Why Does God Allow His Children to Suffer?

Hebrews 12:5-17

How can a loving heavenly Father permit such pain to befall His much-cherished children? Can you think of any parallel reasons why a good parent would let his or her child suffer? Consider for a moment separation anxiety: leaving a child in the nursery when he or she is crying or allowing a child to suffer when being treated for illness. Children usually do not understand why they must endure the pain of yet another syringe.  You may attempt to explain it to them, but they usually have no appreciation for the answer…. The fact remains, that some battles are the child’s to fight.

At about the age of ten, I can recall stepping on a rusty nail…. Because I was outside without my shoes, I tried to conceal my injury from my parents. When my mother saw me limping, she inquired to discover what had happen. Fearing tetanus infection, she immediately started forcing the very soar wound to bleed. She presses, squeezes, pokes, and strikes the wound with a paddle until it bleeds freely. She washes my wound over and over again ensuring it was entirely clean. She anoints it with an antibacterial cream and wraps it with a clean cloth. Of course, I cried bloody murder as if I were dying…her care for me felt like nothing I have ever experienced before. It was crazy painful! Why would a loving mother become the source of such incredible and seemingly unreasonable pain?

So, why does God permit us, His children, to suffer?

LESSON:

I.                God Allows Suffering for the Purpose of Correction: Accept Discipline/Chastening from Your Loving Father (Heb. 12:5-11). Why is it important to accept God's discipline?

A.    Because You are a Child of God (Heb. 12:5-8).

                                                  i.      Note the word “children,” “son,” “sons,” and “father” in this section—this is child training!

                                                ii.      Child training involves instruction, discipline, correction, and warning. God trains his own children through difficult and hard experiences.

                                              iii.      Chastening refers to educating, training, nurturing, punishing, and disciplining, but it is not a payment for our sin!

                                              iv.      Have you or your children ever broken any things very valuable in your home or something belonging to someone else? Did you discipline them either by talking to them, correcting wrong behavior or possibly even spanking them? Did the corrective measure you took actually pay for the broken piece? NO! It did not, but you corrected the child to prevent their personal injury in the future and to instill orderliness and discipline in the child. If you wanted to buy another “piece” to replace the broken one you may, but the piece that was broken was already paid for. Likewise, all our sins are already paid for in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ and God’s chastisements in our lives are not an effort to make us pay for our sins but to correct us for our good and future benefit.

                                                v.      Don’t “despise” or reject God’s training efforts, and don’t “faint”—lose heart—when God rebukes you, and don’t quit His training process of discipline (Heb. 12:5). Accept God’s discipline as necessary child training.

B.     Because You are Disciplined in Love (Heb. 12:6-8).

                                                  i.      “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth…”! (Heb. 12:6)

                                                ii.      “Love” is “agapao” and refers to having love for someone based on sincere appreciation and high regard—it is to regard with affection and loving concern.

                                              iii.      Revelation 3:19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (See also Prov. 13:24)

                                              iv.      Beware of the false messages we tell ourselves when life is painful!

1.      God is not angry with you!

2.      God does not hate you!

3.      God has not rejected you! (Heb. 13:5)

4.      God has not given up on you! (Phil. 1:6)

5.      God has not forgotten you (Heb. 6:9-12)

In Hebrews 6:10, we are reminded that, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love”. God will not forget you or your service that is rooted in godly love (Heb. 6:9, 10).  He will not fail to recall your industrious exertions for His Name’s sake. In fact, He upholds this promise with His own impeccable character and perfect faithfulness. His unadulterated fairness, absolute reliability, and flawless memory forbid even a hint of forgetting or overlooking you or your efforts. Our obedience and persistence will bring Him glory and He deems this as something He can reward. Beloved, we could never receive greater assurance than this!

                                                v.      God loves you greatly and endeavors to mature you in the Faith!

C.    Because God has your Best Interest at Heart (Heb. 12:9-11).

                                                  i.      Just as we accepted discipline from our human fathers, we should accept it from our heavenly Father! (12:9)

                                                ii.      God does not discipline us to harm us, but to bless us—it is for our “profit.” (12:10)

1.      God wants to give us the “advantages” of a disciplined and trained lifestyle—fulfilling our purpose and reaching our potential in Christ!

2.      God seeks to make us “better off” through child training. (2Pet. 1:4)

                                              iii.      God disciplines us to share His “holiness” with us (Heb. 12:11-12)

1.      The discipline of earthly parents is not perfect. It lasts only for a time, that is, during childhood and youth. If it has not succeeded then, it can do no more. And it is as seemed best to them, according to what they think is right. Sometimes it may not be right. –MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary

2.      But God’s discipline is always perfect. His love is infinite and His wisdom is infallible. His chastenings are never the result of whim, but always for our profit. His objective is that we may be partakers of His holiness. And godliness can never be produced outside God’s school. –MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary

                                              iv.      God disciplines us to help us finish our race—discipline builds our faith and endurance (Heb. 12:1-6). Keep your eyes on the Author and Finisher!

The truth is God permits us to faces challenges and even periods of suffering because He is building discipline into our character. Yes, our heavenly Father will even use dark and hard experiences to develop our character as a well trained and disciplined army of soldiers. That is correct, we are soldiers of the Cross; to face the enemy of our souls and to endure the battles we must fight requires highly discipline soldiers and special forces for Christ. No, our battle is not with mere human being, but against extraordinary and powerful demonic beings. This is a spiritual warfare with fallen creatures who have been engaged in these spiritual battles for thousands of years. They are experienced, formidable and dangerous! Our Father understands the nature, dangers, and intensity of this fight; therefore, He trains us rigorously and diligently to prepare us for the inevitable encounters with the enemy! Arduous training is vital. Yes, even great soldiers need correction from time to time; submit yourself to the training of the Captain of our souls and prepare for battle!