Wavering Faith: Why does God let His children suffer?

Wavering Faith: Why does God let His children suffer?

I am not as faithful as I should be. I’m not proud that I sometimes lose my faith. I cannot be the only one who ponders the reason for my existence through suffering. Do you sometimes wonder why God allows His children to suffer through sickness, troubles or death?

There has to be a reason behind it. This all cannot be for naught. When I find myself wondering what the purpose of my suffering is, what the purpose of my existence is, I can’t help but think “Why me? Why did I have to bear this burden?” I consult my friends. I talk to my family. I examine my Bible. I research the internet. I consider my past. I never find the answers that I am searching for. When my faith is low, there is no answer good enough for me. There are, however, answers that are good enough for God. If it is good enough for God, my faith tells me that I should push through and trust in Him. I should trust that He does everything for a reason and His reasoning is higher than mine (Isaiah 55: 9).

Job was a man of faith. Job went through more than I could ever imagine. Why should I lose my faith when Job kept his? Job didn’t only have faith in God. God had faith in Job! He knew that Job could handle what Satan threw at him.

Job 2: On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. 11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him,because they saw how great his suffering was.

When I ask what the reason for my suffering is, Job is my answer. If there is an answer better than that, I haven’t found it. Satan is trying to break my faith. He sees my faith wavering, and he swoops in and he tries to take it completely away.

Strong faith makes you privy to persecution. Satan uses persecution to break you of your faith. You can count on people and circumstances trying to bring you down when you’re feeling good. God made you so that you can face what Satam brings to you.

2 Timothy 10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If we can only get through this, we will come out the other side stronger than ever. God will help us through this and we can help others through my suffering. We CAN persevere. We can endure the tasks that have been put on us: living through misfortune and adversity.

Romans 5: 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

We have to find the good in the bad. Khalil Gibran said that “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” We need to believe that is true. God is making us the people who He wants us to be. We cannot be who we are meant to be without going through what we were meant to go through.

I refuse to believe that we have to go through pain and suffering because God is “punishing” us or because God thinks that we should have to pay that price to enter His kingdom. He paid that price for us. I truly believe that suffering is Satan’s way of trying to pull us away from God. I can only pray that my faith, as human as I am, can endure the tests that Satan gives me. Brennan Manning said that “Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever.”

So I will keep pushing. I will keep believing. The power of prayer is a powerful thing and I truly believe that Satan will give up on me before God does. And I will not give up on my God.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. - Helen Keller

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths. - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross