One of the most cited reasons for not believing in God is the problem of pain and suffering...Pain and suffering therefore, is a problem for faith and for believing in God...We cannot understand why God allows all the pains and sufferings in the world...God has chosen to allow us to suffer, to grieve, and to experience death and the death of our family and friends, and our enemies...We do not know why, He doesn't just do something about all the pain and suffering in the world...And because He doesn't some people lose faith, or do not believe in the first place because of the pain and suffering they have or their family and friends have...And one of the problems of pain and suffering is that it is always very personal...And I am personally often lost for words when someone I know is suffering or is with great grief, while trying to help or support them...
But one thing should be said upfront about the problem of pain and suffering...There was pain and suffering on the cross...So God was not immune to it...And pain and suffering will lead us to the cross and death of Jesus...A Beloved Son died on the cross, and our Father felt the pain of this death as He watched from above...
From the very beginning, in the Book of Genesis, Eve is tempted by the evil one...Adam and Eve knew good and goodness...The Garden of Eden was good...Things were perfect there...It was paradise...Goodness, and good things surrounded them...Eve was ask, if she wanted to know something else, something more, something she didn't know...It was evil...She knew good, but before the time of eating the forbidden fruit, she did not yet know evil...The serpent tells her that God knows if you eat from the tree, then your eyes will be opened, and then you will be like God, knowing good and evil...Eve ate the fruit and now she knows evil, which brings pain and suffering...She convinces Adam to also eat from the tree and now he knows evil, pain, and suffering...It might have been best to remain less knowledgeable and know that only good things exist...It might have been best to live and remain in the Garden of Eden...In this particular case having more experiences was not a good thing...
As stated earlier, many non-believers and atheists believe that there is no God, because of the problem of pain and suffering...They often say, if there is a Loving God, why would He allow pain...Isn't it interesting one of the biggest arguments against our Father is a moral one?...Why does He morally allow people to have pains and sufferings?...How has pain been seemingly forever linked to God?...Cannot pain be just pain?...Can't the world have both pain and our LORD?...According to many non-believers the answer is no...So, if there was no pain in the world, they could better believe in a Loving God...
The problem of pain affects everyone...It is worldwide...The problem of pain is not only a universal problem, but also a universal fact...Pain does exist in all the corners of the world...So pain and evil are everywhere in the world...Most believers think pain and suffering came after the Fall of Man...Now that pain and suffering are out, we have to deal with evil, pain, and suffering...So how do we deal with these problems?...Can we learn anything from these problems of pain?...As stated earlier, most atheists argue that the problems of pain, evil, and suffering are the best arguments against God...Would these atheists, if there were no absolutely no pain, no evil, or no suffering in the world now really believe in God?...Would other and different arguments come up?...Would more believers have stronger faith if there were no problems of pain, evil, or suffering?... How much of your own personal faith is tied to pain, evil, and suffering?...How do these problems affect you and you relationship with our LORD?...
God, the Father, and Jesus, His Son are not immune to suffering...Jesus went to the cross then suffered and died for us...In Hebrew chapter two, verses eight through eleven, Jesus went through suffering... God left nothing that is subject to His Son...God watched as we killed His Son and hung Him from a cross...8 In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone...10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family...The author of our salvation suffered perfectly on the cross for us...His Father watched His Son suffer from heaven, no doubt very upset what was happening...But God knew exactly what was happening while we at present cannot see all the things that God can see...Our thinking is not His thinking and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isaiah 55:8)...He has Complete Understanding...He sees the full and complete story being eternal and all knowing...
