No one likes pain. We undergo complicated procedures to treat it. We keep cabinets full of medicines to dull it. Pain isn’t just a physical sensation, either – as anyone who has ever felt “hangry” knows. It’s emotional and mental. Pain is an experience that – no matter how much we try to avoid it – is an inevitable part of life. But why? Why must we suffer?
The reality of suffering – or the “problem of pain” as C.S. Lewis called it – is often used by skeptics as a reason to reject God. Yet, God speaks to it Himself from the very beginning. Scour the first two pages of the Bible, and you will not find a hint of pain. There is work, responsibility, relationship…but not pain. Pain is missing…until the first humans sin. Sin is why God told the woman, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing”, while she also suffered conflict with her husband (Gen. 3:16). Human sin cursed the very ground, as God told the man that “in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17). In fact, all suffering we see on earth – violence, natural disasters, hunger, disease, and the like – goes back to sin’s curse. And while our own sin looks different than Adam and Eve’s, we all do sin – so we all face suffering and death (cf. Rom. 3:23, 5:12-14, 6:23).
Yet in Jesus Christ, there is hope – for us and all creation. In Romans 8:18-23, the Apostle Paul wrote that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” While “creation was subjected to futility” as a consequence of our sin, it will one day “be set free from its bondage to corruption.” While Paul described the world’s suffering as creation “groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now”, he had hope that “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” You see, God agrees that pain is a problem: that’s why He worked throughout all of history to solve it by sending His Son. We suffer, groan, and die because of sin…and through His suffering, Jesus defeated sin and death (cf. Heb. 2:14-18). Now, we can live each day by His Spirit, who provides us help, comfort, strength – and hope that Jesus will come again and end all pain.
That is how the Bible can close with a beautiful picture of “a new heaven and new earth” where God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore….” (Rev. 21:1, 4). God knows why we suffer. Christ understands how we suffer. The Spirit is with us in our suffering. So now, we can be sure: one day the pain will end.
Even in dark times of great suffering, God is working things out for good. Join us for Esther’s Missing God: Seeing Him in Dark Times at https://www.georgetownchurchofchrist.com/esthers-missing-god.