Why Do His Children Suffer?

Why does the God who has all power, all authority, all wisdom, and all grace, sometimes allow the children he loves to suffer?

This is an important question, and one which both believers and unbelievers have raised throughout the ages. Last Sunday in a sermon, I addressed a false expectation which is common to our sinful hearts. That false expectation is this:

If I am faithful to God, I will be spared from sorrows and suffering.

Anyone who knows their heart at any depth can confirm that such a notion has, in one way or another, crept into their thinking at various points along life’s road. Such false expectations are a frequent window through which the Devil shoots his fiery arrows of doubt at the hearts of the saints. But like so many other false expectations which are common to the faulty thinking of fallen man, this assumption does not square with the plain teaching of God’s holy and inerrant Word. If we would know the truth and be armed for the hours of sorrow that will come (II Tim. 3:12), we must seek to understand something of God’s good and wise purposes in the afflictions which he allows his children to face, (I Pt. 1:6).

The Purpose of God in Our Suffering

In God’s wisdom he has ordained to show forth his glory to the world in manifold ways. Sometimes he parts the waters of the Red Sea and leads his people across to safety (Ps. 77:16-20), then bringing those same waters down upon their enemies in victorious and triumphant judgment, (Ex. 14:26-31). Yet, other times, he leaves his saints in the furnace of affliction; not to torment them, but so that through their suffering the world can see the genuineness of their faith, (I Pt. 1:7; Acts 7:54-60).

When saints face the hour of suffering with persevering faith—when even sickness, sorrow, torture and loss cannot lead them to deny their trust in God—the world is given the strongest testimony to the truth of Christianity, (Phil. 1:28). God is pleased to give some of his precious children the honor of serving the glory of his name in this way, (Phil. 1:29). He gives them the blessed privilege to exalt his name by showing forth the surpassing worth of knowing him, (Phil. 3:8). And how do they do that? By their standing firm in faith under trials and afflictions of various kinds, (Acts 5:40-41).

We often have an expectation that faithfulness means we won’t suffer. But that is simply not true, (Jn. 16:33). Sometimes it is God’s will that his children be granted the privilege to face and endure suffering as a lighthouse of salvation to the world, (Matt. 5:16).

Therefore, if it should be God’s will that we suffer, let us “entrust our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good,” (I Pt. 4:19). And “Do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary afflictions is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal,” (II Cor. 4:16-18).

Let us remember the example of our faithful brothers in Christ, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who, in the face of suffering unto death, clung all the more unto the Author of Life. By faith they replied to the threats of the great king Nebuchadnezzar saying,

“We have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up,” (Dan. 3:16-18).