God has a plan...And His will always gets done...He also gives us different ways to follow and find Him, since we are no longer in the Garden of Eden...One of the ways and not a pleasant one is through pain and suffering...If we remember Job, he went through much suffering from the evil one...God allowed the evil one to cause pain and suffering to Job...But God was there, watching every move of both the evil one and His servant Job...The evil one even talked with God about this suffering, before Job's woes even started happened...Job knew that God was there...But it did take faith (maybe much faith in Job) and a "need" (of the Father), to hold onto his faith...Job's suffering brought out much of this "need" for the Father (from Job)...And in this and his need Job had many questions for his Father in Heaven...So, as we read through the Book of Job, we see that in Job's case, his pain and suffering is linked both to the evil one and to God...Or at least we read that God allowed the evil one to bring on Job's sufferings and pains...And in he end God heals Job...
Jesus tells us in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33)...Jesus tells us we will have trouble...He is very clear that we will face troubles and challenges in our lives...We will face pain and suffering in our lives...But Jesus does not specifically talk on the problem of pain, or give us a lot of detail on it...And we know a huge part of His ministry was in healing pain and those suffering with different illnesses...He healed many...All the gospels write about His healing ministry...And He suffered greatly on the cross and during His Passion...
News spread about Jesus, when He preached the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23)...Crowds of people came to Him and to be near Him and be healed of their sicknesses (Luke 5:15)... The people brought all their sick to Him and begged Him to let the sick just touch the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed (Matthew 14:35-36)...The people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed...The whole town gathered at His door, and Jesus healed many with various diseases (Mark 1:32-34)...Through many people suffering with different illnesses Jesus got to know and meet many people...
We know Jesus can still heal all...Yet, when we look around today we still see pain and suffering...And an interesting note, He did not heal everyone in Israel...He came to help the lost sheep of His country of Israel (Matthew 15:24), but He did not heal all those suffering in Israel...He did not heal those who has little or no faith in Him, even in His hometown of Nazareth...
Since Jesus came for us and to help us, why is there still pain?...
Jesus gave us the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain...In His Sermons on the Mount and Plain He touches on this subject...I think they explain, in a part, some of Job's and our suffering...And as we read these two Great Sermons, maybe God does not put comfort in life on the same level as man does or I do...I may value comfort more than Jesus...Jesus certainly takes us out of our comfort zones...And He does this very well in His Sermons on the Mount and Plain...
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon of the Plain
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
24 "But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes - Sermon on the Mount
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Romans 8:17-26
Future Glory
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
St. Paul teaches us that Jesus suffered and our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the future glory that will be revealed to us after we leave this earth...We will suffer, and Jesus tells us we will suffer and mourn...But if we share in His sufferings that He had on the cross for us, then we will share in the glory He will show us, when we believe in Him and the Father...
These are two of Jesus' great sermons...We then have St. Paul's discussion on future glory. and how great that will be..
Jesus first sermon is the Sermon on the Plain...He tells us who is really blessed and who really has woes on them... The second sermon, is very similar to the the first sermon...It is called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12)...St. Matthew's version is labeled the Beatitudes...In these sermons, Jesus uses the words blessed throughout them...Jesus uses the word blessed here meaning one is happy, one who receives God's gifts...So if you read the word "blessed" literally and interchange blessed for happy, then you can see and find who is or at least should be happy...So this is what makes you or the condition you need for happiness...Jesus tells us we are happy when we are: Poor, hungry, weeping, and insulted by others, because we follow the Son of Man and He will be near...A commitment to Jesus, as explained here, is certainly not about comfort and a life of ease on this earth...A commitment to Jesus is about a love for God and neighbor...
This sounds so odd to be happy when those above conditions exist...But even further throws, both yesterday and today's world upside down, when He gives us the woes...Woes are for those who are: Rich, well fed, laughing, when all men speak well of you, for that is how the fathers treated the false prophets...Jesus seems, at least after you study the two sermons, to have what the normal man's happiness and unhappiness reversed...Most men want to be wealthy, well fed, and laughing a lot...And as stated earlier, Jesus may be telling us that the comforts we seek are not as important to Him, as they are to us...
