SUFFERING, WHY DOES GOD ALLOW IT? Part 1
BGEA
On Nov. 21, 1980, when the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas
burned, survivors were brought into the Convention Center, where special gospel
services were being held. In an interview, Governor Robert List talked about
the good times at the MGM only 24 hours before. “And how quickly,” he said,
“the music has stopped.”
Some day,
for all of you, if you don’t know God, the music will stop. It will all be
over. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the
judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
The Bible says that Job suddenly lost all of his wealth
and his children. The devil said to God, “If You take
all those possessions away from him, he’ll curse You and turn from You.” But
God replied, “You can do anything to him, except you can’t kill him, and then
we’ll see” (Cf. Job 1:11-12).
Job never asked why those things were happening to him.
The closest he ever came was when he said, “Show me
why You contend with me” (Job 10:2). Job was sharing his agony of spirit with
the very God he could not understand.
Suffering carries a message of mystery. The Bible says,
“Great is the mystery of godliness” (1 Timothy 3:16). When I was asked to
explain the tragedy of the fire at the MGM Grand Hotel, I had to say, “There’s
a mystery to tragedies like this. We don’t know the answer.” And we may never
know until God explains all things to us.
For humans, there is a mystery as to why God created the
earth. There is a mystery as to why He put people on this earth. But God has
revealed answers through the Bible and through the Person of His Son, Jesus
Christ. In the Bible you will find the answers to the questions and the
problems of your life.
But man rebelled against God. Man said, “I don’t need
You, God. I can build my world without You.” God said,
“If you take that position, you will suffer and die.” Man took that position,
and he began to suffer, and he has been dying ever since. Physical death is
just the death of the body, but the spirit lives on. If your spirit is
separated from God for eternity, it will be lost forever.
The Bible teaches that Satan is the author of sin. Sin is
the reason that we have afflictions, including death. All of our problems and
our suffering, including death itself, are a result of man’s rebellion against
God. But God has provided a rescue in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
That’s why Christ died on the cross. That’s why He rose from the dead.
MESSAGES THAT MOVE US TO ACTION
In suffering there is also a message of compassion. Jesus
said, “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me
drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I
was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me” (Matthew
25:35-36).
As fire swept through the MGM Grand Hotel, I saw the
emergency crews, the military people, The Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the
doctors, the nurses and the people coming to donate clothes and food. I saw
compassion in action.
In suffering there is a message of unity. Jesus prayed
“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You” (John 17:21). And that’s the way we ought to be as Christians,
one in Christ. If you have been born into the family of God, you are a child of
God. You are brothers and sisters.
Suffering holds a message of comfort. In Second
Corinthians we read:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in
any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
Because tragedy happened to you, it gives you a greater
sense of oneness with others who experience tragedy. You can feel for them in
that suffering situation. Because we have been comforted through the Word of
God, we in turn may be able to comfort others.