Ouch

This might sound ridiculous, but I think I would rather break a bone or have a large wound rather than a hangnail or a paper cut.  Those little nagging injuries are so annoying, and I feel like a complete wuss if I complain about my throbbing hangnail as opposed to oh, you know, my arm falling off. 

I’ve heard it said that the number one reason why people don’t believe in God is the problem of pain and suffering.  I wonder if there is like a top ten list out there or something.  But, the question goes like this, “If God is so good and all powerful, then why do bad things happen?  Why do people suffer?”  I think this is a fair question.  The typical response that they get is something like, “Well pain is God’s way of making us stronger.”  Someone told me one time that pain is God’s way of putting His finger on something that needs to change in our lives.

I don’t for one second doubt this to be true.  I mean you read things like Romans 5:3-5 that tells us that persevering through suffering produces hope, and in James 1 that perseverance in the face of pain brings about maturity.  Not only have I read these passages but I’ve discovered them to be true in my own life.  So, I don’t doubt this truth, but I have been asked a very difficult question concerning this truth though.  Why?

After explaining how this whole thing works to someone who has asked the pain and suffering question, I was once asked, “Well, why did God make it that way?”  It is a really good question and I really didn’t know what to say.  If God is God, and can do whatever He wants, and if He supposedly loves us, then why do we have to go through pain in order to grow?  Why couldn’t growth happen through something else, like every time I ate chocolate or something? 

Now, I’m sure a lot of you out there could easily answer this question and it’s probably something that you’ve known for a long time, but I couldn’t.  I couldn’t answer this question without feeling like I was just swallowing something that somebody told me to believe.  Until the other day. 

Here’s what I’ve come to realize.  God didn’t make it this way.  Not at all.  God didn’t make a world with pain and suffering.  Pain is here because of humanity’s rebellion and disobedience.  I think pain came into the picture in Genesis chapter 3, when man betrayed God.  I happen to believe that how heaven is described is how things weren’t meant to be from the beginning.  Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  That’s how I think things were meant to be.

What I do know about God is that He is a redeemer.  He takes things that are ugly, broken, and awful and He makes them beautiful. Whether it is our past, our shameful mistakes, or horrible things that have been done to us, God takes these things and he uses them to offer hope.  Look at the cross.  It was once the most shameful and disgusting symbol.  I’ve heard that the word for the cross (crux) was considered a swear word, but now it is the most powerful symbol of forgiveness and love.  That’s what God does.  He knows that a human being will not go through their life, probably not even a single day, without experiencing pain, and instead of suffering just being mindless pain; it is now a vessel for change.  As a follower of Jesus I can look at pain and see it redeemed, I can see it as a way to experience hope, and it is a reminder of how good God is and of how much He loves me.