The God Who Suffers

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’” John 20:27

 

PONDER THIS

I’ve spoken to some Jewish people who say, “I don’t believe in God anymore.” I say, “Why don’t you believe in God?” They say, “Because of the Holocaust. I cannot believe in a God who would allow such suffering.” I’ve seen people, when a loved one is eaten away with some malady, whether it be cancer or some other disease, say, “I just don’t want to have anything to do with God. I don’t believe in God. I can’t understand this matter of suffering.”

Here’s the way the human mind begins to think: “If God is a God of love, and He loves me so much, but He doesn’t do anything to relieve this suffering, then He must not have any power.” Or “If He has the power, but He doesn’t do it, maybe He has no love.” Or maybe they ask another question: “Maybe He doesn’t have any love. Maybe He doesn’t have any power. Maybe there is no God. If there is, why do people suffer?” Well, there’s a bigger question than that. Not why does God allow humans to suffer, but why does God allow Himself to suffer?

Have you ever thought about God as a God who suffers? Have you ever thought about God as One who has pain? How did those scars come into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ? Those nail prints? That scar into His side? Because He willingly suffered in our place. The question is not “Why is there suffering,” but “Why did God take our suffering”?

What is most difficult for you about the reality of suffering?

How are you comforted to remember that God has suffered in your place and on your behalf?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to worship God for paying the price for your sin and suffering in your place.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers