The recent tsunami that devastated southern Asia on December 26, 2004, has once again focused the world’s attention on human suffering. The awful event was as sudden as it was devastating, leaving the world in a state of shock. In view of all this, the news media felt compelled to carry the various views of the world’s major religions as to the meaning of it all and why God permits such things to happen. The question of suffering in this world and the reasons why God allows it have been a subject of controversy for thousands of years. Job, as an individual, struggled with the issue in his day, and men have argued about the matter many times over the centuries.
It is only natural to want answers to these questions, for this world has been a place of untold suffering ever since sin entered it. Scripture tells us that “as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)). True Christians at least accept this, but when such awful devastation occurs as happened in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and other places, perhaps questions are raised even in the minds of believers. Thousands of people, particularly young children, perished, while others who survived lost everything they had in this world, including their homes, possessions, livelihood and family.
The Skeptic
The skeptic reasons that if God were all-powerful and all-loving, He would intervene to stop such suffering, and if He is not, then He is not truly God. He then goes on, in his mistaken reasoning, to deny that there is a God, or at least to raise a question about His existence. Indeed, an article about the recent tsunami in a well-known publication concluded with the remark that “innumerable voices cry out to God. The miracle, if there is one, may be that so many still believe.”
Unhappily, even those who take the place of being leaders in the Christian world sometimes make very upsetting remarks. David Hart, supposedly an orthodox theologian, described talk of God’s inscrutable counsels as “odious” and the suggestion that such disasters serve God’s good ends as “blasphemous.”
As in every question of a moral and spiritual nature, only the Word of God can give us an answer, and I believe that we have definite answers in the Bible to the questions that arise when such things as famines, earthquakes and floods fall upon this world. All of our curiosity may not be satisfied, but God gives us all we need to know in order to react in a right way and to honor His claims over us.
The Purpose of God
Scripture gives us at least three reasons why suffering is in this world, and for the first reason we must turn to Ephesians 1:910: “According to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.” God had in His counsels in a past eternity the exaltation and glory of His beloved Son, and all His ways with man in this world are directed to that supreme end.
While surely God has no delight in the suffering that sin has produced, the fact remains that He has been more glorified, and ultimately man has been more blessed, than if sin had never entered the world. Evil is permitted for the greater manifestation of the glory of God and for the everlasting comfort of His people. In His ways that are “past finding out,” God may allow evil to have its full result, for it allows for the full exhibition of His love and, ultimately, His full triumph over evil. If evil rises to seemingly impossible heights, we must remember that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)). Had there been no need for salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ would never have had the glory that is now His in view of redemption, and God would not have been glorified as to the question of sin, as He has now been in virtue of Christ’s work on the cross. Because of the humiliation the Lord Jesus suffered, Philippians 2:99Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:9) tells us, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.” His exaltation is directly proportional to the suffering, as one hymn so well puts it, “Full the joy, as fierce the wrath.”
The Heart of God
Coupled with this reason for suffering is the second one, namely, that man has learned the heart of God through suffering in a way that he never could have known it, if sin had not entered this world. If man had lived forever in the Garden of Eden, he could have had the enjoyment of God’s presence in happy fellowship, but he would never have known the depths of love in the heart of God. If there had been no sin and resultant suffering, man would never have experienced God’s comfort in sorrow.
The apex of all this is found in the incarnation and suffering of the Lord Jesus. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:1415). The One who was above it all voluntarily came into this world of sin, and when He had experienced from without all the sorrow that sin had produced, He died on Calvary’s cross in order that He might be the One who “taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)).
To the natural man whose mind is bounded by time, the sorrow in this world sometimes seems unbearable. But “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). In God’s counsels, the suffering of man which is for a few thousand years is like a few days, but the blessing flowing from the cross will last for all eternity. Man was made for eternity, not merely for time, and God wants us to take an eternal view of things.
The Warnings of God
Finally, God uses suffering in this world to warn men of coming judgment and to bring them to Himself in repentance. This is brought out in Luke 13:1515The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? (Luke 13:15), where some told the Lord Jesus of the Galileans, “whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” In answering them, the Lord also referred to eighteen people on whom the tower of Siloam had evidently fallen, killing them. In both cases His remark was, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” It was a warning to preserve them from coming judgment.
Concerning the recent tsunami that has devastated southern Asia, we are reminded of a similar message in Amos 5:88Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: (Amos 5:8): “Seek Him . . . that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His name.” While men may reason about the natural causes of such disasters, we must remember that there are no second causes with God and that He allows such things to warn men.
Some may ask why God chooses to make an example of some, when the whole world deserves the judgment of God. The news media remarked more than once that the damage from the tsunami in most cases occurred in areas of desperate poverty, where those affected were least equipped to cope with it. But God is sovereign, and surely it is His prerogative to judge some in order that many others may fear and turn to Him.
While we do not want to single out any part of the world as being more guilty before God, yet it is noticeable that many of the areas hit by the tsunami were places where Christians are persecuted and where the preaching of the gospel is at least strongly discouraged, if not expressly forbidden, by the governments. Since that awful event, the widespread destruction in these countries has opened the way for many Christian organizations and individual believers to show God’s love in areas from which they would have previously been banned. Not only have they been able to bring material help, but also the wonderful news of God’s grace. Only eternity will reveal the blessing that has come as a result.
The Reactions and Consequences
The question then arises as to those who do not repent. What if man rejects the voice of God in all this? Again, the news media carried the two common reactions of those who face trouble without God — either crushing grief or bitter anger. Others, particularly adherents of false religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, continue to live in fear of ghosts, while they offer sacrifices and hold rituals, supposedly to lay to rest the wandering spirits of the dead. Sad to say, there are many who will not hear the Lord’s voice speaking to them in these tragedies and who continue to reject the gospel. The government of India rejected international aid, and there is no doubt that at least part of the reason for this is their fear of the spread of the gospel by foreign Christian workers.
Paul comments on this kind of sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7:1010For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (2 Corinthians 7:10), when he says, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” When man accepts suffering in this world from God’s hand and then looks to Him for the reason, he recognizes God’s supreme authority and power. He admits his dependence upon God and his responsibility to Him. Then his heart is open to see his true condition in the sight of God. The result is repentance to salvation, and thus the sorrow is not to be repented of, but is rather that which brings man into God’s presence, with resultant blessing. On the other hand, sorrow experienced without reference to God works death, and this is the sad result for those who do not bring God into their thoughts.
May we who know the Lord view these present calamities in the light of God’s Word, on the one hand seeing them as God’s voice to this world, yet, on the other hand, seeing that all is working toward the day when God will “head up all things in the Christ” (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10) JND). Judgment is necessary for the public vindication of God’s holy character, but the eternal state of blessing will be for the everlasting satisfaction of His heart.
W. J. Prost