Why Does God Allow Suffering? — Understanding Pain in a World Created by Love

By Pastor Joel – Open Heaven Christian Church – Fisher, Arkansas

Credits: This blog is a result of a long spiritual conversation I had last night with a good friend of mine of 14 years named Miriam. I told her that I met someone recently who is deeply angry at God because she said that “if God existed, God would not allow all the suffering in the world” as we see today.

There are questions that rise from the human heart not in moments of comfort, but in the midnight hours of pain.

Questions whispered through tears.

Questions shouted at hospital ceilings.

Questions uttered over graves, broken marriages, empty bank accounts, prodigal children, depression, betrayal, cancer diagnoses, and silent prayers that seem unanswered.

One question towers above them all:

“If God is so good… why does He allow suffering?”

Why does a loving God permit pain and suffering in the earth?

Why do innocent people hurt?

Why do Christians suffer when they serve Him, pray, fast, and believe in God?

Why are there seasons where heaven feels silent while life feels merciless?

This is not a shallow question.

This is a question that has sat beside the beds of the dying, walked with mothers burying their children or spouse, stood with men who lost everything, and knelt with believers whose faith was shaking to the very core.

And the truth is this:

God has never ignored this question.
The Bible does not run from suffering—
it explains it, enters into it, and reveals God’s eternal purpose through it.

To understand suffering, we must understand something many people misunderstand:

This world is not currently functioning in the perfection in which God originally created it.

1. Suffering Entered the World Because Sin Entered the World

When God created the earth, He did not create it with disease, death, abuse, war, mental torment, or tears.

The original creation was in perfect harmony before the fallen condition of mankind.

There was no funeral home in Eden.

There were no medical doctors in Eden.

No pharmacy for pain and psychotic medication in Eden.

No chemotherapy in Eden.

No depression in Eden.

No anxiety in Eden.

No murder in Eden.

No abuse in Eden.

No predatory prey in Eden.

No survival of the fittest in Eden.

No fear or worrying about tomorrow in Eden.

No broken families in Eden.

Suffering was not part of God’s first original design. It was mans will that introduced pain and suffering into this world.

The Bible says in Romans 5:12:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…”

When sin entered through Adam, creation itself was severely fractured.

Human nature became corrupted, and man became alienated from God and became an “enemy” of God, and now needs to find its way back to God to be “reconciled” to the one who created them.

Colossians 1:21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”

The earth came under a curse. And it was God who cursed it because man began to follow Satan when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge that corrupted their minds and led to confusion and spiritual death that separated them from God’s divine protection and peace that they had in the garden of Eden. They choose this by their own freewill.

What we are experiencing now is life inside a fallen creation.

This means:

• sickness exists because creation is broken,

• injustice exists because human hearts are broken,

• death exists because sin opened the door to corruption.

Many people blame God for what sin damaged. 

But suffering is not proof that God is cruel.

Suffering is proof that mankind chose independence from God and the ripple effects touched everything in their life and this is the only logical consequence of why so many feel empty in life even after trying to pursue many things to try and fill this empty void that can never be filled without God in ones life.

We are living in a world that has drifted from the perfect life called the paradise of Eden, to a world that is spiritually dead, empty, and void without God.

2. God Allows Free Will — And Free Will Can Produces Real Consequences in life.

One of the hardest truths to accept is this:

God created human beings with the terrifying dignity of choice.

For instance, Love cannot be forced, it is a choice people make.

Obedience to God cannot be robotic.

Relationships cannot be programmed.

So God gave humanity free will to choose life with Jesus, or death (separation from God) without Jesus in ones life.

Many today have the wrong idea about why God sent Jesus into the world. They think that Jesus came to condemn them to hell, when in reality Jesus did not come to send anyone to hell—He came to save them from hell. Humanity was already under condemnation when man fell in the perfect garden God had given them, called Eden. From that moment, sin separated mankind from God, and all stood guilty before Him. Jesus Christ was therefore sent not as the author of condemnation, but as the divine remedy for it, so that fallen man might find his way back to God through Him.

