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I appreciate having this question
asked. Many people wonder why a God of love would allow his
children to suffer illness or loss. I believe the answer may be
found in the scriptures, and I appreciate the opportunity to search
for it and present it on my web site.
First, we need to understand God
(as best we can). In my opinion the misunderstanding of God and
His love is the source of much religious division and error
today. Many religious groups seem to consider only this one
characteristic of God when considering His nature and relationship
with mankind. But is God only love? What does the Bible
say about the nature of God? To answer the question above I'd
like for us to investigate the nature of God through the scriptures
and see if we can come to a better understanding of the trials we suffer.
It's true that God is love.
His word abounds with scripture dealing with His love. We read in
1
John 4:8 that God is love, and the man who
loveth not knoweth not God. We read in Romans
8:38,39 that we cannot be separated from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Notice the
qualifier Paul places on God's love and the inability to be separated
from it--this love is found in Christ Jesus only. We'll deal
with this in greater detail when we address the question "Who is
a Christian?") The food we eat, rain from heaven, and
fruitful seasons are all markers of God's goodness and love. (Acts
14:17) So undoubtedly love is a
defining characteristic of God.
Another characteristic of God is
wisdom. Not only is God wise, his "foolishness" is
wiser than men's "wisdom". (1
Corinthians 1:25) Isaiah records for
us that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our
ways. (Isaiah
55:8-11) When a man searches for a
path on his own, where does it lead? Solomon tells us in Proverbs
14:12 that there is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. So
man's wisdom is extremely limited. He is incapable of fully
understanding the wisdom of God (since the height of our wisdom fails
to go beyond the "foolishness" of God). When a man
attempts to seek a way to God on his own, he cannot do so. The
way that appears right to a man leads to death! The only way a
man can one day live with God is to forsake the ways of men (which
lead to death) and follow the path God has given us to follow.
This is why I emphasize in all of our studies the importance of
determining with certainty the origin of the beliefs and practices we
hold dear. Just because the religious rites we observe are
uplifting and appealing to our emotions does not mean God is pleased
with them. Consider Cain and Abel (Genesis
4:1-15), Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus
10:1,2) and king Saul (1
Samuel 13:8-14). Each of these men
tried to worship God in a manner pleasing to them, but God
demonstrates His displeasure with each.
God is faithful to His word.
He will fulfill His promises. Peter tells us that God is
long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish (2
Peter 3:9). But His long-suffering
should not cause us to believe He has forgotten His promises.
He will keep them, on this we can rest assured. Time to God is
not as time is to man (2
Peter 3:8). A thousand years to us is
as a day is to Him. So it may seem that God is delaying the
coming of Jesus, but He has already appointed the day Jesus will come
and nobody but God knows when it is (Matthew
24:36-42). Matthew records for us the
faithfulness of God to His word in Matthew
24:35 (heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away.)
Let's begin to consider the answer
to our question. Why do men suffer illness? Is it God's
fault should I be stricken with a terminal disease? Many people
blame God when their physical health fails, and make promises to be
faithful to Him should He restore their health. Are we
justified in doing this? Let's turn to Genesis
3:1-19. Adam and Eve are in the garden
of Eden. We see the serpent and his lies in verses
1-5. Eve shows her awareness of God's
instructions in verses
2 and 3. But she believes the
serpent's lies and disobeys God's command. Adam does the
same. In verse
7 we see the change in them as a result of sin--they
knew they were naked and tried to hide their nakedness. God
declares punishment for their sin in verses
16-19. Notice verse
19. What would they suffer as a result
of their sin? Death! Because they disobeyed the word of
God they would eventually return to the ground from which they
came. God didn't say how it would happen, only that it would
happen eventually. Because of our sin we will die. God
tells us that it is appointed for all of us to die once (Hebrews
9:27). It's not God's fault we are
afflicted with illness. Our illness is a sign to us of our
impending death (whether from our current illness, or from some other
in the future), and our impending death is due to sin. When
Adam and Eve sinned their physical death began. Since all have
sinned (Romans
3:23), all will die. One will die of
cancer, another of heart disease, yet another as a result of
accident. How we will die is unknown. We are not
justified in blaming God for our illnesses. He is true to His
word, and His word states we will die because of sin.
Is it possible for good to come
from illness? Not only is it possible, I believe it's
expected! Consider Paul's writing in Romans
5:1-5. Paul tells us that we rejoice
in hope, but also in tribulation, knowing that patience comes from
tribulation, and experience from patience, and hope from
experience. As we suffer the tribulations of
life, we should look at each as a pathway to hope.
How can something good (like hope) come from bitterness? It
can't. So to blame God for our physical trials cannot be
justified. We must have the attitude that from these trials I
will develop patience, from which will come experience and hope.
I would like to address together
the second and third parts of our question. Why do we see
natural disasters occur, and why are dangerous, even vicious animals
a part of our world? I believe the answer lies in a
characteristic of God other than love--wisdom. God designed the
earth in such a way that life will be supported. What is needed
to support life? All living creatures need food, a source of
oxygen, etc. For human beings, how do we obtain these
necessities? The natural processes designed by God allow plants
to grow, rain to fall, life to continue. The storms we see
develop are a part of the natural world designed by God.
Because of the need for air, protection from celestial dangers
(radiation, meteorites, etc.) our earth has an atmosphere. As
the sun's energy heats the earth, the potential for violent storms
develops. The storm is a result of natural processes needed to
sustain life (heat, oxygen, etc.). God designed the earth with
a hot molten core. Occasionally some of this energy is released
to the surface of the earth as lava from volcanoes. God also
designed the earth's crust as huge plates. From time to time
these plates shift and earthquakes result. The physical laws
designed by God occasionally result in natural disasters and loss of
human life. But as we studied before, death is not a result of
God's injustice of lack of love. Death is a result of our
sin. Within our world God has designed processes to maintain
balances necessary to sustain life. As we learn more about
biology and natural ecosystems we develop an even greater
appreciation for checks and balances within nature. The animals
which occasionally are harmful to man are put there for a reason--to
maintain balance within nature. The weapons given a snake allow
the snake to keep the rat population under control (for
example). If the snake is threatened by man, it will respond as
necessary to preserve its life. However, without the snake the
rats multiply in an uncontrolled fashion with potentially disastrous
consequences for man.
I hope this study has helped to
answer some of the questions many people have about God and His love
for man. We need to consider the entire nature of God as
revealed for us in His word. To look at love as God's only
characteristic will certainly result in confusion and dismay.
To consider the wise, just, patient, truthful, omniscient
(all-knowing), omnipresent (in all places) nature of God allows us to
understand our place and our duty (Ecclesiastes
12:13). There is much about God we
will never understand. But we must not allow our lack of
understanding to lead us to blame God for the tribulations we face in
life. Job tells us our days will be short and full of trouble (Job
14:1). Each of us has the opportunity
to develop patience, experience, and hope from the trials we face.
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