Where there is Suffering

If there is:

1. Suffering, which includes torture and death that is experienced by the Christian Believer when it was not the consequences of sinful actions, and  
2. Suffering, that is a result of consequences of sinful actions.

then the following points apply based on how we turn to God for guidance:

• Suffering is often used by God for His Children to examine ourselves and
  (a) improve on actions that God would have us to do, and
  (b) to stop areas of sin which we often hide that will be brought to our attention through the Holy Spirit.
  (Note: Joseph, Moses, King David and many others suffered many times in their lives to bring a greater reward for themselves and proves God's Love for God's Glory.  Examine the lives of Joseph, Moses, and King David that required their training, and much more through the tough experiences.
   

  Romans 5:1-

  1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

   

• The actions by Satanic Forces against Believers will have the opposite effect intended and cause God to get more Glory, which will also give us rewards and benefits!  There are so many examples in the Bible of Christians who knowingly accepted suffering and even death because they understood this aspect along with their love of God.  

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

        Notice "ALL THINGS" for those those who love God and for those of us who are Saved.

• The Christian Believer will be better off because of the suffering, including death, where rewards will be given by God to the Believer so that the Satanic actions has the opposite effect intended.  God will get the Glory because of the rewards given to the Believer that offsets anything suffered in Christ's Name, and we will be grateful for it in Eternity.  Matthew 19:29, listed next, has its primary understanding dealing with Christians who give up family to follow Christ but it also implies rewards for following Christ when suffering is involved.  If the Christian is following Christ, then undeserved suffering will be rewarded.  2 Corinthians 5:6-8, lets us know that we should be encouraged that we are not at the final destiny while we are here on Earth. 

Matthew 19:29	And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
2 Corinthians 5: 6-8	6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- 7. for we walk by faith, not by sight-  8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

• This world has often been described as a training ground, boot camp, a school where we graduate with:
  (a) Knowledge,
  (b) Character,
  (c) Temperament,
  (d) Degrees / Rank,
  (e) and so much more
  which determine our position in eternity with new assignments, authority, rank, positions, rewards.  On this earth, when we are training in school and also for any athletic sporting event, then both endeavors require hard work, endurance, goal settings, abstaining and restraint so that our intellectual and physical goals will be met. 

Philippians 3:14	I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:18	For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Note that the rebellion by Lucifer and the sin of Adam and Eve, have also caused God great suffering which required the death of His Son, Jesus Christ to make a payment for the sins of everyone to allow us to select Jesus Christ as our Savior.  The end result of Lucifer's actions will give the unattended result by Lucifer, which is to give God Glory by the way God fixes and restores all things.  This is awesome!

Three Scriptural Principles

There are three very important scriptures that apply 100% to everyone's life.

First is patience for God to reward

Joseph, the son of Isaac, was sold into slavery by his brothers at the age 17 years old, as read in Genesis 37:28.  Years later, as most Christians are familiar with the fabulous and inspiring saga of Joseph's life, Joseph becomes second in charge of all of Egypt, under Pharaoh, where his brothers come to buy grain from Egypt and do not recognize Joseph after an approximate 20 years.  For the sake of brevity of the whole account of Joseph, when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, Joseph says the most wonderful and God given maturity statements as described in Genesis 50:19-21 to his brothers where they are forgiven, but more importantly Joseph recognized that God used the evil deed done by brothers to bless Joseph and then Joseph's brothers, dad and all of Isaac's family.  Be patient in all things as God is faithful to cause all to work for your favor.

Second is forgive as Jesus Christ did on the Cross

There is always the possibility, in suffering, that those do evil towards us, may not fully understand what they are doing.  Even when they know, we are to forgive them as that is what we are mandated to do as we understand the forgiveness given to us along with the rewards in Heaven.  This is what Jesus Christ did on the Cross, and also what Stephen did at the moment before being stone to death.

Third is let God handle vengeance and never act on it

David, before becoming King David, had several opportunities to take vengeance on King Saul for the times King Saul tried to kill David out of jealousy and knowing God had chosen David over Saul.  David never took the vengeance out on Saul where David could have killed Saul on several occasions.  God handled the repercussions, ramifications and consequences of Saul's evil choices by allowing Saul to eventually take his own life in suicide. 

Saul's life started wonderfully when Saul was honoring God, but then lived a poor life in fear, loneliness and sinful deeds such as consulting a Psychic Medium, which is one of the four greatest sins, in 1 Samuel 28:3-20, before Saul's eventual suicide.  The important part for us to recognize is the importance of letting God handle vengeance, Deuteronomy 32:35.

God Uses Time

All of us desire that God would prevent evil in the Christian's life along with the entire world.  After 60 years on this earth, this author has seen countless times that God used difficult times to better the Christian with rewards afterwards where the perpetrators of wrong doings were given a period of time to be sinful against the Christian.  The observation in the Scriptures, along with life today, is the perpetrators cannot claim it was a temporary or accidental sin as they continued in a sinful way until their iniquity was full.  A scripture example is Genesis 15:14-16.