We have to ask, why is Jesus right about suffering and pain and mourning?...He is the Truth, as well as the way, and the life, so then it is the Truth...But when we study and ask why is this true?...Are we really happy when we have lots of wealth, are we happy when we laugh now, and when other men praise us?...On earth I think, we would say, we are (happy)...Jesus does not save us for earthly things and those earthly things we are afraid of losing...Jesus is the Savior for our soul...So it is Jesus is telling us about the eternities... How often do we think of God?...How is He the central part of our lives?...When do we look to God?...When do we want God?...When do most of us pray to Him?...I think that is when we need Him...When we are in the condition of need, it is one of the things He is talking about in His Sermons on the Mount and the Plan...And we are closer to Him and His cross when we feel personal suffering...
When we are rich, laughing, and have people bragging about us, who or what do we need?...You need Him more when you are poor, hungry, weeping, and when people insult you for following Him...You know you need Him when you are desperate and have reached bottom...We need Him all the time, but we really need Him when we have pain and suffering...We need Him when we are suffering, or our when our family and friends suffer...Pain gets our attention and we turn to God...Do we need evil, to have good?...Do we need hate to have love?...Do we need pain and suffering to have faith, and to be blessed?...How do you read the Sermons on the Mount and the Plain?...
Man has a problem of and with pain...Suffering is the best argument against our Father and His Son...But these times of our lives when we need Him most...These are the times when Jesus says we are blessed...Job needed God when he suffered...And when you read the four gospels and look at all the miracles Jesus did, by far the majority is healing miracles of illness...This was not what His ministry was about, but healing was a part of His ministry...Those suffering and ill followed Him around, so He would heal them...Just a touch of His cloak, would/will heal you (if one can just touch it)...His many healings help ignite His ministry, and His great crowds...Some of those in the crowds wanted to be healed, while others watched Him heal the ill...
I have always been thought, tempted and tried to push out the pains, sufferings, and anxieties in my life...I wanted a life of all gentleness, comfort, peace, and calmness...But I have found that this is not possible...And even if it were then I would be attached to the gentleness, the peace, and the calmness...Would I be able to grow or have grown without those things that God has put in my path and in my life?...Without those experiences, does it hinder one's development and growth?...Is one of the reasons God gives us the cross to somehow relate us and teach us about the problems of pains and sufferings, not only ourselves but to and for others?...Do some of these tough experiences teach us about mercy?...Did the brother of the prodigal son learn about God's Great Mercy, through his brother?...
St. Peter tells us that it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering, because he is conscious of God...When we suffer for good and endure it, it is commendable before God...To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:19)...Maybe this is why, Jesus says we are blessed...Maybe we are more transformed, or learn more, or have a fuller life with a certain amount of pain and suffering...
If we have everything we want in spouse, excess wealth, three or four cars, always a happy-laughing mood, and great health all the time, do we need God?...How often would we think about Him, if we wake up each morning with everything?...Do I really need hope (if I have all things I possible want)?...Do I need faith?...Do I even want hope and faith, if I have everything?...How often do we pray and thank God, when everything if always right in our lives?...What if we never, ever had a problem?...How often would we look up?...If we NEVER had any pain or suffering would we pray to the Father and Son, and how often...Also if we take this farther, if we and our family and friends, always had great health, and great wealth would we need the Father?...How much seeking would we do?...How persistent we we keep searching for Him?...How close would our Holy Spirit be to the Father and Son...When Jesus gave us the Sermon on the Plain, for me, He is saying I am more aware, and realize I need the Father the most when I need Him...When I get comfortable and stay comfortable, do I search as hard for Him?...If I was always in comfort, how often would I pray?...I am more likely to communicate and be closer to the Son and the Father, when I need them?...I really need Him, not only in these times of need, but all of the time, even when I think I have everything I need...It is a good thing to need the Father...It seems a contradiction, but Jesus teaches us, when I need Him the most, I am most happy, and most blessed...And Martha learned that listening to Jesus and studying His Word is better than the little things in this life on earth...
