Why does God allow us to experience trials and suffering?

Why does God allow his children to suffer trials?

The question of personal suffering is relevant to all of us. Either we are experiencing pain right now, have just emerged from a trial or we are about to enter one. Suffering is universal. Our reactions to suffering, however, are varied. The first question that usually occurs to a victim of pain is “What is God doing to me?”

The following answer to this question assumes that you are believer in Christ – that you are already saved – and that God has sent you a personal problem. Another relevant question you may have is “Why does God allow pain and suffering to exist?

Job, the patient sufferer, tells us a few insights to answer the question of trials in the life of a believer.

Job 23:10" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:10 “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”

Each of the words of this verse gives us insight into how God uses trials to work in our lives:

1. God knows

“He knows” – with those two words Job answers the unexplainable. Without knowing the why or the where to source of his trials, Job knew that God was in control of the world and therefore in control of life’s trials.

He knows you and the circumstances of your trial. He sees your checkbook. He hears how your children talk to your. He knows how your husband drinks. He knows how your heart aches. He knows your confusion. He sees you when you lie awake at night. He sees all of the parts of your trial. You may feel abandoned and forgotten, but God knows what is happening. He is aware. He knows. Can you be comforted in your trial by simply knowing that God is not ignorant of your plight?

Job was content to wait for God to show him the outcome at some future point in time. But for the meantime, he was satisfied to say “God knows”

2. He knows my way

God can see where I am going even if I can’t. There is a destination to the way that I take. I don’t know where this trial will end, but God does. Can you take strength from the fact that when he is done, you will be better off spiritually than you were before.?

Job 23:14" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

3. When

There is usually a time limit to the duration of the trial. It won’t last forever. God’s work in you may take some time, but there will be and end. He will put you on your knees. He will make you feel the weakness and frailty of your humanity. Changing a person’s outlook through trials is a slow process. So you ask, when will the trial end? Answer: When He has tried me.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peacable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 12:11

4. He has tried me

Why does God have to try me? Can’t he just leave me alone? I haven’t sinned, so why is he trying me?

Notice that Job uses the word “tried” instead of “punished”. If you are trying to find a connection between your actions and your suffering, perhaps you are simply being tried. Trials are different than consequences.

The following verse tells us of suffering because of a cause:

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 1 Peter 4" TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 4

If you are in jail for your crimes, or divorced because of your drug addition, your suffering cannot be called a trial. The people you hurt as a result of your actions are suffering trials. But what you are suffering is called a consequence. It is a result directly related to your bad decisions. It is a consequence. The solution for this kind of suffering is for you is to repent of your sin, ask forgiveness to those you have harmed, make restitution and pursue a different path.

If however, you are suffering a trial, like Job, you are probably on your face before God searching in vain for why this has happened.

Job’s cry – “I have done nothing wrong, but yet God is bringing me suffering. He is TRYING me.”

Job 23:7" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

To try something is to test it. Trying a bridge by putting weight on it is not to cause it to collapse, but to prove that the bridge is capable of holding what the engineer intended.

Instead of asking yourself “why caused God to do this to me?” you should ask “what is God trying to show through me?”

God is the teacher and you are the student. This test is not so much about God finding out how much you can bear. He already knows you better than you know yourself. The test is about you finding out about you. When he is done, you will know more about the endurance of your faith, your weak points and what you can do for God in the future.

5. I shall come forth as gold

Job knew that he was being tested by God. Job received an “A” on his faith test. Job learned at least three imporant concepts on his test.

1. One thing he learned by trial is that God is good even if we experience things we think are bad.

“Naked I came into the world, and naked I will leave. God gave and God took away, blessed be the name of the Lord”

“Shall we not receive both good and evil from the Lord?”

Early on the story of Job, his wife came to a very different conclusion about these questions.

“Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

She wanted to curse God. Anger, hate and resentment were spilling out of her mouth. She wanted it to end. Die. Get it over with now. She wanted to throw away all spiritual integrity. What is the point of faithfulness if this is what God does? She failed the test.

