God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world ~ CS Lewis
The God of the Bible is unquestionably and completely sovereign over the universe and everything in it, including pain. For in this hope, we are saved! Romans 5:3-5, 8:24-25 and John 16: 32-34 say we can hope in God this way. He is a supreme God, sovereign over natural disasters (book of Jonah), and over Satan's hand over our sickness, disease, and oppression (Matt 8).
So why does God let pain and problems happen to good people? If I grow up doing all the right things, reading my Bible, sharing Christ with others, refusing to watch bad movies, and then experience something bad like a breakup, death, or even cancer, I might just think God is a great big lie. But here's the thing, we can't put God into our debt (see Matt Chandler video below); we have no right to force God's hand in anything. God does what he does, because He is God. But He is good (regardless of how our circumstances play out). He is good because he holds the power over death and by His power alone, holds all things together by the council of His will (Eph 1:11)
Christ answers this question plainly, for all to see. He has not come to give gifts as much as to be THE GIFT! He tells us we will certainly have problems, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." But He is enough, even if we are not healed. Job says,
Pain is inevitable. Life is brutal and frustrating at times. John Piper once said, "the biblical categories of God's sovereignty over pain lay like land minds throughout Scripture, just waiting for someone to take it seriously. They don't kill. But they do explode trivial notions about God's will over massive suffering." The God of the Bible is wholly capable to sustain us. And He will do it! Will you take him at his word? Will you treasure him as ultimately valuable once the pain comes?
For those who love God, He promises to sustain us in two ways: either through healing or by His sustaining grace, that produces for us endurance (Rom 5, James 1). Whatever we do, we do because we've been given the grace of God to do it. For if the Lord wills, we will do this or that (James 4). Whether He heals us from sickness or keeps us in sustaining grace, both ways are equally glorious ways of showing His sovereign will over those He loves. But He is solely and independently free to choose how He displays his sovereignty to us. He sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45). The same God heals the leper (Mark 1:4-45) who allows Satan to torment Job with boils. (Job 2:7).
God is not Santa Claus. He will not always answer our prayers to remove the pain. But He is good because He promises even in the deepest pain, He is enough. The god of fun church teaches us to be comfortable, serve him diligently, and bad things won't happen to good people. Many well intentioned, Bible believing people grow up in church and have a view God this way. But as soon as tragedy strikes, their confidence in God breaks and they turn from the very truth that was intended to not only sustain them through suffering, but to be their joy within the pain. But instead of praising God for being God, instead of worshiping Him, treasuring Him as supremely valuable and sovereign over all the universe like king David did who said "Whom in heaven have I but you? On earth there is nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail. But you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" (Psalm 73:25,26) some who are unprepared for suffering, lose hope and deny Him altogether because they didn't have roots that went down deep (Parable of the Soils in Luke 8).
Pain is an essential part of life. Don't waste it! The God of the universe should be ultimately more valuable to the believer than all the treasure on earth, the best health one could ask for, even better than life itself!
In Him,
Sean
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