Lee Strobel: Why Does God Allow Suffering - ChurchLeaders

Nothing about the clear blue skies on the morning of September 11, 2001 hinted that America was about to be the victim of the deadliest foreign assault ever on U.S. soil. There are so many tragic stories, so much pain. And many people are asking the question, “Why? Why does God allow suffering?”

All told, 2,974 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, which President George W. Bush called “evil, despicable acts of terror” and “acts of mass murder.” In the decades since, nearly 4,000 firemen and first responders have died from cancers and other 9/11-related medical conditions. This tragedy has prompted many to ask the question, “Why?”

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

And those tragic events are on top of the everyday pain and suffering being experienced in individual lives—maybe including yours. There’s illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, disappointment, heartache, crime and death. And perhaps you’ve been asking the question, “Why? Why me? Why now?”

That why does God allow suffering question goes back thousands of years. It was asked in the Old Testament by Job and the writers of the Psalms, and it was especially relevant during the 20th century, where we witnessed two World Wars, the Holocaust, genocides in the Soviet Union and China, devastating famines in Africa, the killing fields of Cambodia, the emergence of AIDS, the genocide in Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. Why all of this if there’s a loving and powerful God? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Several years ago, I commissioned a national survey and asked people what question they’d ask if they could only ask God one thing. The number one response was “why does God allow suffering in the world?” (Incidentally, I did find an interesting statistical quirk—people who are married were much more likely to want to know why there’s so much suffering. I’m just sayin’.)

Why Does God Allow Pain?

But if you’ve never asked why our world is infected with pain and suffering, you will when they strike you with full force or they come to a loved one. And Jesus said they are coming. Unlike some other religious leaders who wrote off pain and suffering as just being illusions, Jesus was honest. He told us the truth. He said in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.” He didn’t say you might—he said it is going to happen.

But why? If you ask me point-blank, “Why did God allow the terrorists to do this?” the only answer I can honestly give consists of four words: “I do not know.”

I cannot stand in the shoes of God and give a complete answer to that question. I don’t have God’s mind. I don’t see with God’s eyes. First Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”