Consider the case of the Amorites and Egyptians, who were enemies of Israel in the Scriptures.  Three points of what can be many:

• Israel was is in need of correction with refinement,
• God allowed Israel to have an adversary, 
• God gave Israel great "substance" after a period of time. 

The two following scripture verses, which also could be read in reverse order, speak about God's methods when dealing with Israel, Egypt and the Amorites.

In a modern-day example consider that Germany, as a nation, was guilty of heinous crimes against the world and the Jewish people during World War II.  After the war ended, most of the war criminals were sentenced to life in prison.  Rudolf Hess was put into Spandau Prison where he eventually committed suicide on August 17, 1987.  It was after this event the Berlin Wall come down on November 9, 1989.  Many Biblical Scholars point out that Hess was the last remaining high-ranking leader in the Nazis party and God waited until Hess's death to restore Germany, where Germany then began a great revival of their economy with the reunification of Germany.  The unification happened less than a year after the Berlin Wall was removed.  Rhetorically, was this a coincidence or God's timing? 

Note that God has always been the protector of His people and always will administer judgment in His timing.   The history of any nation going against Israel (the Jewish people) will result in that nation's demise in prosperity amongst many other negative consequences.  This is also true for those who unrighteous oppose/hurt any Christian.  Many Biblical Scholars have stated that the United States protection against overdue judgment of the immoralities has been postponed because of the United States' elegance to helping and protecting Israel. 

How Can God Allow?

It is interesting to hear those who oppose the thought of the existence of a Loving God, when they ask the question on "why is there suffering?" to somehow incorrectly prove that there cannot be a God.  Because there is suffering and death in the world, then this is one of the primary reasons for many people to not believe or not think there is a God.  The second statement by those do not believe in God is usually something to the effect of "if there is a God, then why doesn't He allow everyone into Heaven except for those like Adolph Hitler?"

It is interesting to watch and hear from people, that are agnostics and atheists believe mankind is basically good.  This, according to the scriptures, is not true. 

From many Biblical Scholars perspectives, the fact that there is evil in the world actually proves indirectly that there is the possibility of a God.  The proof is understanding that there are unknown reasons, with external influences, that somehow are able to change people to be evil and also evil people into good people.  An example in the scriptures is someone like the Apostle Peter, who was a crude speaking unlearned fisherman, who became a very eloquent, dignified and gifted man after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

Reasons Why there is Suffering

There are many scriptural passages dealing with suffering and receiving evil things that were not deserved.  We all have heard the question on how can a loving God let so many evils happen in this world.   This is actually not a complicated answer.  Consider these two points before answering anyone who asks this question.

• When answering this question to an unbeliever, you need to never act superior or arrogant to anyone because you feel you know something they do not know.
• Additionally, consider the situation in which the person is asking the question.  If you can tell it is to mock Christianity and yourself, then it is better to give a soft answer which does not put Christ up to be ridiculed.  God commends us in the scriptures to be wise and prudent without being quick to answer. 

A possible answer to someone you know who wants to ridicule your belief is "that is such a deep subject and I'll have to think about it first", which will give them the victory they wanted and you may gain some respect for listening to them.  The real reason is given in Ephesians 2, "..we were dead in our Transgressions..." where the scriptural answer could be summarized in your own words from elements of the Scripture. 

Putting this into a Perspective with a better question: "How could a loving God who knows the end from the beginning, who sees the fall of man which would lead to so much pain, suffering and death, let it all happen when the only solution to man's predicament is the very death of God?" 

Two answers of many:

1. By letting the consequences of rebellion by Lucifer and the sin of Adam and Eve, demonstrate the end result is pain, suffering and separation so that after God completes the restoration, as described in the Book of Revelation, then this will never happen again.
2. How can a God who is all powerful, all knowing prove Himself to be eternally loving and show eternal grace beyond measurement?  It is for God to take our place in the consequences of sin and for ages to come through grace show His eternal love to anyone who accepts His substitution payment so that they can be in eternity with Him.  A beautiful acronym of Hal Lindsey's for Grace is "God's Riches at Christ's Expense".  We will spend eternity loving God for so many reasons that includes being eternally grateful for the price paid so that we could be with Him.   Additional reference scripture (Hebrews 2:9). 

A List on Why Christians Suffer

If you desire some more reading, see this link example from J Vernon McGee on why we suffer.

God made it very clear. “In the world you are going to have tribulation — trouble — but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (see John 16:33). It’s hard to be of good cheer when you’re having trouble, isn’t it?  But that’s what He said because we will obtain rewards when suffering for anything done in Christ's sake. 

