However, as we considered yesterday, God does not work this way. No doubt about it, God certainly allows suffering in a person’s life. Sometimes great suffering. Both God the Father (in the Book of Job) and God the Son (in the Gospels) specifically say the Triune God does not cause suffering because of past or present sin. In other words, God does not operate off of a merit system where your actions earn you either reward or punishment.
Since this is true, there are three questions that need to be answered to help you respond correctly then to suffering. As you consider your circumstances, what does the Bible teach about God’s character? What does the Bible teach about the purpose of suffering? And, how should you respond in the midst of suffering?
For length purposes, today I will only consider what the Bible teaches about God’s character. This will enable you to begin to think accurately about your fears, concerns, and guilt.
What Does the Bible Teach about God’s Character?
If God does not wait in heaven to show you His anger over sin, then what does He do? How does He respond to your sins of the past or current sin struggle?
He sent His Son to deal with your sin.
God dealt with your sin problem when He sent His Son to sacrificially live and die to bear His wrath for mankind’s sin. As Paul writes:
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).
God demonstrated His love specifically, concretely, and eternally through sending His Son. When we did not deserve anything but punishment and suffering, God sent Jesus to die for us.
Do you deserve punishment? Was your past sin ugly? Is your present sin struggle embarrassing and guilt-ridden? Yes to all these things. However, God operates in spite of what you deserve. God’s love is contra-conditional to what you deserve.
As a child of God, please do not fail to see the reality of your situation. You never measured up to God’s standard. You are not righteous or perfect enough for God to accept you. Instead, He forgives you of your sin and accepts you in Christ. So although you live everyday sub-par or below the standard, God treats you and accepts you as if you perfectly meet His standard of righteousness – because He sees you in Christ and accepts Christ’s righteousness as your own.
Because of Jesus, you are accepted by God as if you were perfect. You are not under condemnation (Rom 8:1). Jesus took God’s anger for your sin as His child. You can have confidence that if God allows suffering in your life, it is not because He is angry and seeking to hurt you or get you back. Jesus’ death proves that.
Consider these words Paul wrote as he contemplated this issue:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s love as demonstrated through the love of Christ amazes us. This love brings us to a place of worship. We rejoice in what Christ has done.
For the reader who has never asked God for forgiveness of your sins, please consider this post to help you prepare for eternity.
Jesus Understands You and Offers You Grace
Not only do we grasp God’s love for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, but the Bible also teaches that Jesus understands you. He gets you. He offers you grace in the midst of your struggles and suffering. The writer of Hebrews explains what Jesus does and why He does it:
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
The biblical writer identifies Jesus as a sympathetic High Priest. He walked where we walk. He dealt with the same issues with which we deal. He was tempted in all points as we.
What does that mean, He was tempted as we? Jesus faced all the same pressure-filled situations as we do in life. In each of these various pressures, He responded perfected. He demonstrated His righteousness and ability to be our substitute in order that He could take God’s wrath for us.
Along the way, He learned and understands our weaknesses. Therefore, now He offers us grace and mercy in our time of sin, struggle, and suffering.
The Holy Spirit Intercedes for You in the Midst of Your Struggles and Suffering
Not only does what the Bible teaches about God the Father and God the Son prove helpful, we also see the Holy Spirit working for us and not against us. Consider Paul’s teaching related to the Spirit:
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
Did you catch what Paul wrote? The Spirit helps us. He is making intercession for us. He knows us. He knows you. He knows your weaknesses, your fears, your worries, and your faulty way of considering your suffering.
He prays for you to the One who can provide you grace and help in the time of need.
In Sum: God Is for You.
The entire Godhead works on your behalf. In essence, their individual roles demonstrate why you must dismiss from your mind the thought of an angry God sitting in heaven just waiting to zap you or cause suffering in your life because of your sinful past or present. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, in fact, teaches just the opposite.
You do not need to live in the midst of your current suffering as if your suffering is a demonstration of God’s dark clouds over you. Additionally, do not live in fear of what might happen next because of your past or present sin struggles. What you know about God contradicts both of these common responds. God is worthy of our praise, not our worry about the future or unjustified feelings of “I got what I deserved” about our present. The cross of Jesus Christ demonstrates this is not true.
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