To take this a little farther (and maybe a little off base), if we pick out our favorite pleasure or desire and have it over and over, would it still be our favorite pleasure or desire?...If we pick out our favorite food and have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack-times would it still be our favorite food...God has a plan with our pleasures and desires and how we enjoy them...God's plan is hard for us to understand...
The great story of pain and suffering in the Bible is the Book of Job...C. S. Lewis said, “Pain insists upon being attended to...God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains...It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”... God certainly got Job's attention...And it seems Job worked through his issues with losing his wealth and children, but the physical pain got this attention (but it may have been the accumulation of all these pains and sufferings that go his attention)...And in the case of Job, he was never explained why or what caused these sufferings and pains...We know the devil was involved, but Job doesn't...God does not tell him...But God was close, listening to Job and his friends praying and talking to God and themselves...Job's friends when they arrived they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights...None of the friends for seven days and nights said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was (Job 2:13)...Job's friends supported him, by being there, even though they did not say one word...His friends just being there, and not saying anything, was thoughtful and good...The friends and Job finally have lengthy dialog about Job and his pain and suffering...God is mentioned by Job and the friends many times...Finally God comes out of a storm and answers Job...But God really doesn't answer Job's questions...God, instead of giving Job an answer to his pain, He starts asking Job questions...The questions are like, Who is this that darkens My counsel?... Where were you, when I laid the earth's foundation?...Have you comprehended creation?...The questions, if one would summarize them are like, "where were you, Job, when the world was created, and how did you get all of nature and our living creatures, the universe, and plants in harmony with nature?"...How did you do (all) that?...Do you really think you can understand absolute power and complete, perfect knowledge?...There are many things we do not understand about our lives and the earth...Pain and suffering are only two of them...Job thought he needed an answer from God, but all he got (from our LORD) was more questions on more and more things he didn't even understand...But the Bible does say God answers Job out of a storm (Job 38:1)...Being with God was Job's answer...
Job suffered throughout the chapters and is looking for God's help...The three friends are there for Job...The first seven days they are there for support and say nothing (Job 2:13)... Job no doubt appreciated this and there being there...Then all three begin to speak, and the dialog begins and continues throughout the book...The friends do not accomplish too much for Job, when we think about it...After the friends start to talk, things seem to go down hill as word after word is said by the three friends and Job throughout his suffering...Being there, and even saying nothing, is very much needed and good...The many words of Job's friends do not comfort Job...So the many words of Job and his friends do not help Job with his problem of pain...We learn that words are often not enough...The friends keep thinking Job has sinned and done something for God to allow this suffering to come upon him...So the words keep coming...Then God comes...And in the end, Job understands...Sometimes words and dialog are not the only way to answer our questions...Other things can make us feel better...God shows us there are greater things than words, through His questions to Job...He sees that God understands all things...God created the universe...God knows what He is doing with everything, even our sufferings and our troubled times, or more importantly -especially our troubled times...God created us, so He knows...
Job was asking all the questions about his suffering (at first)...God was listening...God came and He started asking questions...God is our creator, and not the other way around...God could have wrote a chapter in the Scripture about suffering...The book could have been the longest book in the Bible...Would Job have interpreted these words perfectly and correctly?...Or would he have (even more) questions on this verse and that verse, like he had throughout the Book of Job...We are not perfect, we are from this world, and sometimes words are not always enough...We will never understand everything while we are on earth...
An answer in words for Job to hear in words maybe would not have been enough for him...But Job got to see his answer with his eyes...Words and books are not always enough...Sometimes we must go beyond words and books, we must experience things...Like suffering, love is something felt...Love can be put into words, but is that love?...If I write four or five books about love, is that love?...No, that would be just four or five books about love...Love has to be experienced...Words are not the same as an experience...Words are not the same as doing something...Words and questions, are just that words and questions -they cannot always provide answers to everything that we have questions about...God knew this when He communicates to Job...
Job now has some understanding with God's questions...If you ever built something from scratch, you know its ins and outs...You understand what you built...God created the heavens and earth...God was there, when He created the world...God understands how the all and the why of the living plants, animals, and creatures of the sea and oceans harmonize with nature...He created them... God understands suffering and evil...Job, in the end, realizes how limited he is and how great His Father is...Job ask and spoke of things he did not understand...God created the earth and the heavens...He was there...Job now knows God alone understands, the problems we have with our pain and suffering...Job really can't understand the entire, infinite plan...Many things are beyond man's limited understanding...And even words have limitations...But even with Job realizing his limitations, his faith is stronger now, and God did not answer his questions...Job does know that he needs God...His answer was God...He is the way, the truth, and the life...He is the answer to all things...
My ears had only heard of You...My eyes have now seen You...After meeting You, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6)...Surely I spoke of things I did not understand (and cannot understand), things to wonderful for me to know (Job 42:3)...Job is satisfied with his experience with God...
And I think we must think about something very important, Job got to meet God, because of his pain and suffering...After Job's trials and suffering, God healed him...The LORD made Job prosperous again...The LORD gave him twice as much as before...Job was a blameless man, and money never interfered with his relationship with God...All of his brothers and sisters came and ate in his house...They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring (Job 42:11)...God had restored Job as it is written... And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast (1 Peter 5:10)...
As Job found out we don't understand everything...Job wanted to understand these things about his suffering...Man has only a limited understanding of the heavens and earth...Jesus teaches His student Nicodemus about belief and understanding in John chapter three...I tell you the truth, We speak of what We know, and We testify to what We have seen, but still you people do not accept Our testimony...I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how can I speak to you of heavenly things (John 3:11-12)?...If we don't understand all the earthly things where we live, how can we understand, the wonderful things of heaven...Job heard God and knew God was there...Understanding goes deeper than just words...His presence was Job's answer, not the words he heard from Him...
St. Paul teaches us the Spirit helps us in our weakness and suffering, when words are not enough...The Holy Spirit in us is more than words can express...We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Romans 8:26)...
When things are going well in our lives the more we want to be in control and maybe understand and like God giving us complete free will...After all, when we are feeling good and things are going our way, free will seems like a good thing...Even when we are just having a so-so day, or week, or month, or even a slump in our lives, I think most people would believe in and want their unfettered free will...We do not want to give up the good things in our lives and we want to be in control of these good things (or so it seems)...However, when things go from good to a slump, to bad we are more likely to look to God...We may and more likely to increase our prayers...When we grieve or have a problem with pain, then we want God in our lives...When we suffer a tragedy, we want God...We want this tragedy to leave us...We now want Him in control...Because we cannot control this problem of pain and suffering, we pray and want God's intervention... We will take a little less free will, and Him in control and our lives...We care now, while we are in the increased suffering state, very little about our free will..We want to quickly get back to our normal times, our good times without His intervention and with our free will...Because, then everything is alright and we do not need Him...God is as near to us in our good times as our bad times...Sometimes we don't realize this in our good times...We are likely to realize this in our sufferings, but then we forget this...We want our unfettered free will that God gives us when things are good in our lives, but the moment we have problems of pain we look up and want help, we want His intervention, and do not care as much about our free will...We must realize this when things are going good in our lives, that we also need Him, and His purposes, and to follow His plan...We always need Him, but when we have a problem of pain we are looking and asking Him for more answers and more of His intervention in our prayers, we want His comfort and counseling...
Yet during suffering and pain trust and trusting enters the thought process...The pain and suffering path makes us vulnerable to these thoughts, I think...When Jesus was on the cross He may have experienced this...Jesus cried out in a loud voice while on the cross and dying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?")...Jesus trusted God with all His heart, yet He asks why did His Father forsake Him, while He was in extreme pain...But suffering and pain, especially chronic pain and intense pain, can make one feel abandoned and alone...
