In the book, “The Reason for God,” Timothy Keller deals with some of the common objections he has heard when sharing the gospel with others. Keller planted a church in New York City, one of the most secular places in the world. Over the course of his ministry he has had many conversations with skeptics, hoping to answer their questions or show evidence for God’s existence. In one chapter he describes an exchange with two college students who wondered how a good and loving God could allow such terrible suffering in this world.
“I just don’t believe the God of Christianity exists,” said Hillary, an undergrad English major. “God allows terrible suffering in the world. So he might be either all powerful but not good enough to end evil and suffering, or else he might be all good but not powerful enough to end evil and suffering. Either way [I don’t believe] the all-good and all powerful God of the Bible could exist.”
“This isn’t a philosophical issue to me,” added Rob, Hillary’s boyfriend. “This is personal. I won’t believe in a God who allows suffering even if he [does] exist. Maybe God exists, maybe not. But if he does, [I don’t think] he can be trusted.”[i]
Many of us have had a similar conversation with friends or loved ones. As you’ve tried to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them, they have pushed back with an argument like this. Often, we get the sense that it isn’t so much that they do not believe in God, but they are angry with God because of heartache or sorrows they have experienced in their own life. “Where is God in the midst of my suffering,” they have wondered.
Maybe you have wrestled with that same question. There is much brokenness and suffering in the world around us. When we pick up the newspaper on any given day it is filled with stories of crime and corruption. We read about fighting taking place in warn torn countries around the world. Here in our own country there have been natural disasters, like hurricanes or wildfires, rip through communities leaving a trail of destruction. In our own lives we endure various trials. It may be the loss of a job, or the pain of broken relationships, or a battle with sickness and disease. In the midst of all these sorrows, we sometimes struggle to make sense of it all.
The skeptic would point to all of this suffering and dismiss our faith. But for the believer, it is our faith in Christ that offers comfort in the midst of our suffering. The Bible doesn’t ignore the heartache and sorrows of this world. It tells us about real men and women who went through overwhelming struggles, but rather than destroy their belief in God, they were drawn closer to him finding the strength to overcome. How is that possible? It is because God helps us to make sense of our suffering. Even if we never understand why we have to go through the painful ordeals of this life, we realize that we’re not alone in our journey. If there is no God, then all human suffering would be meaningless. But because God is with us, in the midst of our struggles, there is hope.
Joseph is one of those individuals. His life is a powerful example of God’s continued presence through our sorrows. We read about his life in the book of Genesis, from chapters 37 to 50. He lived about 4,000 years ago. Abraham was his great grandfather, Isaac was his grandfather, and he was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. In fact, he was the favorite son, and that’s where his problems began.
In Genesis 37:23-27 we read,
“So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? ‘Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers listened to him.”
As we look at the life of Joseph we learn that God is not the cause of our suffering.
Bad things didn’t happen to Joseph because God was angry at him or didn’t care about him or anything like that. His troubles began with the resentment that stirred within the hearts of his brothers. They resented Joseph because it felt like he was the favorite son of their father. He was the one who always seemed to receive preferential treatment. He was the one who wore a coat of many colors. He was the one always talking about his elaborate dreams, which he believed would one day come true. Fueled with anger and hatred, they decided to get rid of the favorite child once and for all. And so they beat him up, threw him in a pit, and sold him into slavery.
It’s important to note that God wasn’t to blame for his misfortune. The Lord wasn’t sitting in heaven saying, “Let’s see, what kind of calamity can I unleash on poor Joseph.” No, these were the wicked actions of sinful men.
He was only seventeen years old, according to verse 2, but his life was suddenly changed by the evil he suffered at the hands of his own brothers. This was only the beginning of his troubles. In the years to come, he would serve as a slave in the home of a wealthy Egyptian. He would be thrown into prison, after being falsely accused for something he didn’t do. He made a couple of friends in prison, but one died and the other was released but forgot all about him. Whenever things started to look up for Joseph, everything fell apart all over again. It was as if misfortune followed him around from one place to the next.
