Why does God alllow suffering? Suffering makes God sick!

Gottservant said:

Hi there,

So I don't know whether you think God's opinion is all that matters here or not, but spiritually one thing is true: suffering makes God sick!

Does suffering mean that God removes it? No, it means that God goes through it!

Does God going through it means that it stops? Perhaps yes, but perhaps more no!

You can't be surprised with sickness yourself, if you know it doesn't surprise God!

That's my stance on it too, for what it counts.

Click to expand...

We live in a fallen world, in mortal bodies. That are no guarantees that we will always be able to live the good life. We are pilgrims in a hostile environment. Health is a blessing from God, but not a requirement. Paul the Apostle said that in every situation he found himself in he learned to be content. If we are healthy, we prepare ourselves for when we are sick. If we are sick, we prepare ourselves for when we are healthy again.

God has promised to be "our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah" (Psalm 46:1-3).

If we never had trouble in our lives, then God would not have given us the promise. He also said, "Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

When we are going through contrary circumstances and we are suffering as a result, we lift up our hearts to God in prayer, and the result is the peace of God filling us, even though our circumstances don't change right away.

As far as general suffering in the world, it comes through the evil of those who are rebelling against God. Because God did not create a race of programmable robots, He allows free will, but He has set aside a day of judgment when all people will have to give an account of their lives.

But as Christians, we will not be judged in the same way, because we have already judged ourselves as lost sinners, deserving of judgment and hell, but have taken hold of the cross of Christ for our justification and the removal of the penalty for sin, and have Jesus as our Saviour and defence lawyer in heaven. And He will stand with us at the judgment and acknowledge us as His own, bought with the price of the shedding of His blood on the cross.

Unfortunately, suffering is a very real part of life, for believers and non-believers alike. It is never easy to undergo, and can be excruciatingly painful at times, to say the least. Because of this, it can be very difficult to understand why God allows suffering, and to accept that it might be His will for anyone, at any time, under any circumstances.

Generally speaking, there are two types of suffering that all people everywhere experience throughout their lifetime: warranted suffering and unwarranted suffering.

Warranted suffering is most easily understood as the direct and deserved result of our own sinful actions.

Unwarranted suffering can be defined as the unmerited and undeserved suffering that is experienced personally as a result of living in a fallen, sinful world filled with fallen, sinful people who are all committing fallen, sinful acts of their own.

Warranted suffering is a mode of discipline that God uses to chasten people and teach them not to sin. Whenever a person sins, they inadvertently choose the accompanying discipline from the Lord, which is aimed at teaching them not to sin again. This type of suffering is similar conceptually to receiving a painful burn after sticking one’s finger into fire. Warranted suffering is therefore a “cause and effect”; with sinful choices being the cause, and God’s loving, yet painful discipline being the effect.

Unwarranted suffering is understandably the most difficult form of suffering for anyone to undergo. Its ultimate cause can be traced all the way back to Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. When sin entered God’s perfect universe through Adam, things like sickness, disease, violence, evil, decay, bondage, corruption, natural disasters and physical death also entered in, with sin being perpetuated by mankind ever since. As a result, unwarranted suffering has been experienced by all, both directly and indirectly. (Examples of direct unwarranted suffering would be the pain or dysfunction that accompanies a hereditary disease, victimization by a violent criminal, the loss of possessions or livestock brought about by a raging brush fire or hurricane, injuries caused by a drunk driver, or loss of income due to repeated bouts with sickness. Examples of indirect unwarranted suffering include the painful emotions that are experienced while watching others suffer.)

Because unwarranted suffering is such a difficult reality for people to accept, let alone receive as God’s will for certain situations, those enduring it often expect Him to rescue them immediately rather than entertaining the idea of a different, yet sovereign plan instead. Regardless of what God chooses to allow in the lives of people, two truths about suffering are irrefutable:

1. Jesus is acutely aware of the situation; and with much loving compassion, He is sovereignly using it to accomplish His ultimate purpose in each life that is affected by it.

2. Jesus is loving, holy, righteous and just. He always does what is right, no matter what the situation is or how things may appear.

In closing, there is good news and there is bad news when it comes to the issue of suffering:

The good news: Despite how horrific, painful and dreadfully tragic a person’s suffering may be, if they have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for their forgiveness and salvation, they can still take heart and rejoice that it will be “the worst suffering” they will ever experience throughout all of eternity. Once they die, all suffering will come to an immediate and permanent end forever, never to be experienced again.

The bad news: For those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior, the suffering they experience here on earth will unfortunately be “the best there is,” compared to the eternal suffering and torment that awaits them upon their death, for having rejected the only means of salvation and forgiveness that is available to them.

If a person, including yourself at this time, is in a middle of a tragedy it is not the right time to be philosophical about tragedies, since Loving, serving, helping listening and spending time with the person is what’s needed.

Do not read further if this is the case and lets us work in Love on getting you through this tragedy.

Paul prayed many times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed and it was not, because it was there to help him.

This messed up world is actually the very best place to help willing individuals fulfill their earthly objective.

We all look forward to being in heaven where there are no needy people, no sorrow, no death, and no sin.

This earth is not to be heaven, if we did not need this earth to be the way it is, we could all start out in heaven.

Is death bad in and of itself?

The same situation which strengths a person faith, will harden another person’s heart, so should God stop providing the message and/or the situation which will soften the accepting heart?



This world is full of tragedies, which can also be viewed as opportunities to help humans fulfill their earthly objective.

We have an earthly objective.



The story of Adam and Eve (Gen 3)(you do not have to believe it is true to get the message) is told very early, because all individuals ask the question: “Why would a truly Loving God not put us all in a Garden type situation?” The story of A&E explains why we are in our situation:

1. God desires is that we all be in a Garden type situation, but God quenches His own desire to provide a better situation for us to fulfill our earthly objective.

2. Our earthly object is not to “worship God”, “to never/ever sin”, run around free, just don’t sin, or be good. God does not need anything from us, but is just trying to give something to us. God is trying to give us the greatest power in all universes; the power that compels God to do all He does, but that power cannot be forced on us (take it or I torture you) or can it be instinctive to man (robotically programmed in humans). It is a gift from God that is totally undeserved and unconditional (so it is Charity), but man has to accept the gift as it was given. Humans, instinctive to survival, (which is good for man to have) does not help an individual to want to take charity especially if it comes at a huge cost to the giver.

3. The gift is Godly type Love which is best defined by Christ’s words and deeds. God will do all he can to help those that are willing to accept His help, fulfill their earthly objective of accepting His Love and growing that Love. Included in “all that God will do and allow to happen” are: Christ going to the cross, satan roaming the earth, sin, hell and tragedies of all kinds.

4. First off; death is the way good people get to go home and the way bad people stop doing bad stuff, so death is not “bad” in and of itself.

5. It is truly unfortunate and not God’s desire that tragedies have to occur. God has to quench His desire to allow tragedies, for man’s sake to help humans accept Love. People have to see, experience, witness, receive and even give Godly type Love, before they will even understand and desire such a Love. Some even after receiving Godly type Love from an individual just like themselves will not want it or explain it away (justifying in their own mind: the person is just trying to gain respect or earn their way to heaven or they are making up for the bad they have done).

6. Everyone on earth is needy, because everyone has hurt others (sinned) and should feel the burden of the sin at least for a while. Their creator is trying to give them Love in the form of forgiveness so they will Love (the Bible and life teach us: “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…”) If we realize and except forgiveness of an unbelievable huge debt created by our sins, we will automatically receive an unbelievable huge Love (Godly type Love) that is truly ours.

7. There are a huge amount of sever tragedies in this world, but they are really opportunities for good people to show, give, experience, grow and witness Godly type Love. With all those tragedies some good people are still not responding, so are more needed? It is not our job to provide tragedies, but to solve, reduce, eliminate all we can, by allowing the Spirit to work through us.

8. Scripture tells us the needy will be with us always on this earth. Christ did not “heal” all those that were sick, but used those tragedies around Him to express Godly Love and show us how we are to handle tragedies (serve others with Love). Healing everyone without the witness of Godly type Love being seen in serving individual like any other person would not get other people to accept God’s Love in faith and humility, but we could grow from the experience.

9. This world is not our Home and our rest comes later. It is both a privilege and Honor to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us in serving others in this world to best help everyone around us to accept God’s Love (fulfill their objective).

10. If you had to find the most Christ Like person in the world today, where would you look?

I see Jesus explaining it in John 9: 1-7.

In John 9: 1-7 you have a tragedy (the apostles are asking about a specific tragedy, but they do not know this individual and are thinking in general terms [you need to get into their head]).

Jesus does not say: “this tragedy was caused by: Adam/Eve sinning, Satan, sin, bad luck, God or evil in the world (those have been our answers).”

Jesus does not say: “It was because of the bad that happened”, but does say: “This is for the good that can (and in this case will) happen.”

If you have lived for very long, you have seen good come from some tragedies, but why not all tragedies?

Is someone keeping good from coming from every tragedy?

Everything that is happening in the world right now (disease, natural disasters, and tragedies of all kinds) are not the result of the bad that has happened (or Adam and Eve), but is the result of the GOOD that can happen!

God is quenching His desire to have us all in a Garden type situation to help us fulfill our objective.

Everything starts and ends with the objective;



The objective of humans is to: “Love God (and secondly others) with all your heart, soul, mind, and energy and Love others.” The definition of “Love” is key for it is not instinctive or just emotional but it is Love of your enemies, described by Jesus’ life and Paul in 1 Cor. 13 and by John. It requires a free will moral decision to Love over likely alternatives (the perceived pleasures of sin for a season). The fall was tragic and not God’s desire, but may have been both inevitable and necessary. For all humans since the fall that have come to Love God started out by accepting God’s Love in the form of forgiveness.

Needy people create opportunities to experience, see, accept, express and receive Godly type Love. Everyone needs the full opportunity to accept Godly type Love which may have to be done when the person reaches the bottom like the prodigal son.

The innocent that died as the result of God’s action may not really suffer as far as we know.

There would have to be some benefit for humans to have faith that would help them fulfill their objective, over not needing faith, so what is the benefit?

1. We either have faith in self or we put our trust in God. Self-reliance has to do with our money, country, insurance, family, friends, achievements and pride, while reliance on God is just the opposite and requires putting self aside; going from being perceived independent to being dependent on God.

2. Faith in God is a humbling experience, because it is something that the lowliest person can do and actually maybe more likely to do. You are no better than the lowliest believing person when it comes to faith.

3. Believing God/trusting God comes out of an admitted need for help. We all need help all the time, but might not feel or admit that need strongly until in a tragedy and if we live long enough we will all experience tragedies. Turning to God is an easy act of humility (made easy by tragedies), and we need humility to accept charity. God’s forgiveness of our sins is an act of charity (grace/mercy/Love). “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…” and thus fulfill our earthly objective by just accepting charity.

4. Faith can produce humility, and humility allows one to accept charity, and forgiveness is Charity and forgiveness produces Love.

Did Adam and Eve have faith? Did the Jews that crossed the Red Sea have faith? Is faith needed in heaven? Is our faith the determining factor to our salvation?