The Bible Doesn't Say That - Part 4

Suffering is a Result of Sin

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Imagine that you had multiple unexpected repair bills and suddenly you don’t have enough money to pay one your electric bill this month. When you call to explain this the BGE rep asks, “What sin did you do that brought about this financial problem?” Or perhaps you broke your leg on the weekend and when you went to work on Monday your boss says, “You must have really sinned big time for this to happen?” Maybe a dog knocks over your trashcan and drags trash all over the road in front of your house causing you to get a citation from the city for polluting and your neighbor asks, “Have you or your children sinned to cause this problem?”

I’m sure you would think, “What callous, cruel response to my illness, pain, or suffering.” It’s almost impossible to even imagine that someone would react like that, yet many people continue to mistakenly believe that all suffering is caused by sin. If something is wrong in your life, there must be some unforgiven sin that you are trying to hide.

This is not some new belief. In fact, even the disciples of Jesus believed that suffering was the result of sin.

¹ As He [Jesus] was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)

I can hear the conversation between the disciples now… Look at the poor blind beggar. I wonder whose sin caused this terrible tragedy in his life. Maybe his parents sinned, and God struck the child blind. Or perhaps the child was sinful in the womb, and God punished it by allowing it to be born blind. Either way, this man has had to live with the results of this sin his entire life. Hey, let’s ask Jesus. He’ll know who whose sin caused this to happen.

Jesus was definitely more patient than I am. I would have smacked them in the head and said something like, “Idiots! Is that what you think of God? That He just zaps sinful people with illnesses, poverty, pain, and woes all day long?” Yet Jesus calmly replied to their question so that they could learn about the love of God firsthand.

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After He said these things He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. ⁷ “Go,” He told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing. (John 9:3-7)

Suffering is a result of life

It could be argued that all suffering is a result of the original sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, their sin brought disease, decay, and death into the world. Since then, every living thing experiences the process of decay that leads to death.

“From the moment we are born, we begin to die.” This quote used to be one of my favorites. It both terrified and intrigued me. Only recently did I realize something new when I heard this quote. I march, not toward death, as the quote implies, but life. Oh yes, I will die. But for me, death is only the vehicle to which I take to my new life. Death (and the long, slow, often agonizing march toward it that we call “life”) is but a momentary pause, a blink, the final definitive step through the doorway that leads to my true life. (Emily Mueller, That I Might Have Life)

Suffering shows God’s love for Us

Sometimes God permits us to suffer to teach us that pain is a part of life. The Bible does not tell us that followers of Jesus will not suffer. Even Jesus suffered, bleed, and died because of His love for us. His suffering was not the result of sin. It was the result of His love for us.

God may permit suffering so we learn to respond to problems in a biblical way. Romans 12:1 says that we should present our bodies as living sacrifices. A sacrifice was something that was utterly destroyed so that it could bring pleasure to God. The process of destroying our old nature so that we might bring pleasure to God is not an easy task. It may result in suffering, but it is because God loves us and wants us to become more like Him.

The apostles suffered. It wasn’t sin that caused their suffering. Their suffering brought them closer to God. The weaker they felt, the more they relied on Jesus to help them as they shared about God’s love. Paul put it this way:

¹⁰ So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Suffering Shows God’s Love for Others

The book of Job teaches us about a man of perfect integrity, who turned away from all evil. He had a large family and was extremely wealthy. God was so pleased with Job that He bragged about Him to the devil. Satan said that Job was only a righteous man because he had everything a man could want. He said that Job would curse God as soon as he had to suffer.

God allowed the devil to bring suffering into the life of Job to test him, but said that the devil was not allowed to bring any physical harm to Job himself. Job’s property and children were all killed in disasters. He and his wife were all that remained.

²⁰ Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, ²¹ saying:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will leave this life.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Praise the name of Yahweh.

²² Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything. (Job 1:20-22)

His friends came to console Job, wept with him, and spent time with him. But his friends also asked Job what great sin he had committed that brought down God’s wrath on him. Job insisted that he did not sin and continued to praise God.

Satan told God that the only reason Job continued to praise God was because Job had not personally been attacked. He said that if Job experienced personal pain and suffering then he would curse God. God allowed Satan to bring physical harm to Job but insisted he must not be killed. So, painful boils spread all over Job’s body.

Job’s friends continued to insist that Job must have sinned to cause such suffering. For more than 30 chapters Job and his friends go back and forth. Even Job’s wife became furious because of what God had done to them and told Job to just curse God and die.

¹ Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said: ² Who is this who obscures My counsel with ignorant words? ³ Get ready to answer Me like a man; when I question you, you will inform Me. ⁴ Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶ What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? ⁸ Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb, ⁹ when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, ¹⁰ when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, ¹¹ when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”? (Job 38:1-11)

God is basically asking, “Who are you?” It’s not like we are the Hulk facing Loki as he demands, “I am a god.” To which the Hulk responds by beating Loki to a pulp and walking away as he says, “Puny god.” No, this is the one and only true God.

We question God as if we have the authority to do so. God, the God who created everything, the God who made the laws of nature, the God who keeps the earth from spinning out of control toward the sun, that God is the One we think doesn’t know what He is doing. We question His reasons. We question His ways.

Sometimes God permits suffering to speak through our life and testimony to show others our faith in God. Jesus said that the sufferings of the blind man were “so that God’s works might be displayed in him.” God not only loves us, but He loves all people. Sometimes He may allow us to experience some discomfort so that others will be drawn to Him when they see how we give God glory in spite of our problems. Just like Job…if we are willing.