses the rest of chapter 38 to remind Job that he is God—not Job.
Nothing happens without God’s allowance. Everything is under his control. Even suffering. Even hardship. Even pain.
But God doesn’t allow those things to happen without cause—that’s not the sort of God he has revealed himself to be in his Word!
So, what is God using suffering—mine and yours as Christians—to accomplish?
God uses suffering to draw us closer to him, to keep our gaze fixed on the cross of Christ, and to keep us totally dependent on him and what he has done for us.
And as God uses suffering, he gives us this unbreakable promise in his Word: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
In all things. Even suffering. God works those things for our good—our eternal good—drawing us closer to him. Dear Christian, we know this by Spirit-worked faith alone.
Our reason and experiences tell us that suffering is awful, but God tells us that when we suffer as Christians, it is for our good.
We wrestle with that daily!
A book that has really helped me understand these scriptural truths is Peter: Theologian of the Cross by Michael Berg.
In the author’s own words about what he wanted to accomplish in writing the book: “I hope that, in the end, you will see that God works on you and that no matter where you are in life, even in the midst of suffering, God has you right where you need to be. He is working on you. He is making you a theologian of the cross” (Peter: Theologian of the Cross, Northwestern Publishing House, p. 4).
Berg uses the apostle Peter’s story—his impulsivity in the gospels and humble words in his epistles—to help readers learn what God is doing in apparent weakness and even in suffering. More than that, it’s a master class in what it means to be a Christian in this sin-darkened world.
If you’d like to learn more about how God is at work in your life, shaping you into a theologian of the cross, you can check out the book below.
Follow the apostle Peter’s dramatic transformation in Peter: Theologian of the Cross. Find solace and strength and know that God is at work in your life, even in times of hardship. Discover a faith that not only endures suffering but also finds profound meaning within it.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House and a 2023 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. He enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation with his family.
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