John 3:17-19 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

When Adam (man) fell, he separated himself from God by the choice he made to follow and obey Satan instead of God. This is the condition that all men born in the flesh were born into but God did not leave humanity without hope, God sent his “only Son — JESUS” to offer us salvation from our fallen condition and show us all the way back to God if we choose by our own free will to begin following Jesus. God is expecting mankind to accept the only plan of eternal hope an salvation God gave to all of humanity – JESUS.  There is no other plan of salvation given by God to mankind.

Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.“

Jesus knew who he was before ever coming to earth to offer himself to all of humanity as the way back to God. Because mankind is in a fallen state they now need to be born-again, but not physically, but spiritually bord-again. Jesus taught that mankind needed to be bord again.

John 3:5-8
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

But free will means people can choose:

• violence,

• greed,

• lust,

• betrayal,

• abuse,

• corruption,

• selfishness,

• hatred.

Or they can choose God and the only plan of salvation God offers all of humanity – JESUS.

Much of the suffering in this world is not because God personally authored evil, but because human beings use freedom to wound one another by their fallen nature which is evil. This is why Jesus said this powerful truth that many even some Christians find hard to believe. Jesus said we all need to be “delivered from evil” implying we are all prone while lyving in our flesh bodies to do evil by our very nature. 

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.“

Jesus declared by implication that “ALL MANKIND ARE EVIL” and needs to be delivered from evil. What evil was Jesus talking about? The evil that is within every human being born on this earth. Being delivered from evil would require the help of God because we all are in this human condition and need God to deliver us from it. Yes this is only possible through prayer and abiding in Jesus.

Matthew 6:12-13 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

Every single person born has sinned making them evil in the sight of God because they were all born in the flesh. This is why even a two year old can lie to his mother about not stealing the cookies out of the cookie jar and never have any remorse or guilt in doing it.

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Wars are chosen.

Child abuse is chosen.

Infidelity is chosen.

Murder is chosen.

Oppression is chosen.

Lying is chosen.

Greed is chosen.

And yet people ask, “Why did God allow this?”
People blame the one who wants to “deliver us from our evil.”

Because a world without choice would be a world without love. A world without Christ is a world filled with evil desires.

For love to be genuine, rejection must be possible. – (freewill is not a forced will upon anyone).

And where rejection of God’s ways occurs, suffering multiplies.

This is why the earth can often feel so dark and empty, and why God does not always intervene immediately when humanity commits evil. God allowed Adam and Eve to continue in the path they chose until the appointed time when He judged their disobedience—and that judgment was costly, for they died spiritually.

God permitted Adam and Eve to exercise the freedom of choice He had given them. He did not forcefully stop them when they sinned, because the evil they committed was the result of their own willing decision. They chose to act upon what had entered their hearts, and through their own free will they opened the door to sin and separation from God.

They would have had little reason to truly appreciate the paradise God freely gave them had they never experienced the consequences of the evil deed they committed. Satan deceived them into believing they could continue living in the beautiful garden God had provided without any real need for God Himself. But when they fell and separated themselves from Him, everything changed. It was only after that fall that they came to fully understand that what they truly needed was not merely the paradise of Eden, but the very presence, fellowship, and life of God.

Their fall actually made them realize not only that they needed God, but without Him they discovered that their lives were totally empty without Him.

Jesus said it this way in just a few words:

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Humanity keeps exercising freedom without the righteousness that comes only from God.

The reality is that no human on earth is better than any other human. We are all fallen until Jesus Christ enters into our lives and reconciles us back to God, if we are willing to humble ourselves before the One who created us. No one is exempt from this truth, no matter what they do in an attempt to fill the empty void within them.

3. Not All Suffering Is Punishment

This is where many Christians become confused.

When pain enters their lives, they automatically assume:

“God is punishing me.”

Not necessarily.

This is one of the greatest misconceptions in the church.

There are sufferings that come simply because we live in a broken world.

Jesus addressed this when people assumed tragedy always meant divine judgment.

In John 9:3, a man was born blind, and the disciples asked whose sin caused his blindness?

Jesus answered:

“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents…”

This shattered the simplistic idea that all suffering is punishment.

