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This week’s devotions are based on the Week 3 “Explore God” – Why does God allow pain and suffering? (WATCH HERE)

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How can a loving God allow suffering?

In the message on Sunday, the second point was this: Suffering and pain challenge our perception of God, but it does not change the nature of God.

How do we reconcile God, who is loving with suffering which is no fun.

Does God’s nature of love prevent every type of suffering one may encounter?

For those of you who are parents, let me ask this, “Do you ever knowingly allow your children to suffer?”  Or maybe put it another way, “Do you ever knowingly allow your children to go through something THEY perceive as suffering, but you know is for their benefit?”

If a child goes through a period of suffering, might they blame their parents for allowing it?

Does a child going through a period of suffering change the love the parents have for them?

Often, when I try to sort out the way God deals with me, I consider how I as a parent deal with my children.  The analogy is not always perfect, but it can help.

Here’s a few scenarios.

As a parent, you warn your child not to hang out with those who are drinking and doing drugs.  You child makes a choice to do that and they are arrested.  You don’t bail them out but allow them to serve the time in jail.  They accuse you of not loving them. Their perception does not change the reality.  Your love led you to warn them of the dangers of hanging out with the wrong crowd.  Your love allowed them to suffer the consequence of their sin (see yesterday’s devotion) so that, you would pray, they would never make that same choice again and thus avoid future suffering as a result.  Love drives a parent to do what is best, not what is easiest for the child.

Your child is failing a chemistry class.  The reason isn’t necessarily because they are not able to pass, but they are not putting in the time to pass the class.  Again, you encourage them to do their homework, you offer to get help or tutoring, but they refuse.  When the semester grade comes out and they have failed and are being asked to take the class over again, they want you to step in and talk to the teacher and get them a passing grade.  You refuse.  They accuse you of not loving them, not wanting them to succeed, etc.  Their perception of you changes, but the essence of your love for them hasn’t.

Parental choices that choose to allow a child to go through a season of suffering are tough.  We want to “save” them from any challenge.  However, you as a parent know that there are times where a child has to address a situation or deal with a situation on their own and at times suffer the natural consequences to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

Is it possible God carries a similar approach to his love?  Yes.  What he allows is always the perfect thing we need.  Sometimes our perception may be negative about God’s motives, but our perception does not change the heart of God who loves us as children and allows just what we need to grow and develop as a child of God.

Hebrews 12:5-7 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 

Sometimes what we perceive as suffering is the Lord allowing it to happen, not to question his love for us, but to realize he loves us enough to draw us closer to himself.

 

Apply: What suffering in your life have you been able to see the hand of a loving God behind?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for not just doing what I want, but always doing and allowing what you know is best for me.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 3 “Explore God” – Why does God allow pain and suffering? (WATCH HERE)

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Who gets the blame for suffering?

When we go through times of pain or suffering, it is natural to try to find someone or something to blame.  It is really hard for us to accept that there may be something I did that resulted in a period of suffering. 

So we blame God. He seems to be the natural one to blame.

But why?
We feel he could have prevented it.  We feel guilt and feel like God is out to punish us and make life miserable.  We feel it isn’t fair and we don’t deserve it.

So we blame God.

But we shouldn’t…at least not every time.

Here’s the reality.  Suffering most often is caused by a direct or indirect result of sin.  Suffering wasn’t part of God’s original creation because sin wasn’t part of God’s creation.  Until it was.  In Genesis 3, Satan tempted Adam and Eve with an offer they couldn’t resist.  “You will be like God.”

Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

All of a sudden sin entered the world, guilt entered the world…and blame entered the world. 

Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Neither of them wanted to take responsibility for the sinful action, so they blamed Satan (another popular choice) and they blamed God.  They didn’t accept the responsibility for breaking the command God gave. As a result?  Pain and suffering. (Read the rest of Genesis 3)

The legacy of Adam and Eve continues today.  When we suffer because we sin, we have a hard time taking responsibility.  Our culture today excuses the sinner and makes the victim of sin wrong.  Attorneys find the loophole to get a criminal off the hook.  We make excuses, justify, and dismiss our errors (even though we are quick to point out others).  The result?  I can never suffer because I have sinned, because I have a hard time admitting I have sinned.  But suffering can come because of sin.  One gets drunk, gets caught and loses their job while they are in jail.  Suffering because of sin.  One neglects their spouse, abuses them, or abandons them and they go through an ugly divorce.  Suffering because of sin.  One cheats on their test and they fail an important class and are not allowed to graduate.  Suffering because of sin.

