Why Is There Suffering in the World?
Where is God when bad things happen? Today, R.C. Sproul affirms that the reason why there is suffering in the world is not in spite of God’s goodness—but it is because of God’s goodness.
They came to Jesus and they said, “What about those poor, innocent people up there in Galilee that were offering their sacrifices when the soldiers of Pilate rushed in and slaughtered them for no apparent cause, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices?” They said, “Wait a minute, Jesus. What about those eighteen people over there in Siloam walking down the street, minding their own business, when that temple suddenly collapsed and crushed them? Where was God when that happened?” Jesus said, “Well, and these are a couple of anomalies here that we don’t really have an answer for. So maybe we’re going to have to adjust our understanding of the character of God.” Or He could have said, “I know the Bible says that He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, but that’s poetic hyperbole. Just think of how tedious and demanding it is for My Father to manage the affairs of this vast universe, to keep the stars in their courses, and every atom in its place. But even My Father has to rest from time to time, and that particular day He was taking a nap when Pilate’s soldiers, unbeknownst to My Father, went in there and killed those poor innocent people.” He says, “I’ll take it up with them and make sure that won’t happen again.” Or, “I know, I know. I know I said that never does a bird land on the ground except My Father knows this. In fact, every hair on your head is known to Him. He counts the hairs on your head, and that afternoon He was busy with a particularly bushy-haired fella, and His attention was diverted for a second. That’s when that poor, those poor eighteen people were killed when the temple collapsed.” You know that’s not what Jesus said. What did He say? He said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” What He was saying to His disciples, and through His disciples to us, is a hard saying that we almost never think about, dear friends, and it’s this: Why shouldn’t God let that temple fall on those people’s heads? These people had been in utter rebellion against their Creator from the day they died, and even when the Creator put His Son’s life in front of them, they destroyed it. The question that seems to me is not why there’s so much suffering in the world. It’s why there’s so little. Why are we not all suffering in hell this very moment in light of our blasphemous hostility to our Creator? One of the reasons that there is suffering in this world, dear friends, and one of the reasons that there’s pain in this world, and one of the reasons—in fact, the reason—why there’s death in this world, is not because God is not good, but because He is. And a good God will not allow evil to go on unpunished.