I’m sure there were days when he wondered why all of this was happening to him. That’s the question we often wrestle in our struggles. We may find ourselves asking, “What’s going on? What did I do to deserve all of this? Why are these things happening to me?” I’ve heard people say, “I must have really made God angry for him to punish me like this.” But that isn’t the reason for our afflictions. It is not as if God is sitting up in heaven, looking down on the inhabitants of earth with sadistic glee, thinking up ways to make our lives difficult.
Some people have the mistaken impression that he is like a child, holding a magnifying glass up to the sun, to fry light at little ants scurrying about below with a beam of light. But that isn’t the character of God. He doesn’t delight in our suffering. He takes no pleasure in our pain. His heart is breaking when he sees the evil and injustices of this world.
So why is there suffering? It is because we live in a broken world that has been corrupted by sin. This isn’t the way things were meant to be. If we were to go back to the opening chapters of the Bible we would see a world filled with beauty and boundless possibility. On the final day of creation, Genesis 1:31 (NASB95) tells us, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” That’s a powerful statement coming from the Lord. It’s wasn’t just okay… or good enough… or not that bad. It was beyond amazing. God placed his stamp of approval upon everything that he made. This was a place where life could flourish. There was no famine or disease, no death or decay, no violence or injustice. It was perfect habitat for humanity to dwell in perfect fellowship with our creator. But there, in the garden, something terrible happened to change all of this. The human race turned away from God corrupting his good creation.
Romans 5:12 (NLT) explains, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” That’s not just talking about physical death, but spiritual death as well, a separation between fallen creatures and the Holy God who made us. That decision to disobey has far reaching consequences. It brought corruption to every facet of the universe, including the heart of man, as well as the natural order. Because of sin, there is hatred and evil in the heart of man. Because of sin, the nature can be harsh and brutal. Because of sin, our bodies wear out and decay. All of the suffering in the world can be traced back to the fall.
But couldn’t he have created a world without the possibility of sin? Yes, but that would have meant overriding our free will. I suppose God could have compelled human beings to love and obey him, and to love others as we should. He could have programmed us to only do what is right. But if he had, we would be no different from robots carrying out their programming. If God had compelled us to love, it wouldn’t really be love at all. He chose to create us as free moral agents, with the capacity to do what is good, or to commit evil. Humanity has used that will to rebel against our creator.
This is the source of all the suffering in the world. It all goes back to the fall of man in the garden. The Christian view of the world makes sense. We know instinctively that this isn’t the way things are supposed to be. Something is wrong in the universe. There shouldn’t be evil and injustice, death and decay. These are intruders to the good world that God made. Sin brings ruin and decay, but God has promised to make all things new, and he is carrying out his plan of redemption over course of history.
God is not indifferent to our suffering
Turn a couple of pages to Genesis 39. Time had passed. Joseph was a teenager when he was first taken to Egypt, but now he was a young man serving as a slave in the home of Potiphar. Being a slave wasn’t good, but he had made a life for himself. His integrity and positive work ethic and caught the attention of his master, and Joseph was promoted to the highest position, overseeing the entire household. Things were starting to look up for him, at least for a little while, until the master’s wife noticed that Joseph was a handsome young man, and she tried to seduce him. Joseph was a person of character, and he refused her advances. But she did not take rejection well, and decided to get even. She made up a story, accusing him of trying to take advantage of her. When her husband came home and heard all of this, he was enraged. Of course he believed his wife over the Hebrew slave, and Potiphar had Joseph thrown into prison.
Again, Joseph found himself suffering unfairly. But there, in that dark place, he wasn’t alone. Look at Genesis 39:21 (NASB95). “But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.”
This is just a simple phrase, but it so powerful. “The Lord was with Joseph.” This is repeated several times throughout these chapters. After every bad thing that happens, we are told: “the Lord was with Joseph.” We see it when he was first sold into slavery, and then again when he was falsely accused. Josephs suffers terribly, and yet the Lord never leaves his side. He wasn’t missing from Joseph’s life. He was not cold or indifferent toward his afflictions. At a time when Joseph might have allowed himself to become bitter or cynical or angry with God, he felt the presence of God surround him.