It’s the last thing we hear her say. She disappears from the story. Perhaps like some today, she left her husband for a variety of reasons: a bankruptcy, an illness, the loss of a child. In Job’s case, the scene closes with Job sitting in ashes, covered in sores and worst of all, alone. She walked out.

Trials show how much control we give to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps Mrs. Job wasn’t even a believer. Maybe her church taught her that being a believer would make her wealthy. Perhaps she believed that God’s will for her was her happiness. Believers shouldn’t get sick. When “claiming” God’s promises for her failed.

In Christ’s parable of the good seed and the four soils, one of the false believers pictured there was the shallow ground. The seed sown on the shallow ground sprouted. It looked like it would take hold. There was an initial interest, but it turned out to be false. When persecutions arise, the plants wither and die. No life and hence, no fruit.

However, Job shows the gold inside. He passed the test. He was real.

2. A second lesson Job learned from his test is that we can’t see the future. We must wait to see God’s hand even if there is complete darkness.

Job 23:17" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

“I shall come forth” means that God is in control. There is and end not only in regards to time but also in purpose. God is working on us.

God showed the gold in Job. In fact, Job’s life reflects God better after being refined. The gold in his life was bright in chapter 1. He is a man of integrity. He prays daily for his children. He has respect from his peers for his sterling character. He honors God with his sacrifice. In the end, he shows the same consistency, but with more wisdom and even greater blessing.

God didn’t promise Job any recompense for his suffering during the trial. But the physical situation of Job was even better after the trial. We may not come out of a trial as a rich man, but the lessons we learn from hard experiences are invaluable. Although we wouldn’t want to repeat the trial, we wouldn’t want to have missed the experience.

3. A third lesson Job learned is that God always has something to teach us no matter what our spiritual state is.

Job learned more about God in the trial than he knew before. Job was a great man of God before the trial. Even God says “there is no one like my servant Job.” In the closing chapters of the book, however, we see Job learning that he is “vile”. Why? Was God wrong in His assessment of Job? No. In comparison with all other men on the planet, Job was the highest example of godliness. But in comparison with the holiness of God in heaven, Job saw his true nature – sinful. When he learns more about God and His holiness, Job comes out of the story looking better than ever.

Conclusion

Keep in mind the words from Job’s brilliant statement about trials:

“He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”

Shad Sluiter

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Should a Christian have friends who are not believers?

Be the first to give an answer to this question. Write an answer in the comment section below. Please provide your name and if you have a website or blog, be sure to include the URL and email address in your answer.

Answers will be reviewed.

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Why were saints raised from the dead after Jesus died?

What is the significance of the raising of these saints?

The details of this event are so few that we are liable to stray into conjecture. One possible suggestion is that God was giving the Jewish religious leaders further evidence of the triumphant power of the Lord’s death and resurrection. They were responsible for having Him crucified, despite the evidence in Bethany that He had power over death.

D. Oliver
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What is Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras is the French translation of “Fat Tuesday”. Those who know Spanish can see the resemblance in Martes (Tuesday) and grasa (fat). Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras occurs the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. In mid February, the pagans in the Roman empire celebrated the Lupercalia, a circus-like festival. Like other holidays, the Roman Catholic religion decided to adopt the practices of the pagans rather than offend the newly "Christianized" masses.

Mardi Gras is celebrated for a few weeks, depending on the location in the world, in a festival called Carnival. Unbridled partying, drunkenness, sex and debauchery are the features of this festival. Freqently Carnival is celebrated in Central America, South America and Southern Europe where Catholic traditions are strong. New Orleans is the largest and most famous Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. Elaborate costumes and barely clothed women are common in Mardi Gras parades.

Since the Catholic teaching of Lent stipulates that the faithful refrain from sinful practices, fast and pray during the 40 days of Lent, Mardi Gras has been a tradition for centuries to have a huge party just before the days of Lent. Think of it as one last binge before giving something up for 40 days.

