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Why Does the Lord Permit People to Suffer?

Some potent weapons against mankind are grief, sorrow,

mental hurt and aching, sickness, disease, injury from

accidents or caused by war and the list goes on and on. Our

human intellects and notions of fairness reject the apparent

contradiction between a loving God and such a world of

misery and pain. This dilemma is called suffering. You

will learn that mankind itself causes the bulk of our

suffering by what we do and don’t do. Therefore, the only

way to reconcile this issue is to view the world from God's

perspective. The only way to even begin to understand

God's perspective is to read His Word, the Bible.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:31 that that God created a

"very good" world, “And God saw everything that he had

made, and behold, it was very good. And there was

evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” and

mankind was blessed to live and fellowship in a beautiful

garden planted by God Himself. “And the Lord God

planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put

the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the

Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to

the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the

midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9 However, mankind rejected

God and His "very good" creation. Mankind disobeyed

God's simple rules and chose to taste of the fruit of evil.

As a result, suffering entered the world. “Then the Lord

God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in

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knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand

and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—

” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden

of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of

Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that

turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Genesis 3:22-24

God's initial purpose for suffering was punishment for

Lucifer, His fallen angel from Heaven, now called Satan,

because of His evil and sinfulness, and for Adam and Eve,

His first two created human beings. Because Adam and

Eve were mankind's first people, their punishment affected

all of creation. “. . .because you have listened to the voice

of your wife and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall

eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it

shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of

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the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis

3:17-19, and again in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as

sin came into the world through one man, and death

through sin, and so death spread to all men because all

sinned. . .” And again in Romans 8:20-23 “For the

creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but

because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation

itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and

obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning

together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not

only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first

fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for

adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” God's

ultimate purpose for suffering is redemption for mankind.

But man has to come to the Lord on His own and seek

forgiveness and mercy for his own sins. We need to have

Jesus Christ as our Savior to fully understand our inherited

sinfulness and God’s plan and purpose for His children on

Earth.

this is what our sinfulness did

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Jesus Christ is the perfect model of humility, servanthood

and suffering, “. . .God shows his love for us in that while

we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

And Christ experienced temptation, pain and death just as

we do. “For because he himself has suffered when

tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Hebrews 2:17 With Christ's death on the cross, He

reclaimed what Satan stole in the garden, and provided the

way to redemption for all mankind. Suffering was the

means by which Christ set creation back on the road to

restoration. Read Hebrews 2:14-15 “Since therefore the

children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise

partook of the same things, that through death he might

destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the

devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death

were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Adam and Eve managed to forfeit our chance for eternal

life without some cost when they believed Satan and

rejected God in the beginning of Creation. This cost was

directly applied to Jesus, God's only begotten Son, and it

applies to each of us today, God's adopted children.

Although suffering had no place in God's original design,

it became nevertheless useful to God's ultimate plan. Our

sin caused our separation from God and made Christ's

suffering necessary. Our sin caused us to have a fallen

world and made our suffering inevitable. All sin requires

a payment to God, because He created us in love and we

violated His gift of life to us. Jesus Christ was selected to

make this payment for us. Example: Your new car was

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repossessed due to the damage caused by Satan, so now

you have to pay the bill for the balance of the car you once

owned and trashed. However, God said “no” to that

situation, and decided to send His beloved Son, Jesus

Christ, to fulfill the bill for us so we could have our car

back without any attachments. And, without being trashy.

Because of us, Christ had to suffer for us. Our Godhead

determined that Jesus, becoming a man, could pay the

propitious price: a holy ransom sacrifice. There are no

“ifs” or “ands” about it. As a matter of fact, scores of

prominent biblical scholars and other wise persons of

renown educational standing, have determined that

mankind causes, and is directly responsible for, over 80%

of the suffering experienced in the world. The balance of

our misery, agony, devastation and damage comes from

nature and its natural disasters, i.e., fires, earthquakes,

hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis and so forth.

I cause this suffering and I do it because I

can!

