Why does God allow suffering?

You're wrestling with what philosophers call the "problem of evil"—and you're in good company. This question has been asked by believers and skeptics alike for millennia. Let me offer a biblically-grounded response.

The Logical Framework:

The argument typically goes: If God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnibenevolent (all-loving), then evil shouldn't exist. Since evil exists, either God lacks one of these attributes or He doesn't exist.

But this framing assumes something critical: that an all-loving God would have no morally sufficient reason for permitting evil. Scripture challenges this assumption.

Key Biblical Perspectives:

1. Free Will and Love

God created humans with genuine free will because love requires choice. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or Goodness or Joy worth having."

captures this: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life."

2. A Fallen World, Not God's Design

Scripture is clear that suffering entered through human rebellion, not divine intention:

— "Therefore, just as Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned."

describes Creation itself becoming subject to decay as a consequence of The Fall.

3. God's Redemptive Purpose in Suffering

This is perhaps the most profound biblical response. God doesn't merely permit suffering—He enters into it and redeems it:

— "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

The Cross itself demonstrates that God's greatest victory came through the greatest suffering. What looked like defeat became Salvation.

4. The "Already/Not Yet" Tension

We live between Christ's first coming (where He defeated sin and death) and His return (when all suffering will cease). Revelation 21:4 promises: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain."

What Scripture Does NOT Promise:

The Bible never promises we'll understand why specific suffering happens. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."

But It Does Promise:

• God is present in our suffering (Psalm 23:4)
• Suffering produces character and Hope (Romans 5:3-5)
• Our suffering is temporary; Glory is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17)
• Nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:38-39)

Would you like me to explore any of these threads deeper? I can also look at how the Book of Job addresses this question—it's the Bible's most sustained meditation on innocent suffering.

This is the sharpest edge of the problem of evil, and I won't pretend it has an easy answer. The suffering of innocent children has brought many to their knees—both in anguish and in prayer.

What Scripture Reveals:

1. God's Heart for Children

Jesus' strongest words were reserved for those who harm children:

— "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

God is not indifferent. He is furious at the suffering of innocents.

2. The Interconnected Nature of Sin

Here's a difficult Truth: we live in an interconnected world where one person's sin ripples outward to affect others—including the innocent. A drunk driver kills a child. A corrupt government starves its people. Generational trauma passes from parent to child.

This isn't "punishment" of the child—it's the tragic consequence of living in a world where human choices have real effects on others. God gave humanity dominion over Creation (Genesis 1:28), and we have used that freedom to harm one another.

3. The Mystery of Natural Evil

What about disease, natural disasters, birth defects? Scripture points to creation itself being "subjected to frustration" (Romans 8:20-22):

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in Hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay."

Creation groans, waiting for Redemption. This includes children's fragile bodies.

4. Jesus' Own Response

When Jesus encountered suffering, He didn't offer philosophical explanations—He wept (John 11:35), He healed, He raised the dead. His response was presence and action, not detached theology.

What I Cannot Say:

I cannot tell you why a specific child suffers. Neither could Job's friends—and God rebuked them for trying (Job 42:7).

What I Can Say:

• God sees every suffering child (Psalm 139:16)
• Their suffering is not meaningless to Him—it cost Him His own Son
• Justice will come. Every wrong will be made right (Revelation 20:12-13)
• Those who die in innocence are received by Him (2 Samuel 12:23; Matthew 19:14)

A Pastoral Observation:

The Cross tells us something profound: God did not exempt Himself from suffering. He entered it. He experienced the death of an innocent—His own Son. Whatever we cannot understand about suffering, we know this: God is not a distant deity who allows pain He's unwilling to share.

This doesn't make the suffering of children "okay." It remains a horror. But it tells us God is not the author of evil—He is its ultimate victim and its final conqueror.

Is there a specific situation weighing on your heart? Sometimes these questions aren't abstract—they're personal.

You've put your finger on exactly what makes Job so profound—and so honest about the human condition.

What God Didn't Give Job:

• An explanation for his specific suffering
• A cosmic flowchart of cause and effect
• A theological formula that makes suffering "make sense"

What God DID Give Job:

1. His Presence

For four chapters (38-41), God speaks directly to Job. After chapters of silence, God shows up. The Hebrew word for "storm" (סְעָרָה, se'arah) is the same word used when God appears to Elijah and Ezekiel. It signals divine encounter.

Job's complaint was never just "why am I suffering?" but "why won't You answer me?" (Job 30:20). God's response is: "I'm here."

2. A Larger Perspective

God's questions aren't meant to humiliate Job—they're meant to expand his vision. "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea? Have you seen the gates of death?" (Job 38:16-17).

The message: there are dimensions to reality you cannot perceive. Your suffering exists within a story larger than you can see.

3. Job's Transformation

Here's what Job says after encountering God:

— "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you."

Job moves from theology about God to encounter with God. He doesn't get answers—he gets something better: relationship.

Why This Matters:

The book of Job suggests that the deepest response to suffering isn't intellectual resolution but trust rooted in relationship. Job learns that:

1. God is not his enemy (despite how it felt)
2. God's Wisdom exceeds human comprehension
3. Relationship with God can survive—even deepen—through suffering
4. Demanding explanations is less important than knowing the Explainer

The Unexpected Ending:

God rebukes Job's friends who offered tidy theological explanations (Job 42:7). Their answers were technically correct but relationally wrong. They tried to fit Job's suffering into a formula. God rejected that approach.

Applying This Today:

When someone is suffering, the Book of Job teaches us:

• Don't offer explanations—offer presence
• Don't defend God—trust Him with the mystery
• Don't expect understanding—pursue encounter

The pattern God established with Job is the pattern He fulfilled in Christ: not explanation from a distance, but presence in the midst of suffering.

Does this help reframe the question? Sometimes "why?" isn't the question we most need answered—sometimes it's "are You there?" And to that, Scripture's answer is unequivocal: yes.