Why doesn't he stop it from happening?
Where is He?"
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've wondered that. Even as a Christian who believes that Jesus bought me eternal life and washed away my sin on the cross, I still struggle with it.
Let me share with you something I found in my Bible a long time ago that I keep going back to.
The reality of pain and brokenness is all around us. We see it every day on the news and in our school hallways. But suffering isn't just "out there". It hits home, too. We Jesus-followers aren't protected in spiritual Bubble Wrap, kept safe from danger, tragedy, and heartache. Sometimes our suffering is intensely personal. When that happens, if can really rock our faith. It can feel like the pain is destroying us. And we're not alone in that feeling. "I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me," David wrote in Psalm 69:3. This wasn't just a minor bad day. David, like we often do, was hurting badly. And what about Job? His life was completely destroyed and God sat by, watching it all happen. When Job demanded answers from God, God didn't give them. Instead God answered Job with more questions. (see Job 38:1-42:6).
It feels that way for us sometimes when we look at the pain in our lives and in twh world around us. Why does God allow little children to die of malnutrition? Why does God let cancer rot out a loved one's bones? Why doesn't God stop suicide bombers or dictators or wars? Simple answers don't work with questions like these. Sometimes we're left like Job getting our questions "answered" with more questions: Who is God-- you or me? Will you trust me? Will you serve me? Will you choose to help the hurting, the sick, and the dying in my name? Will you sacrifice your own wants and desires in order to show love and empathy to those who are suffering?
God doesn't give us an easy answer for why we suffer. Instead he gave us his Son who suffers with us (see Isaiah 53). God's love in Christ goes with us through our deepest pain and our most difficult circumstances. So, "does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted, or hungry, or desitute, or in danger, or threatened with death" (Romans 8:35) It can feel that way sometimes, but the author of Romans answers his own question: "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."
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