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Keep in mind that Satan was never taken out of his original

position of watching over God’s newly created earth. In

fact, since his evil occurred in the Garden, he has been

referred to as the god of this world. “Satan , who is the

god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who

don’t believe.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 Because Satan has this

authority, but only until Christ returns to end his ominous

reign and throw him into the Lake of Fire, he will continue

to rule and deal out his miseries and calamities to the

world. He will do this through his minions, his devils, his

demons and his fallen angels who he has assigned to do

wicked things and cause havoc and hell on earth. Most of

our suffering Satan is behind, yet we ourselves, are also

responsible for the suffering we bring to others as well as

ourselves. By living sinful and unrepentant lives, we

allow Satan to garner strength and power, rather than

living holy lives for Christ and totally erasing Satan

himself via our humble prayers and pure spiritual

responsibilities to the Lord.

When one reads the verses contained in 2 Timothy 3:1-9

(read on next page), you’ll understand better, why

mankind gets what he deserves as we all irritate, sadden,

or rebuff the demands of our Holy God. We bring much of

the world’s suffering on ourselves, especially from those

folks living outside of God’s perimeter of protection and

love. The lawbreakers are primarily centered upon going

against the Will of God. So, when they open their own

doors for whatever purposes they may have, “Bingo!”

there is Satan with a new unacceptable idea. When

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mankind tries to do his own imperfect freewill thoughts,

rather than fulfilling God’s Perfect Will, is becomes very

easy to predict what the outcome will be, especially if it is

based on sinning. Oh, yes! Sinning equals and usually

results in suffering!

This suffering is from starvation and disease

“You should know this, (Timothy) that in the last days

there will be very difficult times. For people will love only

themselves and their money. They will be boastful and

proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and

ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will

be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others

and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate

what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless,

be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than

God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power

that could make them godly. Stay away from people like

that! They are the kind who work their way into people’s

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homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who

are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by

various desires. (Such women are forever following new

teachings, but they are never able to understand the

truth.) These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes

and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds

and a counterfeit faith. But they won’t get away with this

for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools

they are.” 2 Timothy 3:1-9

God takes no pleasure in the suffering of His children.

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as

some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake.

He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants

everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 He is patient, loving and

merciful, operating for our eternal good outside our

notions of time and fairness. His only goal is to reconcile

His children to Himself. The Good News is that God loves

us so much that He provided a free ticket to renewal and

salvation through the suffering and death of His Son, Jesus

Christ “For God so loved the world that He gave His only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not

perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 Suffering

and death in this corrupted world are guaranteed for each

of us. It's our choice whether to accept God's free ticket to

eternal life in paradise or reject it. “There is salvation in

no one else! God has given no other name under heaven

by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

So, why would you think that an all-powerful, all-loving

God would allow pain and suffering? The only way to

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begin is to view our fallen world is from God's perspective.

And do not forget who is still the god of this earth. It is

Satan. God dwells in the dimension of eternity. His

primary objective is to love us and have us love Him in

return. From God's perspective, He uses the trials of this

painful world to lovingly prepare His children to spend

eternity with Him. This is difficult for some folks to

understand completely. However, The Apostle Paul said,

"I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not

to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in

us" Romans 8:18 In Hebrews 12:2, we learn what Jesus

did. "For the glory that was set before him, endured the

cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right

hand of the throne of God.”

Suffering is a fact of this fallen

world and suffer we must. It

seems to be something we do

rather well.

Suffering is a fact of this fallen world. The Bible is a

testimony to this reality. However, the complete message

of the Bible is that God has His plan for redemption all

worked out. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ have

a wonderful hope - a hope of eternity with God in a place

where there is no more suffering, evil or death. “But to all

who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to

become children of God.” John 1:12 “For the wages of

sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through

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Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 And again in

Ephesians 2:8-10 “God saved you by his grace when you

believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift

from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things

we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we

are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ

Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us

long ago.”