There is an old cliché "Satan burns all of his heroes" which means that those who enjoy the pleasures of sinful activity will suffer for it in this life by the hands of the very Satanic Spirit that gave it to them.   In other words, the sinful gifts are always designed for short term gain with very high costs of payments that are designed to destroy, enslave and even potentially stop a person from asking God for help.

Personal Notes

I have never known any Christian to not go through suffering of some kind throughout their lives.  As Christians, we are by default the targets of Satanic Forces to disrupt our lives so that we will not be productive in our Christian Walk along with thwarting rewards accumulation in Heaven.  This author accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior in October of 1983 and I remember one of my Christians mentors telling me that God's timing is always perfect on:

• Leading a Christian through a tough situation,
• Redeeming losses, and
• Administering justice to those who do harm.

This author has been through some very traumatic experiences which those three bullet points exemplify.  I will mention just two:

• Around 2000, my spouse became an alcoholic, who then did all the mistakes that pretty much all alcoholics do, including adultery, which then eventually required me divorcing her after years of trying to get her treated to stop drinking and other problems.  If you are going through this type of suffering, click on "Divorce and Committed Relationship Breakups" for help.
• In the early 1990s, I had a business partnership stolen leading to me filing two lawsuits that were won without the proper financial restitution after having to wait for 6 years.  So that all of us can understand that God does judge evil, the fate of the three thieves who were highly successful men beforehand, was
  (a) the first died after a very prolonged battle with stomach cancer at the age of 44;
  (b) the second one lost all the money gained within two years, by bad business ventures, along with a very painful divorce where last I heard, was living meagerly in rural Arkansas;
  (c) the third, who was the primary culprit, crashed the business soon after my departure, had his two McDonald's Fast Food Franchise Restaurants fail, his wife had an affair, had numerous health problems and at least one criminal prosecution.  (Note that the only reason I know about what happened was an independent mutual acquaintance updated me every once in a while, for around 10 years, where the two remaining men might be deceased by now.  Also note that I do not take solace in their outcomes but find it remarkable how God handled the situation.)

In summation, for me these events were very painful at the time.  Now, both are like an old very distant memory in the past which I mention for the reader's edification.  God has given me victories and restitution from both of these events where I have been restored from the losses in some remarkable beautiful ways.  Additionally, regarding my family, I ended up raising my children and they all are doing very well.

Horrible Experiences?

Rhetorically, does anybody want to experience horrible experiences in life?  Of course not.  There are also events in my life that I have made bad choices that resulted in corrections by God that were very painful. 

At the age of 59, I feel great regret and can trace consequences of something I should have known better not to have done when I was 19 years old dealing with emotions in a romantic relationship.  The prayer for us all in any circumstance is "Let not the lessons learned be wasted."  God used my negligence to experience a similar type of far worse consequences a few years later that was the catalyst for me accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior.  I mention this to point out an example of how God used a painful, justified consequences event to actually save my eternal existence with future blessings.

It is sometimes easy to fall into self-pity when something negative happens that was not resulting from something wrong, we did.  Part of what we all should realize, when in the midst of horrible events, is "we are about to be blessed" because when we are experiencing suffering, that is not part of God dealing with sins we have committed, then God will make the outcome be a blessing, even if it results in death.  This is very complicated to explain in brief but there is enough discernment seen in the Scriptures, and in the world, to verify this:

• The paradox from our time perspective is in the end, all of the Satanic evils done against God's people will result in no glory for the evil perpetrators.
• All of those who will be Heaven in eternity will see how God intervened and rewards His own for going through pain, suffering or death caused by Satanic Forces and evil mankind. 
• When we are in Heaven, how could we see it in any other way, as we will realize that we won because we are in Heaven.  The evils done against us did not change the destiny and there is rewards in Heaven for going through anything as Christian when we looked to God during the process.    

Unintentional Ignorance

Sadly, there are those in the Christian Community who say incorrectly:

 "You do not have enough Faith and that is why you are having problems."

which is absolutely not true. Also, many of us have heard:

"Christians are the only army in the world, who kill their wounded.",

which seems to be true in too many circumstances when Christians sometimes will not help fellow Christians when they are in the midst of troubles.

Consider the following:

1. Moses spent for 40 years in the desert as a shepherd,
2. Joseph spent years in a prison in Egypt for a crime that he did not commit, and
3. John the Baptist lived off of Locusts / honey in the wilderness waiting on the time to announce Jesus Christ's ministry.

Rhetorically, did they have a lack of Faith that could have freed them or got them in better circumstances?  Of course not, and God used those periods for their betterment and future rewards.  There are of course many other examples in the scriptures of men and women of Faith that went through periods of hardship but God was using all of it for His Purposes and Glory and their purposes and glory also.

What to read next?

If you have lost a child or young person then read about the Age of Accountability.  What is Salvation?  Is it is possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?