Many people have rejected the existence of God – or at least the goodness of God – because of the problem of pain in this world. Pain comes in many forms and from many sources – from natural disasters to crimes against the innocent. How can a good God just stand by and let it happen?
The Root of the Problem – Our Autonomy
One of the things that we value most is our freedom to choose. However this freedom comes with great responsibility. Right from the very beginning of human existence, people have chosen to reject God’s authority and have conducted themselves in ways that go against God’s nature and His standards. When God first created the world, He made it completely good – free from pain and suffering. However when the first people disobeyed God He withdrew His blessing over creation so that it no longer operates perfectly. This is both a consequence and a correction – not an act of spitefulness on God’s part. It is a consequence, because we need to know that rejecting God is also a rejection of His goodness. We do not have a right to ignore God and offend Him in the way that we live, and yet expect Him to cater for our every need or desire. It is a correction because the function of pain is to cause us to seek healing. When a part of our body hurts, it alerts us to the fact that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. The experience of pain in this world is meant to be something that causes us to seek healing, and the only genuine place to find that healing is in relationship with God. The Bible explains that the healing God offers is twofold: He gives us the ability to endure and overcome suffering in this world; and He gives us the assurance of a better life to come – a life which will no longer be marred by evil, suffering and death.
Tough Love
When parents of drug addicts seek help from experienced counsellors, they are told that they need to make some pretty tough stands. One of the things they need to do is stop rescuing their child. For example when their child does not have enough money to pay rent or buy food, they must not help out. When their child rings in the middle of the night needing somewhere to stay, they mustn’t go and get them. The child needs to experience the pain of consequences. They need to come to a point where they realise that the real problem is not that they don’t have enough money or that they are cold and don’t have anywhere to sleep – the real problem is their drug addiction. They need to take personal responsibility to address that problem, because the problem will never be fixed by other people. Many parents have endured the rants of hysterical children saying “You don’t love me – you never have” and worse, but the truth is that it is their love for their child that stops them from rescuing him or her. Indulging children is not loving them, it is lazy and/or weak. God is neither lazy nor weak. God hurts when we hurt. He takes no pleasure in our pain. He wants us to turn to Him for healing and help, but He will not rescue us when we insist on staying autonomous from Him.
God Has Not Left the Building
God demonstrates His grace in that He continues to bestow some goodness even on people who have rejected Him. The world is still on the whole a wonderful place to live! We have the capacity to experience heaps of goodness within ourselves and other people. All of this reminds us that God created us as good, even though that goodness is now imperfect.
The Apostle Paul experienced what it is like to have God’s help in the midst of life’s ups and downs, and wrote “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” [1]
This sort of help is available to everyone who turns to Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
Mike Birch
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