Why Does God Allow Suffering?

"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope;" Romans 8:19-20 Have you ever wondered why there is so much suffering in the world? Have you ever wondered why God made the world the way it is? Well ...he didn't. If you read the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, what is remarkable is that after every thing that God created, he said it was "good," and when he was finished he said it all was "very good." "Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good." Genesis 1:31 So what happened? Why is the world so far from being "very good?" It's very important to understand this. When Adam rebelled against what God had told him, Adam brought sin into the world, and the effects of that were far more vast than most have any idea. At the sin of Adam, DEATH entered the world, and that death was so pervasive that every living thing became subject to it, even animals and plants. DEATH came in through sin and DEATH has reigned ever since. Everything dies. No living thing escapes. Death kills all, babies and old people, all die. Everything living ...dies. This was not the act of God! This was man destroying what God had created good and pure and beautiful. Sin is a tremendously powerful and destructive force and it can be blamed for all the ills the world lives with. Ignorant men blame God for all the suffering in the world, when it is not God at all behind it, but sin brought in by man. People rail at God for "allowing" suffering, but God in his wisdom has allowed the full manifestation of the results of sin and death to remain until "the restoration of all things," because it is a visual portrayal to all peoples now and in all the ages to come - of the heinousness of sin and all the death and destruction that sin brings. It's one thing for a parent to tell his child a principle, it's quite another when the parent allows his child to make mistakes and learn from experience what he didn't "get" just by hearing it from his father. The visual and experiential effects of sin will speak to all generations a principle not read or heard but visually demonstrated. Yes, God does intervene from time to time and heal but for the most part, we remain subject to the fallenness of the creation until the day when he will come and restore all things. "...until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. " Acts 3:21 And that is our hope - that the sufferings from the effects of sin will come to an end. The picture will have done its work and the Lord will bring the story to its conclusion. When Jesus comes all creation will be subject to him and he will restore all things. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." Isaiah 11:6 When Jesus Christ comes, all the destructive effects of the death principle will be abolished, and he will restore the world to the pristine state it was in before the death force entered. It will be the end of sin and violence and hatred and war: "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." Isaiah 2:4 And it will be the end of death: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Corinthians 15:26 Friends, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Make sure your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life so that you will be part of it. You were born into a fallen human nature prone to sin, and sin carries with it judgment. When you surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ you will receive the forgiveness of all your sin and you will be received into his Kingdom to live with him forever in the glorious age to come. If you have not yet been born again, see to it now because truly, the Kingdom of God IS at hand! MORE ON THIS: "Born again" - What Does That Mean?