GOD, WHY DO YOU ALLOW SUFFERING? (5 OF 5)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
This content is part of a series.
God, Why Do You Allow Suffering? (5 of 5)
Series: Got Questions?
Jeff Strite
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
OPEN: A woman who was employed as a dental receptionist told this story:
I was on duty when an extremely nervous patient came for root canal surgery. He was brought into the examining room and made comfortable in the reclining dental chair. The dentist then injected a numbing agent around the patient's tooth, and left the room for a few minutes while the medication took hold.
When the dentist returned, the patient was standing next to a tray of dental equipment.
''What are you doing by the surgical instruments?'' asked the surprised dentist.
Focused on his task, the patient replied, ''I'm taking out the ones I don't like.''
APPLY: None of us likes suffering. Given the choice, we'd ''pick out'' the things we didn't like in this life:
- the hardships
- the suffering
- the pain and loss
- the tragedies and we'd just get rid of them.
Unfortunately - just like man in the dentist's office - we really don't get much of a choice. We don't get to pick and choose. We get what we get.
But the question for today is not… what suffering would we remove from our lives?
But rather: Why does God allow suffering?
I. The first thing to realize in evaluating this question is this:
We live in a fallen world.
We live in a world where
- everything decays
- everything grows old
- everything dies
In Romans 8:18-21 Paul tells us:
''I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was SUBJECTED TO FRUSTRATION, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its BONDAGE TO DECAY and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.''
We live in a decaying world where disease and death are part of the unavoidable ...
Series: Got Questions?
Jeff Strite
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
OPEN: A woman who was employed as a dental receptionist told this story:
I was on duty when an extremely nervous patient came for root canal surgery. He was brought into the examining room and made comfortable in the reclining dental chair. The dentist then injected a numbing agent around the patient's tooth, and left the room for a few minutes while the medication took hold.
When the dentist returned, the patient was standing next to a tray of dental equipment.
''What are you doing by the surgical instruments?'' asked the surprised dentist.
Focused on his task, the patient replied, ''I'm taking out the ones I don't like.''
APPLY: None of us likes suffering. Given the choice, we'd ''pick out'' the things we didn't like in this life:
- the hardships
- the suffering
- the pain and loss
- the tragedies and we'd just get rid of them.
Unfortunately - just like man in the dentist's office - we really don't get much of a choice. We don't get to pick and choose. We get what we get.
But the question for today is not… what suffering would we remove from our lives?
But rather: Why does God allow suffering?
I. The first thing to realize in evaluating this question is this:
We live in a fallen world.
We live in a world where
- everything decays
- everything grows old
- everything dies
In Romans 8:18-21 Paul tells us:
''I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was SUBJECTED TO FRUSTRATION, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its BONDAGE TO DECAY and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.''
We live in a decaying world where disease and death are part of the unavoidable ...
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