It is very difficult to understand why God allows the problems of pain and suffering...Why did Job have to suffer?...God is Almighty and over our pain and sufferings...There are many, many, things we do not understand, besides pain and suffering...When we are suffering, remember, that Jesus tells us "Behold I make all things new" (Revelations 21:5 KJV)...Is your life dark and empty?...He can make all things new, just like He did in the beginning...In the beginning, He took a dark and empty earth that was hovering over the waters and dressed it with lilies, trees, orchids, and the beautiful green grass that not even Solomon in all his splendor was ever dressed as beautiful...Ask Him to make you new again...Be born again in Him...He is in control at all times, and in control of all things...
Like Job, we should want His comforting and counseling...God emerged from the darkness out of a storm and showed His Presence to Job...Job had hungered and thirsted for righteousness, and was satisfied...God filled Job...But remember, God did not answers Job's many questions he had for God with words or dialog...In fact, of the many, many things Job said and ask, many (and maybe none of Job's questions) were not answered directly by God...Job understood after God spoke, that God knows all things...Job felt the Providence of God...God created all things and made them new, and only He can understand all these things...God is Infinite and we are finite...God's word was there, but more importantly, He was there...With Him, I am not alone...God being there is what answered Job's many questions...Sometimes our questions are answered not in words, but something else...It was not in the words He said to Job, that he needed...It was Him being there and Job feeling Him...He is THE answer...
And as I think about Job and the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, maybe somehow in our pain and sufferings we are brought more and closer together as people...Pain makes us feel...As we read about or see others suffer, we feel for them...Are we more united by our pains than by our happiness?...
Adam and Eve, in the beginning, did not know everything...We really do not know how knowledgeable they were...We know that they did not know evil, until they ate the forbidden fruit...Job questions God all throughout the Book of Job, and then God comes out of a storm in Job chapter thirty eight, and what kind of answers does Job get...God gives him (Job) questions...In the beginning, only God knew evil...Maybe there are things that God only is to know, and we do not need to know about all things...Though I think many will disagree with this, maybe there are certain and sacred things reserved only for God to know...But in the end through all of Job's sufferings I sense relief from Job's endurance through his sufferings...I also sense that Job was closer to His Father after His pain and Job's feeling God's Presence...
I think there are questions we must ask about the problem of pain and suffering, Is there spiritual growth or more spiritual growth in pain and suffering than when we have everything going right in our lives?...Do we seek God more when we in the trial of personal despair?...Are we closest to God in our hours of despair?...When we suffer and are in pain, do we then realize we are poor and imperfect and in need of God?...And in our realization of need, do we feel in our soul this hope from above?...Does our Spirit feel this holy yearning and give us this hope, this anchor to our soul?...And in this hope does the troubled soul seek and feel and know a greater goodness is there?...
On the cross Jesus had great pains, had great sufferings and died...That happened on Good Friday...Jesus experienced the full catastrophe of life...Jesus lived and He suffered and He died...God watched from above as His Son died...A Father lost His Son...This was great pain for both the Son and His Father...Jesus personally felt pain and suffering and was not immune to it, when He dwelt the earth...And for those who believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, realize that God has experienced life, suffering, and death as all men do...God has put Himself through all those things that man goes through...Through all the pain and suffering Jesus went through on the cross, there is this Great Hope for life in the Light...And the Light rose on the Third Day with all His pains and sufferings and death...On Good Friday we have all the pain and suffering and on Easter Sunday we see the Glory of God...God allows pain and suffering...But, we can see that there can be this Greater Good that comes out of pain and suffering...Because a Greater Good did come out of the One who suffered...A Greater Good came out of God's Son painfully suffering on the cross...We are saved because of Jesus' pain and sufferings on the cross...By no one else are we saved...
The cross seems to be a part of the Christian life...But Jesus gives us peace that He overcame death...So it seems that suffering is a part of the human condition in life...The Archbishop Fulton Sheen put it this way, “Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.” ...