This isn’t God’s fault.  Only in the sense that he allows suffering to discipline those he loves.  Should we accept suffering as a blessing, it will bring us back to God.  If we make excuses for our actions, it will lead us to blame God.

We can also suffer indirectly because of sin in the world.  Someone breaks into our home and we lose material possessions we have spent years saving to have…suffering because of sin.  We are maimed by a shooter randomly shooting into a crowd…suffering indirectly because of sin.  We are made to redo a test because someone cheated and no one fessed up…suffering indirectly because of sin.

While we do not have to accept specific responsibility, it leads us to realize we live in a broken world that is affected directly and indirectly because of sin.  Fortunately, God, like he did with Adam and Eve, didn’t leave them with their sin, but rather promised a solution to their sin.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity

    between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring[a] and hers;

he will crush[b] your head,

    and you will strike his heel.”

The blessing is when we realize God isn’t to blame for suffering, or if he is allowing it to draw us back to himself, we can see God not as the cause for sin and suffering, but the solution for it.

 

Apply: When was the last time you blamed God for suffering?  Was it fair to do so?  What did you realize about the season of suffering that perhaps God used to bring you closer to him?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love that you are willing to provide the solution to suffering.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 3 “Explore God” – Why does God allow pain and suffering? (WATCH HERE)

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Why?

All of us have at some point in life asked this question of God. “Why is this happening to me?”  “Why are you making me suffer this way?”  “After all I have done for you, why are you allowing this to happen to me?”

The question of pain and suffering has long been a challenge for individuals to reconcile with a loving God.  If God were loving would he all the suffering to occur or would he eliminate all suffering?

In yesterday’s message (Click the link above to listen), we surmised that we don’t blame God for all kinds of pain or suffering.  When we are working out or getting in shape for a sports season and endure the pain of sore muscles, we realize, “No pain, no gain.”  If we take a calculated risk and get hurt doing it, we realize that the hurt is the result of our actions and don’t blame God for it.

It’s the pain and suffering we don’t inflict on ourselves, or the pain we don’t think we deserve that challenges us.  At the heart of the question is a sense of fairness.  But perhaps let’s peel one more layer off this onion.  Why do we challenge or blame God for certain pain and suffering in our lives or the world around us?

1. We don’t think we deserve it.  We reconcile in our mind that we don’t deserve the illness we have.  The children don’t deserve to die at the end of a deranged person’s gun.  A loving mother doesn’t deserve to suffer with Alzheimer’s for years.  Our template of what is fair is pressed over God’s infinite wisdom and WE determine the suffering isn’t fair and blame God.
2. Another reason we can blame God is when suffering leads us to realize that part or all of our lives are out of our control.  We want to protect our children, and then they are unjustly hurt or killed.  We want to enjoy life as a family only to have it broken apart by a the actions of drunk driver.  We have plans for retirement only to have them challenged by a new illness.  We were saving our resources for a future vacation only to have unforeseen lawsuit come our way.

The things that are out of our control, we expect God to control for our benefit.  When things don’t go the way we think they should go, we can easily turn on God and blame him for allowing into our lives things that create hardship for us and we perceive he could have and should have prevented them.

Suffering is hard.  No one enjoys suffering and pain that they didn’t chose to endure themselves. Really the issue of suffering is very much a spiritual battle.  Satan wants us to “curse God and die.”  

So how do we face suffering…even when we perceive it is not our fault, unfair or out of our control?  Satan wants to use the time of suffering to lead us away from Jesus.  The Lord wants to lead us closer to him.  So what will it be?  This week we will explore the truths about God that get challenged when we suffer so that as we go through a specific pain or a season of suffering we can conclude as Job did, even after he lost his material possessions and his family:

Job 1:20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

 

Apply: What is your biggest challenge when you go through a season of suffering or see suffering in the world around you?

Prayer: Lord, help me to see your perspective and your heart when I go through a period of suffering.  Lead me to look to you and never doubt your love for me, AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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Wednesday evening in our group discussion of this question, a couple thoughts were shared in the video we were watching caused me to think.

• If God is real, science will not be able to prove or disprove his existence.
• If God is real, he will have to reveal himself to us because by definition he is outside the realm of human experience or comprehension.

