Why God Allows Suffering? (15)

A marvelous future

God is now calling only a few, relatively speaking, from the masses of humanity to be a part of His Church. He regards them as the firstfruits of His spiritual harvest (James:1:18)—chosen, if they remain faithful, to reign with Christ in His Kingdom. But He does not call everyone now (Romans:11:7-8
, 25-26). "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him," said Jesus, "and I will raise him up at the last day" (John:6:44).

When Jesus spoke of raising up His own at the last day, He was talking about His second coming. Paul offers these additional details: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians:4:16-18

).

When we understand and accept God's plan of salvation, we find great comfort in this truth. When Jesus comes, those who have repented and accepted Him as their Savior and yielded their lives in loving obedience will find comfort. Their suffering will be no more. God will give them eternal life in a new body—a spirit body—that will know no suffering (1 Corinthians:15:35-54


















).

We will then realize something we can understand only in part while alive in the flesh, that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans:8:18).

Those who come to understand the great purpose and calling of God still find that life at times is painful (verse 23), but they understand why. They look forward to the time when God will give them eternal life and enable them to reign with Christ in the Kingdom of God. Paul encourages us to "comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians:4:18).

Painful lessons

Paul notes that Christians, like Christ, must suffer: "To you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29).

Peter reminds Christians that they should expect to suffer because God can use suffering to help purify us from error: "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God" (1 Peter:4:1-2
).

As Christ explained, His followers can expect to suffer. But God sometimes allows us to suffer because pain teaches us to refrain from sin even under the most difficult circumstances.

When God allows us to suffer because of our wrong choices, He is actually acting mercifully. Why? Because the consequence of continuing in sin when we know better (if not repented of) will be death for all eternity.

"Before I was afflicted," says the writer of Psalm 119, "I went astray, but now I keep Your word" (verse 67). He reminds us that suffering is a reminder of the consequences of sin, that suffering can produce long-term benefits we may not discern while we deal with our physical or emotional pain.

Pain's important purpose

Dr. Brand worked for years treating leprosy patients in India and America. During his labors he arrived at an astonishing conclusion concerning the pathology of leprosy.

Leprosy victims suffer the curse of having their extremities—fingers, toes, feet and even nose and ears—deteriorate and waste away, but no one knew why. Before Dr. Brand's research, doctors assumed lepers were cursed with "bad flesh." Brand's remarkable discovery was that the problem lies in leprosy bacilli, which attack the nerves of body parts, triggering a process that leads to the death of the nerves. When this occurs, a patient who incurs the slightest wound—even a bruise—to an afflicted area feels absolutely no pain. Consequently he continues to use the damaged body part. This repeated use aggravates the wound. Eventually the tissue becomes so damaged that the flesh actually dies and sloughs off.

Dr. Brand began treating the wounds of lepers by protecting them, sometimes with casts. The wounds would often heal and not suffer further damage. The protected flesh would become sound again, even though the leper did not regain sensation in the affected body part because the neural tissue had permanently deteriorated.

Brand concluded that pain is a gift from God that alerts us to the fact that something has gone wrong.

The doctor's determination applies to most diseases, not just leprosy. When we hurt, we should respond to our body's signals and take measures to relieve the pain and eliminate the underlying cause. "I had no idea how vulnerable the body becomes when it lacks a warning system," he concludes (Brand and Yancey, p. 121).

To be cont'd.

God bless you.