8.25: Why God Causes and Permits Suffering

I really want to write a book on why God causes and permits suffering because everybody goes through trials and I almost squirm in discomfort when I hear someone say, "We can't know why God causes or allows or permits suffering." I think God gives about 1000 reasons, more than enough for a book. So, perhaps this format might be helpful to some of you. Let me know what you think.

Text: Romans 5:1-5

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Truths:

Having peace with God through the gospel of justification by faith leads to access to God and joy in the day when God will be completely glorified in His saints in the Day of Resurrection. But even on top of that, the gospel enables a believer in Christ to be happy in suffering, in trial, in pain, in difficulty. Why? Verse 3 gives the answer: you can rejoice because you know that suffering produces endurance. Why is endurance so important that suffering must be experienced to produce it? It's because endurance helps a person live by faith until death or until Christ returns. Furthermore, this endurance will lead to a character that is more and more like Christ, which is needed to demonstrate true, saving faith and also reflects the beauty of the character of Christ. On top of all this, this character will make hope in the heart of the believer. When your character becomes more like Christ's, you have hope not in this world but in the one of glory to come. You have hope that God is conforming you to the image of His Son. You have hope that makes you groan for the day when all suffering will actualize glory. Then Paul says that hope doesn't put us to shame. It's worth hoping in the glory of God being manifested in the New Heavens and the New Earth! So, when suffering comes, it should be a moment of celebration and rejoicing because of what suffering causes in chain reaction form: endurance to character to hope!

Takeaways:

1. Thank God when suffering comes. To rejoice involves thanking God for all that He is doing through suffering.
2. When you go through a trial, see what aspect of your faith He is trying to develop. Character comes to light when it is tested. So, if you suffer and grumble and complain, realize that God is testing to see if you will hope for the glory of God and see how He wants to sanctify your life.
3. Daily spend time hoping in the day when no suffering will exist, as the hope of the New World will put to an end all suffering and only Glory shall reign!

Test:

1. You lose your job in this shaky economy. How could a Christian respond when one gets a pink slip or a call into the boss' office?