The number one question right now among evangelical Christians is why do bad things happen to good people.

Tonight we will look at this question and how should a Christian respond to pain and suffering this week.

Many people ask these questions. I have asked them myself. When I was a sophomore in high school I had my aunt and my great aunt both pass away within two weeks. I asked God why did this have to happen. I saw family members who loved God with all of their heart be diagnosed with cancer, and die from it. Where was God in these situations. Where was God when my dad was laid off when I was in high school? WHY!!!

You see before we can say someone is good we must first get all philosophical and ask well who is really good… What makes someone good…

Pain and Suffering as A Consequence of Sin

Like when I talk with someone about salvation. I hear many times well I’m going to heaven because I’ve lived a good life. I end up telling them good isn’t enough with out Christ. You would have to be perfect, but none of us our because our sin. Like it or not some of the things that cause us pain and suffering are because of our sin. Sin has consequences. We might see consequences for our sin way down the line, if they aren’t immediate. Sometimes sin causes pain and suffering. In the old Testament we see David and Bathsheba loosing their son that a product of the infidelity that occurred between them after he looked on her and that whole incident occurred. In the New Testament the disciples asked Jesus about a blind man and asked well, who sinned was it him or his parents. Am I saying that every person that has pain and suffering in their life is because of their sin? No. We see examples in the bible that sometimes God allows things to happen to grow us.

You might be thinking, but God loves me. Yes he does and this is why sometimes things like this happen. But before we look at this we must look at the fact that we narrow the scope of the way that we view God. We look at God the way we want him to be instead of the way that he actually is. In today’s culture we see as God as someone who serves us, not someone whom we REALLY SERVE. We don’t view God as GOD! God is so much higher that we are. God can DO WHATEVER HE WANTS because he is God, but we don’t want to accept that. We see him as a genie, not as YAHWEH, JEHOVAH, the Alpha and Omega. We do not only a disservice to God when we do this, but also a disservice to ourselves. God is so much bigger that we can imagine, we are to serve him not him serve us.

Calvin says of the Majesty of God, “We must be persuaded not only that as he once formed the world, so he sustains it by his boundless power, governs it by his wisdom, preserves it by his goodness, in particular, rules the human race with justice and judgment, bears with them in mercy, shields them by his protection; but also that not a particle of light, or wisdom, or justice or power, or rectitude, or genuine truth, will anywhere be found, which does not flow from him, and of which he is not the cause; in this way we must learn to expect and ask all things from him, and thankfully ascribe to him whatever we receive.”

Pain and Suffering to Grow Us

This is the last thing many of us want to hear. God uses pain and suffering to grow us? We don’t like this. We don’t want to hear it, but God uses what he wills because as we looked at earlier HE IS GOD!

James 1:2-3

Count it all joy, my brothers,^[a] when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Steadfastness also translates endurance.

James goes on to say:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

God uses our circumstances to complete us. To mold us and to make us. In Jeremiah we see the clay on the potters wheel. There is much shaping that occurs to get the final masterpiece that the potter wants. Sometimes there is too much of something in one part and it is taken off the wheel. We see the example in John I am the vine and you are the branches. When it comes to vines and trees, there is sometimes pruning that is required. We see this kind of example in the entire bible also in Malachi that sometimes God puts us through a refiners fire. God wants to make you better according to HIS standards.

Pain and Suffering to Test Us

Now this might sound crazy, but we have to remember that God is God like we talked about earlier. We see in the life of Job that God allowed Satan to test him. God allowed this. He allowed this because he know the faithfulness of Job. God allowed EVERYTHING to be taken away from Job. Yet Job remained faithful and was rewarded for it.

We see in the life of Joseph that he was mistreated by his brothers, but the Egyptians, but this was all by God’s divine plan to put him in second in command to Pharaoh alone.

Will God reward all of us, sometimes if he chooses. But not all the time.

Self imposed Pain and Suffering

Sometimes we harbor something that has hurt us either an event or a person and we hold onto it when we need to let it go.

Tonight some of you need to let go of what ails you. Some of you are hurting because God may have said no years ago to a situation and you need to come to him and say God I’m sorry. God is the ultimate healer as the song we sang earlier said. Whatever your circumstance in life is tonight maybe you need healing from God.