Sometimes:

• bodies break,

• storms hit,

• jobs collapse,

• people betray,

• minds become weary,

not because God is striking someone, but because we are navigating life in fallen human conditions.

Yes, God does chasten His children to correct them when needed.

Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.“

But not every tear is a whip from heaven. 

Some tears are simply evidence that we are pilgrims passing through a groaning creation. The “life lessons” we all experience are by design to make us realize how desperately need God to lead us in life.

4. Christians Suffer Too — Because Salvation Does Not Remove Us From Human Reality

One of the painful shocks new believers experience is this:

They thought coming to Christ meant exemption from hardships, trials or tribulations, but all these trials God allows to produce patience in knowing that we can trust God to deliver us from every one of the hardships we all experience in life.

This produces a reliance on God rather then relying on our own strengths. We are told to recon it as joy when we experience hardships, its because God cares and loves us enough to allow us to experience the hardship in order to strength our faith in Him and his power to deliver us in the hardships. These hardships are what the bible calls temptations or trials.

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

But Christianity is not an insurance policy against temptations or trials which cause pain.

It is the promise of God’s presence in pain.

Jesus never told His followers:

“Come to me and you will never suffer.”

He said in John 16:33:

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

The good news is that if we endure the tribulations and trials we build patience and trust through reliance in God.

Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”

Notice that carefully.

He guaranteed affliction and tribulation.

Meaning:

• believers get sick,

• believers lose loved ones,

• believers may face financial strain,

• believers battle anxiety,

• believers are betrayed,

• believers cry in secret,

• believers endure seasons of confusion and doubt.

Why?

Because being redeemed spiritually does not mean we have yet been removed physically from the fallen earth.

We are saved…

but still walking through a damaged world.

The difference is:

the Christian does not suffer alone, and the Christian does not suffer without eternal meaning. 

5. Sometimes God Uses Suffering As a Furnace of Transformation

This truth is uncomfortable, but it is deeply biblical:

Sometimes God allows suffering not to destroy us, but to form us.

There are chambers of intimacy with God that are never entered through pleasure.

There are revelations of God’s faithfulness that only pain can unveil.

There are idols in us that comfort never exposes.

There are depths of prayer that ease never teaches.

Look at:

• Joseph — betrayed, sold, imprisoned.

• Job — stripped of everything.

• David — hunted in caves.

• Paul — beaten, imprisoned, afflicted.

These were not abandoned people.

These were chosen vessels.

Suffering often becomes God’s furnace where:

• pride burns,

• self-sufficiency burns,

• worldly attachment burns,

• false identities burn.

And what emerges is:

• endurance,

• compassion,

• humility,

• intimacy,

• unshakable faith.

Romans 5:3 teaches:

“tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience;
and experience, hope…”

Meaning pain can become a divine workshop to correct and shape our will and desires so that our will can line up to the perfect will of God.

Not because pain is pleasant—

but because God is capable of manufacturing glory from ashes.

When you go through suffering, is when you are most prone to stop everything for a season and start thinking about the creator – GOD. 
This is when God humbles us to get our attention on eternal things because he loves us and his power is in the grace he gives us to sustain any blow the world delivers.
Think of it as a man who walks into a gym to build physical muscles, what does he need to do? He must lift heavy weights and exercise to build stamina and strength.

Your suffering is but for a season, it will pass!

Isaiah 61:3 “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Look what Jesus said about mourning…

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.“

God may be purifying your heart because he loves you and wants you to see him…

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.“

6. Some Suffering Is Spiritual Warfare

There are battles that are not merely psychological, circumstantial, or physical.

Some suffering has demonic resistance attached to it.

The Bible reveals that believers wrestle not merely with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces.

Ephesians 6:12-13 
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.“

There are seasons where:

• satanic oppression intensifies,

• confusion increases,

• temptation escalates,

• discouragement becomes thick,

• strange warfare surrounds progress.

This does not mean every hardship is demonic. 

But it does mean some pain is connected to the invisible war against the purposes of God in a believer’s life. The good news is that God goes before you in the battle to help you fight against the evil forces that might be coming against you if you will stand agianst the devil and “resist” satan and submit to God. As you do, the devil is put to flight and all his demonic forces are defeated as you fight and stand against the devil in Jesus name!

