God’s Love in Suffering
There is so much brokenness in this world, very few people if any can say they are unaffected by it. Whether you are a Christian or not, we all get to experience brokenness in one way or the other, and because of the brokenness in this world many people tend to question God’s sovereignty: “If God is completely in control of the world why is there is so much suffering?”
The brokenness of this world seems to weigh heaviest when it hits home . Early last year I met a young man on campus while I was doing walk up evangelism. This young man grew up in a Christian home and his father was a pastor. In 2022 around March/April something tragic happened when his father was going to preach in a conference in Johannesburg, he was involved in a car accident. Soon after they received news of the accident and that their father had passed away as a result of that accident. The news grew even more devastating, as his body was missing and was only recovered in December that year. That only brought half a sense of comfort as the body had already been buried by the government and the family was unable to take him home for a proper burial.
This sequence of events brought many questions to the young man’s mind: “Is God truly Sovereign? Is He in control? If so, why did He allow my father to die?” What bothered him even more was that his father was a pastor who had devoted his entire life to the work of God and to add, the very trip he was on was to share the Gospel. He continued to ask, “If God is truly in control of the world, why is my father no longer alive, why allow our family to feel so much pain? Why is it there so much suffering in the world?”
In many cases we are prone to think like this young man, circumstances around us tend to force us to doubt God’s sovereignty and for many of us being South African might seem like the most difficult thing now. We feel it almost every day when we watch the news, when we think of our economy that is faltering, unemployment that is skyrocketing. We think of the innocent people that have lost their loved ones during heavy rains that recently took place in different parts of our country . There so many things that cause people to doubt God’s sovereignty in this world but considering all that I want us to look at few verses that that will help us to see God’s love and sovereignty over everything. If you are going through hard times, suffering and questioning God’s love, I would like to urge you to look for passages in the Bible that speak about Jesus’ death. Before we look at how Gods love for us is displayed in Jesus’s death, let us go back to the creation. In the book of Genesis we learn that God created humankind (Adam and Eve) in His own image, and He did so with great care and intentionality, but their relationship was broken because of the fall. However, God’s love remained, and we see His plan for redemption and restoration starts to unfold (1 Peter 1:20).
The greatest picture of God’s love is Jesus’ passion and crucifixion in Romans 5:6-8. Paul reminds us that Jesus’s suffering on the cross was a clear, unmistakable declaration of love and this love is unconditional. We were at our worst state when Christ died for us. Again, in Ephesians 2:4-5 Paul reminds us that is by grace we are saved, and this salvation has made abundant life possible. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
In the midst of all our sufferings as hard as it may be to believe that God love us, 1 John 3:16a says “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us”
Suffering is not an easy topic to navigate, and sometimes it is difficult to find comfort in the truth of God’s words. However, here are a few more things to consider as we think about it:
· God is not absent in our suffering; He sees us in our suffering and enables us to bear with pain and suffering. (1 Peter 5:6-11)
· God wants us to run to Him in our suffering; as it highlights our dependence on him and we can express it through prayer “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him Pray “(James 5:13)
· Suffering should cause us to lament, talk to God about our sorrows trust and wait in Him for salvation as we renew our hope in His sovereignty (Psalm 13:5-6)
· God did not intend for pain and suffering; it is all the result of fall (the sin of Adam and Eve) and break God’s heart when we are suffering but He promises an end to all the pain and suffering to those who receive the salvation in His son, Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:4)
It is also important to remember that suffering is not foreign to God as he took on the form of man as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to endure a painful death on the cross. He did all this to ultimately put an end to all sin, all death, sickness and disease. To restore us to himself , so that when he returns, those who have put their trust in him, we will have to suffer no more but have enduring peace and safety with our father in heaven forever!