And the Lord is with us, in our afflictions, as well. Through all of our heartache and suffering, the Lord is closer to us than we could imagine. He knows about the struggles that we are facing and has compassion for us in all our pain. He holds us close in his arms of love. Just because we are hurting doesn’t mean that the Lord has abandoned us. Those are the moments when we discover what it means to be held in his arms.
The Lord makes a wonderful promise to us in the NT. In Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV) he says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He means that. Never, not even for a moment, will our Heavenly Father abandon lose sight of his children. He holds you close and will not let go.
About a year ago we took the kids to see the Grand Canyon. I remember walking from the bus, the lookout area. In most places there was a railing but in other areas it was just the cliff. Either way, we held onto the kid’s hands with an iron grip. They complained, “Dad, you don’t need to hold my hand so tight.” “Yes I do, I’m not letting you go.” And our Heavenly Father doesn’t let go of us.
We may not see him. We may not be aware of his presence. But he is always near, holding us close. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV84) “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
That makes all the difference knowing that we’re not alone. In those moments when God feels distant, you find yourself wondering, “Where have gone,” he reminds us that he is right beside us through all of our struggles. He can relate to our suffering, and understands what we are going through, because he walked in our shoes. The creator the universe entered our world, becoming flesh and blood, in the person of Jesus Christ and lived as one of us. He endured the same kinds of struggles that we endure. He carried the same kinds of sorrows that we carry. He felt the heartache and pain that we have felt. He knows what it is like, and he cares for us.
There is a book in the OT called Lamentations. It was written by the prophet Jeremiah who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of his people to Babylon. He lived during some of the darkest days in Israel’s history. Sometimes we refer to him as the weeping prophet, because of the prayers of distress that he prayed. But in the midst of his sorrow, he found hope in the Lord. In Lamentations 3:19–23 (NIV84) he cried out,
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Those are words that have been made into one of the great hymns of the Christian faith, and they have brought comfort to thousands of people during times of distress. Even when our soul is downcast there is hope, because the Lord is faithful, and his presence is with us.
Joseph’s life shows us that God can accomplish good through our suffering.
Joseph’s life had seemed like a roller coaster, with so many ups and downs, twists and turns. I wonder how many sleepless nights he spent in that prison cell praying, “Lord what are you up to? What good could ever come from all of this?” But he held onto his belief that somehow, some way, the Lord would use these trials to accomplish a greater purpose. And he was right.
Years went by. Then, out of nowhere, he was summoned to appear before the Pharaoh of Egypt. The king had experienced a troubling dream, and he was sure that it must have been some sort of divine message, but none of his wise men or officials could tell him what it meant. That’s when the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Some time ago he had spent time in the same prison as Joseph. He too had experienced a strange dream, but Joseph was able to interpret the meaning for him. He predicted that the cupbearer would be released, and return to his post. And it happened, exactly the way Joseph said it would. “Maybe Joseph can interpret your dream,” he told the Pharaoh. And so they brought Joseph to the palace, and described the details of the dream. Joseph explained that he did not have the power to interpret dreams, but God would give them the meaning. It was warning to the people. There would be seven years of abundance. The fields would yield wonderful crops during this time. But afterwards, seven years of famine were coming. Nothing would grow throughout the entire region. It would be so severe that the years of abundance would be forgotten.
Pharaoh realized this was serious. What should he do? Joseph offered a suggestion. Find someone trustworthy and put him in charge of storing up grain during the good years, so the people would have something to eat when the years of famine come. The idea sounded good to Pharaoh. Because Joseph was so wise and discerning, he seemed like the man for the job. Immediately, Pharaoh made him second-in-command, over the land of Egypt.