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.“

Job’s suffering had a spiritual dimension. Job 1:8-12

Paul spoke of a messenger of Satan buffeting him and God reminded Paul that God’s grace was good enough during this time of warfare. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Jesus Himself was tempted and afflicted when faced with the hardest trial of his life, but in the trial Jesus did not run away from the hardship, He faced it head on trusting in God the father to complete his will in him and was able to face even death knowing that God would not leave him in the grave. Luke 22:42 & Acts 2:24

Sometimes suffering is the friction of walking through hostile spiritual territory.

7. God Himself Entered Human Suffering Through Jesus Christ

This changes everything.

Christianity is not the story of a distant God watching pain from a comfortable throne.

It is the story of God stepping into blood, tears, betrayal, torture, abandonment, and death because of fallen mankind. It was Jesus that took upon himself the sin of mankind in his own body to not only reveal the true evil condition of man, but to redeem us and pay the penalty of sin which is death for all of mankind.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Jesus died for us and took the punishment for our sin. 

Isaiah 53:5-8
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” 

Jesus Christ was:

• rejected,

• mocked,

• beaten,

• misunderstood,

• abandoned by friends,

• crucified publicly.

This means we do not worship a God unfamiliar with agony.

We worship a God scarred by it.

Hebrews tells us we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

He knows grief from the inside.

When you cry, you are not speaking to a God who studies suffering academically.

You are speaking to One who bled.

8. Suffering Is Temporary — Glory Is Eternal

This is perhaps the believer’s anchor.

Pain feels endless when inside it.

But biblically, suffering is not the final chapter.

The Christian worldview is not that this present world is all there is.

There is resurrection after crucifixion.

There is morning after night.

There is restoration after weeping.

There is a coming kingdom where:

• death dies,

• tears cease,

• pain expires,

• sickness ends,

• injustice is judged.

This earth is not the conclusion of the story.

Paul said:

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

That means eternity will make sense of what temporality cannot.

Some answers are not fully understood in the valley.

Some answers are waiting on the mountain of eternity.

9. The Greatest Danger of Suffering Is Not Pain — It Is Misinterpreting God During Pain

This is critical.

Suffering can make people conclude:

• God left me.

• God does not love me.

• God is punishing me.

• Prayer does not work.

• Faith is useless.

But suffering often distorts perception.

Pain becomes a dark lens.

The believer must learn this:

God’s silence is not His absence.
God’s delay is not His denial.
God’s allowance is not His cruelty.

Many times while we are interpreting suffering as abandonment, heaven is performing unseen construction in the soul.

10. Sometimes There Is No Immediate Answer — Only Immediate Trust

This is where theology becomes relationship.

There are sufferings that no sermon fully explains.

There are losses no paragraph can neatly package.

There are wounds that leave us saying:

“Lord, I do not understand.”

And sometimes God’s answer is not explanation.

Sometimes His answer is Himself.

The deepest maturity in faith is when the soul says:

“I do not understand what You are doing… but I refuse to let go of who You are.”

That is trust.

That is surrender.

That is faith purified by fire.

Final Thoughts — God Does Not Waste Pain

Why does God allow suffering?

Because we live in a fallen world.

Because free will has consequences.

Because some pain refines.

Because some pain wages spiritual war.

Because some pain cannot yet be fully explained this side of eternity.

But through it all one truth remains:

God never wastes suffering surrendered to Him.

He can turn mourning into joy and ministry.

He can turn scars into testimonies and sermons.

He can turn brokenness into wisdom.

He can turn tears into intimacy.

He can turn what looked like the end into the birthplace of a deeper knowing of Him.

And your suffering is not proof that God has forgotten you, it is proof that He loves you.

Sometimes it is the very ground where He is doing His deepest hidden work.

The nails that crucified our Lord did not stop resurrection and life that God sent into the world to offer to anyone who humbles themselves before Him Eternal Life. It was through the suffering of Jesus that God demonstrated His love and patience toward all of humanity.