– Part 1
One of the most difficult things for believers to understand and to come to terms with is why our sovereign and all-powerful God would allow suffering to affect our lives, when surely He could prevent it from happening. When things are going well for us, we may not have much interest in what the Bible has to say about suffering affecting our lives.
However when suffering does come upon us, we will bring our troubles to our God and Father in prayer, asking Him why He has allowed these hard and painful things to touch our lives, bringing sorrow and grief. There are insights given to us in the Bible as to why such things are allowed to happen.
In the light of many Old Testament passages, we can see that God promises His blessings for obedience to His commands and punishment for disobedience. Also in the light of numerous New Testament passages,
believers are warned that disobedience to God’s commands will bring His discipline into our lives, which as the writer of Hebrews said, is sorrowful (Hebrews 12:11). With these things in mind it is easy for us to understand that disobedience to God’s commands will bring suffering upon us.
However as we will see from our study of the Scriptures, the matter of suffering touching the lives of believers is more complex than the simple notion that sufferings and trouble come only into the lives of those who have sinned. There are times when God allows various sufferings and hardships to affect our lives, and we will not be able to see any connection between these difficulties and some sin in our lives. And in fact, there may be no connection at all.