The Lord put him at the right place, at the right time, so that could save many lives. But that wasn’t the end of Joseph’s story. God also used him to save his own family as well. If we fast forward to the end of the book, the seven years of abundance were over, and the seven years of famine had come. Things were bad. Hunger spread across the entire region, even as far as the land of Canaan where Joseph’s brothers lived. Like everyone else, they made the trip to Egypt to buy food. Little did they know, they would meet their long lost brother. They didn’t recognize him at first, but he recognized them, and eventually he revealed himself to them. They were terrified, expecting him to take revenge for how they had treated him. When his life was in their hands they refused to show him mercy. Now their lives were in his hands, but he showed them mercy. To make a long story short, he invited them to come back to Egypt where they would have plenty of food during the famine, and they did. But they were still afraid of him.
Look at Genesis 50:18–21 (NASB95)
Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? 20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
During all of those years of suffering, he never understood why the Lord would allow him to go through all of these things. But God’s hand of providence was working to use the painful circumstances of his life to accomplish something good. If Joseph hadn’t ended up in Egypt, he would never met the Pharaoh. If he hadn’t met the Pharaoh, he wouldn’t have interpreted the dream. If he hadn’t interpreted the dream, there would have been no food during the famine. If there had been no food, many lives, including the children of Israel, would have been lost. Joseph couldn’t see how the pieces fit together until now. But it brought him comfort to realize there was a reason for it all.
That didn’t excuse his brothers for the terrible things they had done. It didn’t make the bad things that had happened to him good. But God is able to use even the painful experiences of our lives in ways that we would have never imagined. Sometimes, like Joseph, we might catch a glimpse of why God allowed us to go through certain experiences. Other times we may never understand God’s purposes, but we can trust him because we know that he is good even when our circumstances are not.
Scripture is filled with many examples of how God can use all of the circumstances of our lives to accomplish something positive:
Our struggles help to develop character. Romans 5:3–5 (NASB95) says: “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Our struggles can draw us closer to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NASB95) tells us: “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Our struggles make us more compassionate towards others and equip us to minister to them in their suffering. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NASB95) reads “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
And our struggles prepare us for the future glory that awaits us in heaven. 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (NASB95) says, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Timothy Keller writes,
Tucked away within the assertion that the world is filled with pointless evil is a hidden premise namely that if evil appears pointless to me then it must be pointless. The reasoning is of course [false]. Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one… If God had not allowed Joseph’s years of suffering, he never would have been such a powerful agent for justice and healing.
Whenever I preach on this text, I hear from many people who identify with that narrative. Many people have to admit that most of what they really needed for success in life came to them through their most difficult and painful experiences. … I knew a man in my first parish who had lost most of his eyesight after he was shot in the face during a drug deal gone bad. He told me that he had been an extremely selfish and cruel person, but he had always blamed his problems on others. The loss of his sight had devastated him, but it had also profoundly humbled him. ‘As my physical eyes were closed, my spiritual eyes were opened… It was a terrible price to pay, and yet I must say it was worth it. I finally have what makes life worthwhile.’ …With time and perspective most of us can see good reasons for at least some of the tragedy and pain that occurs in life. Why couldn’t it be possible that from God’s vantage point, there are good reasons for all of them?[ii]
God is with us in our suffering
There is a great deal of suffering in our world, and this is an obstacle that may hinder our friends or loved ones from opening their heart to the gospel. They are wondering where is God in the midst of our struggles? Scripture shows us that God is not to blame for our suffering. We live in a broken world, corrupted by sin. And God is not indifferent to our sorrows. He has compassion for us, and is always near. God can accomplish something good through the afflictions that we face. We may never know, in this life, what his purpose might be but one day I believe that the we will see how the pieces fit together.
Scripture addresses the problem of suffering, but when we encounter someone who is angry with God they need more than a theological answer. They need to experience the love of God, and to realize that they’re not alone in their struggles. We can walk beside them, and offer a listening ear, and a shoulder to lean on. We can live out our faith, through our own trials and tribulations. And maybe God will begin to change their heart so they are ready to receive his love.
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[i] Keller, Timothy. “The Reason for God” (p.22)
[ii] Ibid, (p.23-25)