There is either a serious misunderstanding or ignorance of God’s word in the combination of Mardi Gras and Lent. The Bible says that Christians should avoid willful sin and uncontrolled behavior all of the year, not just during Lent or Holy Week.

“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:13-14" TARGET="_blank">Romans 13:13-14

When is Fat Tuesday?
March 8, 2011
February 21, 2012
February 12, 2013
March 4, 2014
February 17, 2015

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What is a good commentary for John, Romans and 1 Corinthians?

What commentaries will help most in studying these books?

Again, first consult the commentaries in "What the Bible Teaches" on each of these books. The above mentioned general commentaries also help with these books.

John: Any of the authors who wrote books on the gospels recommended by Tom Wilson (September, October, 2001) are worth consulting where they write on John. George Reith is not well known, but, of his 314 pages in two small volumes, W. Smith says, "Dr. Reith has packed more helpful, practical, biblical, interpretative material into the unusually rich paragraphs of this book than any other writer on the same gospel within the same space." Leon L. Morris has 936 pages on John, of which Barber writes, "a work of superlative scholarship that not only replaces the majestic work of Westcott but surpasses Barrett as well."

Romans: James Currie has just released his book on Romans, which is likely to be very helpful. H. C. G. Moules book, "The Epistle to the Romans" is highly rated. His "Studies in Romans" is good, but less valuable than the other.

I Corinthians: J. M. Davies "The Epistle to the Corinthians" and W. E. Vines "I Corinthians" are very helpful aids for study.

Ephesians: William MacDonald in his "Believers Bible Commentary" devotes more pages proportionately to Ephesians than any other epistle of Paul. It may well be the outstanding work in his commentary.

"In the Heavenlies" is one of Henry A. Ironsides best studies. John R. W. Stott, "Gods New Society: The Message of Ephesians" is also very helpful.

Hebrews: "Studies in the Epistle to the Hebrews" by E. Schuyler English and "An Unshakeable Kingdom" by David Gooding are a good basis for studying this book.

W. Gustafson
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What is the purpose of confessing our sins to God?

What is the purpose of confessing our sins to God?

1 John 1:9" TARGET="_blank">1 John 1:9 makes it clear that confession is the key to enjoying fellowship with God and being fit to do His will.

When we confess our sins, we arent telling the Lord something He doesnt already know. We are confronting the problem - our sin - and beginning to recognize the seriousness of sin against God. Confessing our sins to God means saying the same thing about our sins as God does, agreeing with God. On becoming aware of his sin, the believer confesses, "Lord, that was sin." This is not mere lip service toward God, but is rather the response of devoted hearts honoring God by taking sides with Him against self and sin. This can ingrain Gods holiness into our heart and remind us of our proper submission to the Lord.

Contrition is a most valuable asset in Gods estimate. Confessing our sins and having "a contrite spirit" are closely related to each other.

In His infinite wisdom, God has ordained that personal, private confession of our sins brings us back to enjoying our salvation and our Savior. As we often learn, He has ways of dealing with us that make us marvel. Time has unfolded other benefits that we received because of the way God accomplished His work in us. The same may be true of confessing our sins. In addition to bringing us back to enjoying Himself, He may teach us many things through this means of dealing with our sins before Him.

D. Oliver
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What happened to those who rose from the dead after Jesus died?

Was there a delay between when those individuals were raised and when they "appeared unto many"?

Different translations handle Matthew 27:52" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 27:52 and 53 differently. Some indicate that the graves were opened and the saints arose, then three days later came out of their graves and appeared in Jerusalem. The Greek also allows another possibility: at the death of the Lord Jesus the tombs were opened. At His resurrection, the saints arose, came out of the graves, and appeared in Jerusalem. The King James indicates the latter and there is reason to favor that. These who were raised from death (not resurrected) seem to have greater significance when their return to life is linked with his day of resurrection. In addition, when the Lord brought Jairus’ daughter back to life, He commanded to feed her. How did these sustain life for three days in their tombs?