Decent people will often suffer, and those who do terrible

evils will often prosper. Jesus Christ pointed this out when

he said that the rain falls on both the “righteous and the

unrighteous.” “For he gives his sunlight to both the evil

and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the

unjust alike.” Matthew 5:45 Consider what the world

would look like if it could be as fair as we would want it

to be. No accidents would happen, no criminal act could

occur, no natural disaster could affect us. That kind of

world would have no logic. The natural laws that govern

cause and effect would have to be different in every

circumstance. God created this planet and put his own

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plan and purposes into the mix. Do you believe that God

would stop carelessness and irresponsibility? Would He

stop everyone from being hurt, from coming down with

illnesses and diseases? What about death? Would God

abolish death? He’d have to, if sorrow and suffering were

to be eliminated. With the real catalyst of Satan, kicking

off this scenario in which we live, God still overall protects

His children when He deems it necessary. Such is His

right to do so. He is our Sovereign God, and He is just and

shows endless mercy when He feels He should dispense

these blessings from His holy attributes.

He is our Sovereign God, and He is just and shows endless mercy when He

feels He should dispense these blessings from His holy attributes.

During our entire lives we are always under the

interventionist eyes of our spiritual parent, God. No longer

would we be free to choose, allowed to consider possible

courses of action and to carry through on our choices. We

might agree that a world without suffering seems

something of a fantasy. However, the question of God’s

fairness doesn’t go away easily when we see so much

suffering in the world.

There is always somebody who asks the question about

why there was so much suffering and sin in the world if

God was so perfect and so merciful. When you answer a

question like that, why not begin with how and when sin

came about, who prompted it and why it is still with us.

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Why? Well, after all, without sin in our daily midst, we

would not be causing problems, events, or issues which

bring forth misery and pain, agony and illness, disease,

sorrow or heartache. We suffer because we went against

God’s commandment to not eat of the fruit of the tree of

knowledge and evil which was in the middle of the Garden

of Eden. God gave us each a free will of our own, it was

perfect, as His Will was, but we threw away that perfect

gift, by transgressing against God’s order not to eat of the

tree of knowledge of good and evil. We still had a “free

will,” but it was no longer perfect. We lost it for good.

Your gift of free will is for doing good, and making godly

choices which reflect your obedience to the Lord

So, now men and women are born into a world of sin with

a sinful nature. Therefore, we are prone to do whatever

we want to do, and much of what we want tends to lean

towards sinfulness. For example: Look at children and

how they act, always wanting their own way and doing

whatever feels right to them, for their own pleasure or

desire. Hmmmm???? This happens every day with every

child. That is how they are born with a minds-set of

getting and doing what they desire. They don’t think of

their actions as being right or wrong, acceptable or

unacceptable, because they don’t know any better.

Sinfulness becomes and is their initial energy. So what do

you have to do as a parent? You have to teach them how

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to behave and know the difference between right and

wrong. You have to teach them how to act acceptably. Do

you have to teach a child how to act badly? No! Why?

Because that sinfulness is already in them, it comes with

the turf.

In short, as we grow, we do bad things and cause ample

misery for others. We had a choice and we blew it, big

time. We can’t truly blame God for our suffering. We

literally spit in Our Creator’s eye and say, “we can become

a god like you and we can do things ourselves,” and we

still do. No learning going on there! Christians, we like to

believe, go to the Lord first when they want to make a huge

decision about doing something, especially if it will have

an impact upon others. Then we take time and listen or

watch, for some spiritual sign to follow. Many folks don’t

believe this, so they either don’t act as such, to consult

with God first, and they go off on their own and do their

own thing without His advice.

He’s been so rejected I cannot shake His hand

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Because most people in the world have no real relationship

with God, because they don’t make the time to have one,

they also, to a lesser degree, don’t make the time to do

things for the benefit of others first, before they do what is

best for themselves. When you live in a world where most

folks are “out-for-themselves,” you have troubles and

those troubles cause problems and eventually end up in

suffering for somebody. So, please don’t blame God, He

was left out of your personal mix of lame planning. If you

spit into the wind, you’ll probably get hit with it right back

into your face. That is the name of the game. When you

sin you pay the penalty!

