Systematic Theology Part 16-Hurts So Good

The argument goes something like this:

"If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do whatever he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefor eGod lacks either goodness, or power, or both."

Is this true? Is God lacking in goodness or power because there is pain and suffering in the world? How do we deal with this question in our own lives, as Christians, when we experience or observe suffering in the world?

Genesis 3 gives us a great backdrop for our look into pain and suffering. In fact it is an essential backdrop. It is where pain and suffering get their start.

As soon as man chose to sin, things changed. Here are 3 specific areas sin changed things:

Sin changed man: Man was now fearful of God and creature. Man would have to work hard for things that God intended him to have easily. Labor is a new concept that comes from sin.

Sin changed nature: Animals are now an enemy that can hurt and destroy. Childbirth will be with great pain as a result of sin entering the world. Thorns and thistles will spring from the earth and make life more difficult for the farmer. Romans 8 reminds us that the world has been subjected to bondage and decay (v21).

Sin changed relationships: The relationship between man and woman changed. The relationship between man and animal/nature changed and the relationship between man and God changed (see Genesis 3:10)

We cannot ignore these changes when considering the question of pain and suffering. If you were to list out all the pain and suffering you have endured in your life, physical and emotional, you may find that they can all be categorized in one of these three areas that sin changed things.

A proper understanding of what sin has done is essential if we are going to understand pain and suffering side-by-side with God's goodness.

"A recovery of the old sense of sin is essential to Christianity...We lack the first condition for understanding what He is talking about. And when men attempt to be Christians without this preliminary consciousness of sin, the result is almost bound to be a certain resentment against God [asking], 'What harm have I ever done Him?'" (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p50-51)

Sin has started a downward spiral, but is it a downward spiral that God has no control? Here are a few truths that might help us understand things a little bit better.

Romans 8:28-29
Truth: God works in all things for the good (v28)
Truth: The greatest good is being conformed to the image of Jesus (v29)

These two truths are foundational. These truths, when believed, will help us accept the other truths clearly presented in scripture about God's role in pain and suffering.

Deuteronomy 32:39, 1 Samuel 2:6-7, Isaiah 45:7
Truth: Bad things are not outside of God's control

"God is just as much in control of bad things that happen in the world as he's in control of all of the good that takes place...we ought to accept this as true even though we may not be able to understand full just how it can be true...we should not turn away from this teaching just because we find it hard to understand...If God is not in control of bad things, then we would be led to deep sadness, thinking that a bad thing that is happening will serve no good purpose. But it is not so!" (Bruce Ware, Big Truths for Young Hearts, p70-72)

Job 41:1, Psalm 29:10
Truth: God easily controls thing man cannot control

"God keeps the chaos under control...Here the powerlessness of Job is set in marked contrast to the power of God. God's power over evil is so great that he casts for the primordial sea monster and catches him with a five-pound test line." (R.C. Sproul, Renewing Your Mind, p59-60)

Galatians 6:7-8
Truth: Sin has unpleasant consequences

Matthew 5:29
Truth: Pain and suffering sometimes rescue us from something worse

"Love may cause pain to its object, but only on the supposition that that object needs alteration to become fully lovable." (Lewis, p48)

"His suffering is not punishment. It is not a sigh of God's anger. Job's pain is not the pain of the executioner's whip but the pain of the surgeon's scalpel. The removal of the desease of prides is the most loving thing God could do, no matter what the cost.

"Remember the words of the Lord: Better to suffer the excruciating pain of a gouged out eye than to let any sin remain in your heart. If this does not seem obvious to you--namely, that sanctification is worth any pain on this earth--it is probably because you don't abhor sin and prize hliness the way God does and the way you should." (John Piper on Job)

2 Corinthians 12:7-9
Truth: Pain and suffering sometimes give us something better.

What would be better for Paul: physical comfort or perfect power in Christ?

Genesis 45:4-8; 50:20
Truth: What man means for evil, God means for good.

An Eternal Perspective of Trust
This all comes down to an eternal perspective of trust. Watch this video an then think with me what this means.



We are willing to go through so much for such simple pleasures as money. In fact a lot of reality TV depends on that willingness to suffer pain and humiliation.

But at the first sing of trouble in life we run from, get angry at or blame God, not seeing that he gives us EVERY good and perfect gift and that the eternal pleasures he is preparing for us are far greater than the simple pleasures we endure pain and suffering for here on earth.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 is a great promise of home in the eternal perspective of trust. This eternal perspective of trust is ESSENTIAL to surviving pain and suffering.

"God is not defined in terms of what brings personal pleasure to humans in a direct fashion. Good is to be defined in relationship to the will and being of God. Good is what glorifies him, fulfills his will, conforms to his nature...this then is the good, not personal wealth or health, but being conformed to the image of God's Son, not our short range comfort, but our long-range welfare." (Millard Erickson, Systematic Theology, p450)