Why Does a Good God Allow Suffering?

Certain questions cut straight to the heart, and this is surely one of them: “If God is good, why is there suffering in the world?” We feel it at gravesides, in hospital rooms, and in the silent battles of the soul. Skeptics wield it as a weapon against faith, while believers wrestle with it in prayer.

But Scripture gives us an answer, not a philosophical bandage, but a redemptive reality in Christ.

God Is Not the Author of Suffering

From the beginning, God’s creation was declared “very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no sickness, no death, no sorrow. Humanity was designed for fellowship with God, not for pain. Suffering entered the world not by God’s design, but through sin.

Paul says plainly: “Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Sin opened the door to every form of corruption, including sickness, disease, poverty, and oppression.

So when we ask, “Why is there suffering?” the answer is not that God ordained it, but that man’s fall unleashed it.

The Cross: God’s Answer to Suffering

Here’s where the gospel becomes breathtaking. God did not leave the world in its broken state. He entered it in Christ.

  • Jesus bore our sins (1 Peter 2:24).

  • He took our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17).

  • He carried our griefs and sorrows (Isaiah 53:4).

The cross is not just forgiveness for sin; it is God’s decisive strike against everything sin unleashed. In Christ, God took responsibility for what He did not cause, so He could offer us redemption from what we could not escape.

Calvary was the legal end of sin and sickness. The cross proves not only God’s goodness, but His willingness to suffer with us and for us, so He could free us.

The New Creation Reality

The gospel doesn’t stop at forgiveness. Paul declares: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

As new creations, we are not doomed to live under the tyranny of suffering. Christ’s resurrection life has been deposited in us through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11). This doesn’t mean believers never face trials, but it does mean trials do not define us, and suffering cannot have the final word.

Redemption restores authority to the believer. We resist the devil, we speak the Word, and we enforce Christ’s victory in our lives. Suffering is not God’s tool to teach us lessons; His Word and His Spirit are.

A World Still Awaiting Full Redemption

Yet we must also hold this tension: while redemption is accomplished, its fullness will only be unveiled when Christ returns. Creation itself is groaning, waiting for liberation (Romans 8:19-22). Until then, we live in a world where pain still exists, but we live with the power of the Spirit who overcomes it.

This means:

  • We grieve, but not as those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

  • We face trials, but with the assurance that Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33).

  • We lay hands on the sick, expecting healing, because the same Jesus who conquered sin also conquered sickness (Mark 16:18).

Why This Matters

Suffering is real, but it is not sovereign. Christ is. The gospel doesn’t deny pain, but it disarms it. It shows us a God who doesn’t merely allow suffering from a distance but has entered into it, overcome it, and promised a day when it will be no more.

Revelation 21:4 gives us the final word:

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Until then, we walk in the victory of the cross, the authority of the believer, and the comfort of the Spirit.

Why does a good God allow suffering? He doesn’t author it, He overcomes it. He doesn’t will it, He redeems us from it. And in Christ, He has guaranteed that suffering will not have the last say, glory will.

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