The older we get, the more we know of the difficulties and the evil in this world. We experience painful emotions like rejection, low self-esteem, regret, loss, failure, frustration, fear, loss of hope, and much more. We experience physical pain like headaches, flue, sinus problems, stomach problems, arthritis, back pain, sore muscles, and more. We have painful events like car accidents, broken bones, loss of loved ones, divorce, miscarriage, loss of income, friends become enemies, failure to achieve a goal, natural disasters, war, theft, and more. Life is tough at times. It is at those times that we wonder what is going on? Why do these things happen and why does God allow them to happen? Over the next few months the main articles will be focused on answering those questions.

The righteous seem to suffer just as much as the unrighteous. There are various ways that the New Testament Christians suffered. They suffered arrest (Acts 12:1-5; 16:22-24), physical violence (Acts 5:40; 14:19), loss of property (Hebrews 10:34), and even death (Acts 7:54-60; 12:1-5). Now these are the ways the righteous have suffered in the past and there have been many other forms of suffering. But why? Why is there suffering?

Well, first of all, we live in a fallen world. The first man, Adam, was supposed to rule over creation (Genesis 1:26). He sinned and “just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Adam sinned and that began the corruption of humanity and the world or nature. The Bible declares that, “the wages [or results] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Adam, the ruler of creation, chose the world to be corrupted when he sinned. When we first sinned, we showed by our actions that we agreed with Adam’s actions. We have also bought into this corruption (Romans 3:23). In fact, Paul said, “the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Romans 8:19-22). So it is because of sin, our sin, that nature has been corrupted and we reap the results: earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc. The corruption will not be corrected until the second coming of Christ. When we see natural things produce suffering, we must remember our sin. The response should not be the question, “Why did God let this happen?” The response should be, “Oh Lord, I long for your return for sin has made things this way.” For it is those who long for this return that receive the eternal reward (2 Timothy 4:8).

At times we suffer just as a consequence of living in a corrupted world, which we contributed to. Sometimes suffering comes from a direct result of our sin. The Bible indicates that people suffer as a result of their sin (1 Peter 2:20, 3:17, 4:15, and Jude 5-7). I cannot really blame God for a hangover. Nor can I blame God if I am irresponsible at work and then lose my job. If I mistreat my wife and she leaves me, God cannot be blamed. If I drive recklessly and get into a car accident, which costs me a lot of money, I cannot blame God. God cannot be blamed, if I have a one night stand and now have a child to take care of. If I am irresponsible with my spending and then face financial difficulties, I cannot shake my fists at God. Many times our own troubles are a direct result of specific actions we have chosen. It is odd when we suffer for those reasons and then blame God.

Now just because there is suffering, does not mean that it is always the direct result of sin. Don’t think that every time someone gets into a car accident or gets sick they must have sinned. There is no such thing as karma. Sometimes bad things just happen because we live in a fallen world. Jesus, aware that people think that suffering always results from sin, said regarding a group of people suffering “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate” (Luke 13:2). Jesus answered, “I tell you, no” (Luke 13:3). When Jesus followed with “but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish,” he is not changing his mind. He is simply saying that sin does increase your chances of suffering, but is not always the cause of suffering.

Sometimes we suffer, just because of a misunderstanding. Fellow believers stopped supporting Paul because he was in prison (2 Timothy 1:15-18). We live in a fallen world. Bad things will happen. Now we have just taken a step in the direction of understanding suffering. Sin causes suffering and we also suffer as a result of living in a fallen world that we have contributed to. Next month we will look into additional causes of suffering in order to understand even more. We can overcome. “In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).