When a sinful person, and we are all sinful to some degree,

(depending upon the amount of attention we truly pay to

walking in obedience to the Lord’s Holy Word, and His

desires for us), usually choose to work on having a closer

relationship with Jesus. That is when our lives better

understand His Will for us. When that happens, we

manage to live our lives with stronger faith and trust in

God, and unless we are affected by someone else, causing

us to suffer. Walking close beside God, we can avoid most

worldly suffering. Now there are other ways you can and

be hurt by pain and anguish. The evil that already exists

in this world, manages to reach out and touch others

unexpectedly and oftentimes actually takes another’s life.

This is from pure evil and it is not of God. The Lord is love

and peace.

The Lord doesn’t want anyone to suffer, it is not in His divine game plan for His children.

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When God gave us the Ten Commandments, it didn’t

come attached with specific penalties for breaking them.

What His perfect measure of justice and mercy would be

was fully for Him to decide. If we manage to live within

the holy parameters of those commandments, one finds

that life is 100% better and people are not hurting other

people. . .either physically or mentally; besides, you don’t

want to do evil. . .it is not in your system any longer. You

see, we cause our own suffering if we are living outside of

the perimeters that God provided for our well-being and

healthy living. Hmmmm???? Think about it!

When God first made the Jewish people, His chosen

children, He gave them 613 various laws to live by.

WOW!!! Can you imagine having to be conscious of all

of His laws you would probably break sooner or later, and

most without knowing it or realizing what you had done?

However, His laws had to go into place somewhere and at

some time – better sooner, back then, then later today.

Let’s look at one law in particular. “Suppose a man has a

stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father

or mother, even though they discipline him. In such a

case, the father and mother must take the son to the

elders as they hold court at the town gate. The parents

must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and

rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a

drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town must stone him

to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among

you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.”

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 Can you imagine all of the

rebellious teenagers today that would be eliminated by

stoning? God does not want us to suffer. God has always

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given us parameters to live within for our own good, safety

and healthy living. When we break any of God’s laws, our

selfish actions will probably include some other not

expectant and/or innocent person to be hurt in the process.

People living outside of God’s

commandments and laws, always

tend to be less concerned with

the well-being of others.

Look at the wars and conflicts we’ve had for the past three

thousand years. Think of the damage and death that was

directly caused by all of the religious turmoil due to false

religious beliefs and their condemnation of innocent folks

who would not comply with their rules. Islam has killed

an estimated 270,000,000 million for their false god; and

Catholics, for centuries killed millions more for their false

popes usurping Christ’s authority on earth. An estimated

80 popes killed and tortured over 50,000,000 non-

Catholics from the ninth century until 1820.

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For other religious faiths, the list of such killing for

primarily religious reasons is extensive. Wars over

territory and mineral wealth has produced a horrendous

amount of death in the world. Man’s sinful, unmerciful

lust for power, possessions, control of others, and

elevating his own stature is simply one more of man’s

greedy behaviors which has cause millions more to suffer

over the past millenniums. And it still continues today.

However, the point herein, is that God did not cause this

suffering, but He probably does use a portion of it to

accomplish His Will against evil where it exists and

flourishes. God has used evil governments to His Will

against Israel when His people wouldn’t obey Him. He is

Our Creator and He may do as He pleases, but it is not the

nature of God to want to punish anyone and have them

suffer. He is holy, loving, just and merciful. Mankind

brings about its own suffering and death by rebelling

against Our Almighty God’s dictates, precepts, rules,

edicts, tenets, commandments and anything else stated and

required by God.

Mankind gets mad at God and always seems to want to

blame Him for our suffering. However, when times are

good, where are those same people rejoicing and thanking

Him for their good times and prosperity? They are not

around. God is not our punching bag. God is our

Deliverer and Loving Father. We are our own perpetrators

of evil and suffering. God is not sitting around looking for

ways to torment us, but He does allow us to cause our own

misery because we simply seem to want it. Hmmmm????

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Covenant Christian Ministries

Belle Arden Run

488 Mountain View Drive

Mosheim, Tennessee 37818-3524

(423) 422-4711

www.thewatchmansentinel.org

Copyright 2017

Dahk Knox, Ph.D., Ed.D., D.Sc.

Jan Knox, Ph.D.

September 17-20, 2017

(Monetary contributions are welcomed and

appreciated for printing and postage expenses)

All Rights Reserved©