If God knew the suffering that would exist in the world, why did He allow it?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Suffering exists as part of God's plan. While we do not understand everything about God’s use of suffering, there are two clear theological reasons for His use of it: to display His love and mercy, and to call people to repent and obey. God displays His glory through creation (Psalm 19:1). However, some of His attributes, such as His mercy, grace, and love, require undeserving recipients to truly display them. God always planned to send His Son to be the Savior (1 Peter 1:20), which meant ordaining (without causing) humanity’s fall and suffering, pain, and death in the world (Genesis 3:16–19). So, one part of the explanation is that suffering was required to display God’s greatness. The other reason is to teach people to fear and obey Him. Solomon wrote that funerals are better than feasts because, at funerals, people think about eternal things (Ecclesiastes 7:2). Suffering reminds all people that we are rebellious and deserve God’s judgment (Romans 1:18–20). God mercifully uses it to get people’s attention. Additionally, God uses suffering in believers’ lives to mature them (Hebrews 12:3–11) and strengthen their faith (James 1:2–4). While we can’t understand how all suffering is used by God for His glory, at a high level, we know about God’s love only because of suffering.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Scholars debate exactly how to speak about God and His relationship to suffering. While using the word “allow” is common, it tends to imply that God is passively allowing suffering. However, God Himself said, “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). So, it’s wrong to say that all suffering is simply “allowed” when some is caused. However, Scripture is equally clear that God doesn’t directly cause anything sinful, such as suffering caused by someone’s sin (cf. James 1:13). Thus, scholars often use language such as “God ordains” or “God uses secondary means” when referring to suffering in the world. By that they mean that God is sovereign and nothing happens outside His control, and yet whoever caused the sinful suffering (Satan, another person, etc.) is the one held responsible.
• God created to display His glory: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Creation shows us that God is great and powerful (cf. Romans 1:18–20). To display His other attributes meant having someone to whom He could be merciful.
• Suffering entered the world through our sin (Genesis 3:16–19). In that sense, all suffering is directly caused by us (and, at some level, Satan). This includes both “natural” calamities and sinful acts that cause pain and misery. However, everything that happens occurs because God ordains it (Proverbs 16:33). Thus, in another sense, our fall can be said to be ordained by God. God used the means of our rebellion, which caused suffering, to display His mercy, grace, and love to us.
• In addition to displaying His glory, God uses suffering to remind humanity that there is judgment for our rebellion. Solomon quipped, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). A “house of mourning” is one that is suffering greatly, often from death. Funerals and other great tragedies remind us that this world is broken and sinful and that God will not allow sin to remain unpunished. The wise “living” take these sad lessons to heart and cultivate a repentant heart, knowing that they, too, will one day die and face God.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Before God created the world, He already planned to send Jesus to die as the Savior for sinners. We read, “[Jesus] was foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20) and was “delivered up [to death] according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Because God already planned to send Jesus to save that meant He also planned sin and suffering to enter His creation as the foundation for the need for Jesus.
• It is, indeed, through Jesus that we learn about God’s mercy, grace, and love. We read, “the love of God was made manifest among us” because “[God] loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). This is why Paul said that those believers used to be God’s enemies, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5). Thus, we learn about God’s love and mercy because we don’t deserve either, but He extended it anyway so that we would know Him and what true, sacrificial love looks like.
• God also uses suffering to make His people like Christ. Jesus is given as the example of suffering in 1 Peter 2:21: “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Christ suffered to save us, and believers suffer to display Christ to the world (1 Peter 2:12).
• Believers also suffer as they continue to sin even while saved, and God disciplines them out of His love for them (Hebrews 12:3–11). Additionally, He uses it to strengthen their faith. James noted, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). Suffering in the believer’s life is the normal means by which God makes them like Jesus.
• Though suffering is necessary in this life, God is moving all of history toward the time when He will judge Satan (Revelation 20:10) and all who caused suffering and have not repented (Revelation 20:11–15). He will then personally “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” (Revelation 21:4). God has ordained suffering for a time to display His greatness and prepare humanity for eternity. But when He is done with it, He will remove it, and suffering will be no more.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

You're walking through a city during a power outage. Everything familiar disappears into darkness. The streetlights are off, homes are dim, and even the brightest buildings seem to vanish. Then, in the distance, someone lights a single candle. Suddenly, that small flame becomes impossible to ignore. It doesn't create the darkness—it simply shines in the middle of it.

The Bible teaches that suffering is like that darkness. We would never choose it, and God is not indifferent to it. Yet He uses it to reveal what could not be seen as clearly otherwise. In our deepest pain, we often discover His comfort. We see His goodness and His sovereignty. In our guilt, we encounter His mercy. In our weakness, we experience His strength. At the cross, the darkest moment in history became the brightest display of God's love as Jesus suffered to save sinners.

Because of Him, suffering is never the end of the story. His light shines brightly in the darkness. That's not necessarily why God allowed darkness, but that's what He does in the midst of it. Darkness is no surprise to Him, and He will ordain even darkness for His good purposes. One day Christ will remove every trace of pain forever, but until then, He uses even our darkest moments to help us see the light of His grace more clearly and to shine that same hope into the lives of others.

UNDERSTAND

• God uses suffering to display His glory, mercy, grace, and love.
• God uses suffering to call people to repentance and to mature and strengthen the faith of His people.
• Suffering is temporary—God will one day judge evil, remove all suffering, and restore creation forever.

REFLECT

• How does understanding that God ordains suffering for specific purposes change the way you process pain and hardship in your own life?
• In what ways have you experienced God using suffering to deepen your understanding of His mercy, grace, or love toward you?
• How does knowing that suffering is temporary and will one day be fully resolved give you hope even as you endure difficult seasons right now?

ENGAGE

• How can we explain the distinction between God ordaining suffering and God causing sin to someone wrestling with the problem of evil?
• Why do we often struggle to trust that God has good purposes in suffering, and how can we encourage one another to cling to His truth in difficult seasons?
• How should the promise that God will one day remove all suffering shape the way we endure hardship now and care for those who are hurting?