The likelihood is that the Lord’s power over death was evident in His death, for the tombs were opened. Then on the day of Christ’s resurrection, these who had died arose, came forth, and appeared to many.

D. Oliver

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Does once-saved-always saved give permission to sin?

Doesn't teaching eternal security give license to sin?

Part of the reason for John's first epistle is to refute the false notion that since believers know God spiritually, they can freely sin physically. John shows that life from God cannot be characterized by sin. "Whoever has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him" (1 John 3:9," TARGET="_blank">1 John 3:9, JND). Divine life imparted at salvation precludes a life of sin. Paul asked. "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound" (Romans 6:1)" TARGET="_blank">Romans 6:1)? He shows that our new standing in Christ (6:1-14), our new service, not to sin but to righteousness (6:15-23), and our new supply of power by the indwelling Spirit (8:1-16) preclude a Christian from living under the power of sin.

D. Oliver

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What did Old Testament believers know about Christ's sacrifice?

Is it correct to say that the Old Testament saints had the Gospel preached to them as we know it?

(see Galatians 3:8)." TARGET="_blank">Galatians 3:8).

Did Abraham know when he offered up Isaac, that his son was a type of the Son of God? or did Isaiah know when speaking of the sufferings of Christ, that He was the Son of God? or again, did Job know that his Redeemer was the Son of God?

It is not possible, it seems to me, for anyone to search the hearts and understandings of these Old Testament saints, and define the exact extent of their spiritual apprehension of the Person of whom they spake. Spiritual truths are spiritually apprehended.

Certainly the Gospel preached to Abraham was not the Good News as we know it, but it contained it, for its promise of salvation was alone through Christ. Probably the apprehension of Patriarchs and Prophets was much greater than we might naturally suppose. For instance, would it not be difficult to define the limitations of our Lord’s words in John 8:56" TARGET="_blank">John 8:56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” This seems to refer to a special occasion, as the verbs are all in the aorist and speak of a point of time in the past, probably to the great deliverance on Mount Moriah. Abraham might have called the name of the place “Jehovah-rahah”__the Lord has provided, had he thought all was over. Evidently he perceived that what had just taken place was the figure of a greater deliverance and so he called it “JehovahJireh”—the Lord will provide. Whether Isaiah and the prophets knew that the Messiah about whom they wrote was to be actually the Son of God, it seems profitless to enquire. They knew they were inspired by the Spirit of Christ testifying in them, and that they were speaking for us, concerning “the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:11)." TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 1:11). Their difficulty was not to know of whom they spake, but of what manner of time. As for Job’s wonderful words, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” he would be a bold man (which boldness I neither share nor desire to share), who would undertake to limit this prophecy. It seems to me that in these words God gave His tried servant to understand a bit of “Romans” truth—”My Redeemer”; a bit of “Corinthian” truth —“He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth”; a bit of “Thessalonian” truth—”In My flesh I shall see God”; a bit of “Colossian” truth—”My Redeemer is God”; and a bit of “Timothy” truth—”I know.”

W.H.

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What did the Lord mean, "Let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will?"

What did the Lord mean, "Let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will?"

Before Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus said, "What shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name" (John 12:27,28)." TARGET="_blank">John 12:27,28). After Gethsemane He said, "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11)." TARGET="_blank">John 18:11). There was no possibility of His turning from or being unwilling to go to Calvary. Gethsemane itself carries a weight of grief and a depth of wonder exceeding perhaps any other scene. This is holy ground! Together, Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts portray immense emotional suffering that expressed itself physically. His sorrow was to the point of death, to the limit of the human frame. His anguish was accompanied by godly reverence and dependence (Hebrews 5:7)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 5:7). Each statement of prayer includes the submission of His will to the Father’s. It could not have been otherwise.

Such was the enormity of Golgotha’s awaiting suffering that He would never have endured it unless this was His Father’s will. Each exploration of an alternative was fully submissive. Gethsemane’s question was, "Can divine Persons find any other way but Calvary to deal with sin?" Gethsemane’s answer? " No."

D. Oliver
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