We have all gone through trials and hardships. And many of us have wondered if we committed some sin, or if God is angry at us for some reason. Some of us have even questioned if God had forsaken us or forgotten us. From an intellectual point of view, we know that God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and even when we sin, He still deals with us as children. But emotionally, it is a different story.
This article examines why God allows trials.
Main Points
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- God’s primary interest is not on this life.
- Trials produce godly character.
- We need trials to keep in the faith.
- Our trials help us to encourage others.
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Some people believe that God only allows Christians to suffer if they commit some sin or open the door to the devil. But the Bible is clear that God allows righteous people to suffer. Even Jesus suffered unjustly. Although it is true that many people suffer as a result of personal wrongdoing, believers also undergo hardship through no fault of their own. The important question is not “if” or “whether” the righteous suffer, but “why”.
Why Do the Righteous Suffer?
God sees eternally whereas we see presently.
Although God is interested in our earthly welfare, He is much more concerned about our eternal well being. His greatest act of love was to offer salvation to men, not health, wealth and honor – although it sometimes includes the latter three. This would explain why He allowed the apostles and early Christians to be martyred and to suffer such loss.
From an earthly perspective, it would seem that God forsook them, but from an eternal perspective, they are in heaven safe in the arms of their Lord – a much better standing than the best enjoy on earth (Philippians 1:21). God has a much different outlook on this life than we do. He is alpha and omega, we are here and now. So a lot of what we call suffering is not the same from God’s eyes.
God uses suffering and hardship to produce in us godly character.
The Bible says that Job was perfect and upright, however he was not perfect in the sense of being sinless before God, but rather blameless before men. God, through Job’s suffering, exposed to him a lot of pride and self-dependency that was hidden in his heart (Job 42:3-6). Although this was not the direct cause of Job’s misery, God did use his hardship to make him a better person (Job 42:10,12). It is a New Testament fact that God uses fiery trials to purify us (James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6,7).
Suffering keeps us dependent on God.
Judging from some of Job’s statements, it would seem that human nature tends to forget rather quickly that all of man’s good eventually comes from God (James 1:16,17). Man eventually sees himself as the source of these blessings and subconsciously begins to depend on his own ability and possessions. He is in need of constant reminder that it is God who gives him the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17,18). What better way to remind him of that than for God to keep him in a state where he has no choice but to trust his Creator? Hardship is one way of accomplishing that.
Our personal sufferings are a source of encouragement to others.
God, being eternally minded, is concerned about every generation of human existence. Man is only concerned about his own. Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to run the race with patience, given that there is a great cloud of witnesses. Paul was referring to all the Old Testament saints that he mentioned in chapter 11 – the faith hall of fame. Essentially the faithfulness of the Old Testament saints during suffering was to be an example and encouragement to us.
Through similar reasoning, Jude 3 exhorts us on the basis of the sufferings that the apostles and early Christians went through. We have also been greatly blessed by the stories of Christian martyrs throughout the centuries. It would seem that from God’s perspective, much of our suffering is intended to be a source of edification to others as well as future generations who would name the name of Christ. And what a rebuke to the devil it was when he tried to get Job to renounce God, but instead, not only did Job prevail, but now Christians everyday are being encouraged and strengthened by Job’s perseverance (James 5:11). Our sufferings could have similar effects on other believers.
Our Attitude
So as righteous people, our attitude to suffering should not be one of complaining, bitterness or resentment. If it were the result of personal sin, we should be repentant. Otherwise, our prayer should not just be, “Lord let this cup pass from me”, but rather, “Thy will be done”. God’s answer would be, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
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