God's Love Doesn't Negate the Possibility of Suffering
God’s Love Doesn’t Negate the Possibility of Suffering
How do we reconcile God’s love and suffering? We can gain some understanding by looking at how Jesus related to his Father, God.
Let’s look at what God said to Jesus at his baptism. If I had to imagine what God might say to Jesus in that moment, it would be something like, "I have called you to save the world. It will require all that you have, and so I send you forth!" That's a very task oriented message and it shows a bit of who I am: task oriented.
But to the contrary, Jesus' Father wasn't task oriented at all. He was very relational and affirming, saying:
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11
God established his relationship with Jesus as one of love and acceptance.
Can God's Love Allow Suffering?
What's striking to me is what follows in the very next sentence:
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. Mark 1:12,13
God immediately put Jesus in a place of suffering, isolation, and temptation. The mention of the wild animals just added to the scary and unpredictable nature of being in the wilderness.
It's hard for many people to grasp that God allows suffering. In their mind, suffering negates the possibility of God's love for them. They are convinced that if God loves them he will never let bad things happen to them. When bad things do happen they are quick to question and doubt God's love, if not his very existence. Their faith rises and falls on their circumstances. They feel close to God when things are good. They feel far from God when things are bad.
But Jesus’ life showed the tension that exists between God’s love and a broken world. Yes, God loves us but a broken world causes us all to walk through times of pain.
Someday God will set all things right. He will judge the wicked and reward the righteous. There will be no more death or sickness. All suffering will cease. But until then, his only promise is to be with us in our suffering, not rescue us from all suffering. Bad things will happen and we need to come to terms with this reality.
God's Love Doesn’t Guarantee We Won’t Suffer
When Jesus walked the earth his healings and miracles were not guarantees that all believers would experience these things on earth. They were only a promise of the hope Jesus offered his believers who followed him to the end of time. His miracles were a snapshot of heaven to come.
God’s Love Sustains Us In Suffering
Notice how the text above ends by saying that angels attended Jesus. That means they served him or supported him during his temptations so he could overcome the temptations.
You see, it's in the hard times that we become aware of the reality of God the most. God wants to prove his faithfulness to us and have us prove to ourselves that, with his help, we can face anything.
If you are going through a hard time right now, I want to encourage you to trust that Jesus is with you to comfort you, guide you, and sustain you through it. He has even sent his angels to support you.
Father, I pray for the person reading this today who is suffering and feels abandoned by you. Help them to sense your presence and see your work in their lives in spite of the pain. Give them the ability to endure their trial and the wisdom to know what to do. Amen.
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