Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is Psalm 22:1-11.
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Why do we suffer?
Before we even begin to answer that question we have to acknowledge that people asking this question, ourselves included, ask this question often out of deep pain and suffering that can just feel so senseless.
How could a good and loving God allow such suffering?
My grandmother was such a lovely lady, such a strong believer in her Lord, Jesus Christ, ... why did she have to suffer for so many years until her death? She deserved better.
How can a loving God watch as children die, wars break out, injustice is tolerated, and people are valued based on the money in their bank accounts, the colour of their skin, or how well they did in school? How can a loving God watch as people are treated as less-than-human because they are deemed "different"?
These are big questions, and there are so many more. Before we even attempt to answer why God allows such suffering we have to acknowledge that. We have to acknowledge people's pain, their suffering, their cries for help. Any answer about why God allows suffering doesn't take away from the fact that suffering is real and in need of a pastoral response. Sometimes we might quote Romans 8:28 when the person really just needs someone to cry with them, to listen to them, to be with them so that they might know and experience the love of God in their suffering.
On Sunday, as we look at this question, there are many ways that we could talk about suffering and why a good and loving God can allow suffering. But, for the purpose of time and clarity we will have to focus on one way to answer that question. It's popular, even among some Christians, to say that God isn't behind evil, that God had nothing to do with it. And we are going to look at why saying that is such bad news. (Now this doesn't mean that God is the cause of evil -- He is not). Rather, we will look at why there is good news in affirming that God not only allows evil, but even ordains it.
The only way we can come to a satisfying answer about why God allows suffering, we will find, is when we affirm God's sovereignty and his "big-ness" and our limitations.
It's not an easy answer to come to. We will still have questions. But, I pray, also a much bigger understanding of who God is and His amazing love for us.
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In preparation for Sunday I invite you to read (or look at):
Genesis 37-50, Job, Habakkuk, Psalm 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 22, 23, ... (Psalms that deal with suffering, and there are many more), 2 Corinthians 11:11-33, Philippians 3:1-4:1.
Also, you can click on this link to go to the search results for "suffering" on the Gospel Coalition website to see some answers to the question of why we experience suffering.