If God removed every storm, you’d never learn to walk on water.
You don’t have to look far. Every news headline shouts it: war, disasters, injustice, innocent people suffering, children dying. And every time, someone asks: “How can God allow this?”
At first glance, it’s a fair question. But if you’re asking because you genuinely want to understand, not just to dismiss God, there’s an answer.
Putting God in the dock?
Most people picture themselves as the judge, ready to put God on trial. “If there’s a God, why doesn’t He stop the suffering?” “Why doesn’t He step in?”
But let’s be honest, if God were small enough to fit in our courtroom and stand trial under human logic, He wouldn’t be God. A God who answers to us wouldn’t be holy, sovereign, or all-powerful. It’s not God in the dock, it’s us and one day, we’ll stand before Him.
The broken world we created
The Bible is painfully clear: God created the world good, man rebelled, and with that rebellion, sin, suffering, death, and injustice entered. It was us that opened the floodgates.
This is a fallen world, a place where sin reigns, where evil has real power, and where God’s order has been rejected. So, should we be surprised that horror exists? God did not wreck the world, it’s us, from the beginning.
Why doesn’t God fix it right now?
God isn’t some cosmic nursemaid, paid to tidy up the mess we made or have made, but He hasn’t abandoned us either. Instead of forcing control, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ who entered the brokenness and chaos of this world. He died, He rose, and He opened the door to something new, a kingdom not built on human power but on grace, truth, and transformation.
And one day, when time runs out, He will wipe away every tear and make all things new.
Until then, what’s the purpose of suffering?
For every believer of Jesus Christ, suffering is more than chaos, it’s a call. Every disaster, every personal tragedy, every headline is a warning and an invitation.
Repent. Turn back. Realign your life before it’s too late.
Jesus Himself said it plainly: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:5) God’s warnings aren’t random, they are appeals to a world that keeps rejecting Him.
Can we understand God’s ways?
No.
If we could, He wouldn’t be God, we’re like children trying to grasp a vast, intricate design, only seeing the underside, threads tangled, patterns hidden. Behold, one day, we’ll see the full picture, but until then, He gives enough light for the next step.
What about personal tragedy?
It’s one thing to question suffering in the world, it’s a whole other story when suffering hits you, when you lose someone, health gets out of hand, you lose everything suddenly or when your life shatters in pieces.
In such situations, we are quick to ask “why me?” but even then, we must press on and ask, what is God teaching me through it? Better to be broken and saved than to stay whole and lost.
1 Question for You
Let suffering draw you closer to God, don’t stay angry at Him, don’t turn away from Him, even at your weakest, even when the pain is more than you can bare, even then, let suffering draw you closer to Him, even then let the question be “What is God trying to say to me through this?”