What made these statements thought provoking is it humbled my arrogance, or the arrogance of anyone else who thinks that they can use human reason to fully define, discover, or disseminate who the true God is.

Earlier in the week, I mentioned a debate I watched where the Bible was eliminated as a source to be quoted during the debate.  This left the debaters (both atheist and Christian) the sole resources of human reason and logic to prove or disprove the existence of God.

To be sure, human reason and logic allow us to think rationally about the topic and come to some conclusions.  However, only when God reveals himself will he be known more completely and more fully.  When he reveals himself, one would expect that there were things that couldn’t be explained by science or couldn’t be explained by human reason, because humanity and our observational abilities pale, by definition, to God who is the “supreme or ultimate reality” (Webster.com).

What this means then is we have to look for where God reveals himself.

We’ve seen evidence of God in the nature he created…and we can know his power, wisdom and design.

We’ve seen evidence of God in the reality of morality and the conscience…and we can discover a bit about his perfection and an inherent accountability to him.

We’ve seen evidence of God in the reality of love and goodness…and we can discover a bit about his character and attributes.

But what fills out the picture of who God is are the very words that God inspired men to write about him.  These weren’t men’s ideas, but God revealed himself to them and they wrote. 

20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

The Bible is full of times where God reveals himself to people…not just one, but many.  Each encounter revealed both more detail and yet never contradicted previous encounters.  Finally, he revealed himself by coming to live with mankind.  Jesus was God in flesh.  He is the greatest evidence of God that ever interacted with mankind, proved by his resurrection from the dead.

1      In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Is God real? He certainly is.

He is known partially by observation, reason, and conscience.  God is known fully as he has revealed himself in the pages of Holy Scripture.

 

Apply: To continue to pursue this question, take time to read the BIble and ask God to reveal himself more fully to you.  Other authors that have written on this topic are Lee Strobel (The Case for Faith) or Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict).  This is a key question.  Take time to read, research and reflect to settle the question for yourself once for all.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for revealing yourself to me through your Word.  Lead my not just to know you exist and are real, but you are personal and love me deeply.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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We have a hard time in our culture today identifying something as evil.  In fact, even mass shooters of children are at times “excused” because of mental illness or “insanity.”  Mobs of teens and young adults ransack stores and carry out 1000’s of dollars of merchandise and it is dismissed as “They needed it more than the store did.”  Even putting drag queens in front of young children is viewed as “normal” to expose them to gender “options” as youth.

Does this all give evidence of God?

Yes.

In central Texas, we have had a very long and dry summer.  Some have labeled the time as a period of drought.  When there is a drought, there is an absence of water.  The lack of water and the ramifications of it speak to the opposite of water and the benefits of it.  When water is lacking, drought occurs.  If water were not real, neither would be drought.  

Evil is the absence of true love and goodness.  It is what happens when any awareness of love and goodness disappears.  Evil is what happens when any standard of morality is thrown out.  Evil occurs when selfishness reigns as the deciding factor of what is good.  Evil is the absence of any influence by God in the hearts of people.

Goodness is from God…Evil is not.

3 John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

Love is from God…Evil is not.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 

Even though our culture has been redefining or eliminating a standard of morality, there is still a general feeling, “This isn’t right.”  When stores are moving out of cities because of crime, criminals get back on the street, and child molestation is ok under the auspices of gender exploration, people sense, “This isn’t right.”

It’s not.

Remember our conscience is evidence of God’s reality.  It’s a guide of goodness and love and eventually refined by the pages of God’s Word defining goodness and love.  When the influence of the true God is in the hearts of people, peace abounds.  When the influence of God is absent in the hearts of people, evil abounds.

Galatians 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Even if a person was not a Christian and you ask, “In which setting would you like to live?”  one filled with “hatred, discord, jealousy, etc.” or one filled with “love, joy, peace, etc.?”  I don’t think a response would take too long.  The fact that every person would want the second option testifies to the reality that the soul God created in each one of us and each one of us desires to live in the climate that mirrors the image of God…one filled with his love, mercy, grace, and peace. 

 

Apply: How does evil give evidence of God?  Do you agree or not?  Share your response.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for revealing yourself as one full of grace, goodness, love and truth.  Help me to learn and live in these realities each and every day.  AMEN.