11/18/2024
Suffering
- Did I do something to deserve whatever pain, suffering, or problem I am facing?
- Why does God allow us to suffer and feel pain?
To understand suffering, we will be focusing on Job's story. Job is a reminder that suffering comes to everyone, righteous + unrighteous alike.
Starting with a little bit of a background on Job, he was a man of integrity who feared God. He had three daughters, seven sons, land, and animals. He seemed to have it all.
Satan tested Job twice, after talking to God. God agreed to let Satan test Job, but made it very clear to Satan that he was not to lay a hand on Job. For the first test, Satan took away everything Job had. His children, his land, and his animals. However, Satan listened to God's instructions and didn't lay a hand on Job. Through losing everything he had, Job never blamed God. Job never sinned through it all.
Satan wanted to test Job again. Satan stated, "If you strike his flesh and bones, he will surely curse you to your face". (Job 2:5) The Lord allowed this test, but made it clear to Satan that he was to spare Job's life. Job was then covered from head-to-toe in boils. This didn't cause Job to sin. Instead, he stated, "should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" (Job 2:10) While this test didn't cause Job to sin, it did lead to him cursing the day he was born. He started asking why this would happen to him + wondered why he was born if he was going to suffer through so much pain.
So, how does all of this relate to us? Sometimes, bad things have to happen to "good" people. This doesn't mean that they did something to deserve pain or suffering, or that God isn't with them through it all. These things happen to test and to prove your faith.
In Job's case, he didn't let Satan's trial turn him against God. He stayed faithful because God's glory has the final word. Even in Job's case, God never lost control.
Connecting this to my life:
I have a complicated medical background. Around the age of 12, I started experiencing extreme issues with one of my legs. It was determined by doctors at the time that I had severe compression of the main vein leading to my heart from that leg. Over time, I had 10+ surgeries, was put on blood thinners for life, and was switched to homeschool due to these medical issues. I wondered for years why I had to suffer through constant pain from a chronic illness. Along the way, I did make some good friends with the same condition that is considered rare. Fast foward to a couple of months ago (nearly 10 years after my original diagnosis), I found out that at the time of being diagnosed, I actually had a blood clot from the back of my knee, up to my hip in my leg. According to my doctor, if I didn't have this all of a sudden compression, the blood clot more than likely would have traveled to my heart, lungs, or brain, and would have killed me when I was 12. This connected all of the dots for me. I had to experience all of this pain because if I didn't, I wouldn't have lived to tell y'all about this experience.
Wrapping up this Bible study, I hope this helped you guys understand why we experience suffering sometimes. This isn't to say that we should discredit the pain or suffering that we are experiencing, but to understand that there is a bigger picture, even if we can't see it right now. God has never and will never lose control.
Please comment any questions or general comments that you have!
