Speaking from experience here: I was born with a genetic blood disorder. I have been hospitalized as many times as I have lost count; I know poverty, rejection, and mental and physical pain. As an unbeliever, I could not understand why God is good and allowed me to suffer that much. So, now as a Christian, how can I justify the justice of God? What kind of Theodicy can I use? How can I say that He is good and all-loving and allow people to suffer?
God allows this so that He may save us from it, because He is a Savior. To understand the role of a rescuer, you must have something to be rescued from. If I were not going through that much trouble, I could not look unto God. It is in the moment of crisis that I realized that I was just a frail, faulty human being, and I was meant to depend on a higher power. In the Book of Isaiah 6, after the death of Uzziah, I could not imagine the crisis the nation was in, as they revered Uzziah as a leader who brought security in Judah by ruling 52 years on the throne. Yet, in that time, Isaiah saw the true King. If everything were going according to my desires, then why would I need God, right? God does allow evil to exist, so he may get his glory by overcoming evil.
When Paul talks to the Romans, in the first Chapter, he addresses the Gentiles; in the second chapter, he addresses the Jews; and in the third chapter, he addresses the sin of all humanity. I like the phrase he used: Our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God. Paul uses the Greco-Roman literature called the diatribe to develop his argument, and also uses this courtroom motif. In Chapter 3, he reaches the climax of his verdict: All have sinned. The Glory of God is demonstrated (synistemi) through our sins and the evil that envelops this world. Jesus Himself said that a man was born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed in him,” not because he or his parents sinned (John 9:3). The word Displayed is phaneroo, which means to bring to light, to reveal, to manifest, to show, or to disclose.
In the book of Job, after Job’s friends, Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad, brought the half-baked theology of Retribution and oversaturated view of total depravity, which was actually Nihilism. They present their case and rule out a wrong verdict that Job had sinned, and that is the sole reason the wrath of God was upon him, yet the Bible is clear from the beginning, “In all of this, Job did not sin.” If sin is not the only reason for evil, why did Job suffer? It was not because of sin that Job suffered, and even he, after seeking the answer from the Most High, was confronted by God. Instead of getting a straightforward answer, God, in the end, replied by displaying His glory through creation. In the end, Job regained all that he had lost. The issue did not start with Job, but the issue of Job suffering began in Heaven with God.
Some theodicy claims that suffering is necessary to form character, which is true. Paul was tormented by an evil spirit; thus, he would not exalt himself and be corrupted. In Romans 5, after explaining justification through faith, he said we would have peace. Yet “peace” for us is cessation of conflict. Yet Jesus said, “In this world you will suffer, but take heed, I have overcome the world.” The peace we get is not a cessation of conflict. In Romans 5, Paul continues naming things that can come after having “peace” with justification.
3 Not only that, but we also glory in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, and hope.
5 And hope does not put us to shame,
because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
We can justify God’s goodness through suffering, as suffering can produce a Christ-like character and make us grow spiritually. Also, through suffering, some wisdom is attained. People learn through difficulty and elongated problems. God always takes people through trials and tribulations, not to kill them, but to refine, teach, and prepare them. God took the Israelites out of Egypt, but he did not promptly put them in Canaan. He made them hungry, made them wander for 40 years, to create a dependency on Him; Also, that was a kind of classroom to take Egypt out of them. Paul went to God and pleaded with Him, begged for that evil spirit to be taken out; he did not do it once, nor twice, but thrice. Yet the answer was “My Grace is enough!” Our suffering brings the Grace of God on the stage of humanity. Our suffering displays the goodness of God and all of his glory. It was due to that, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that the glory of God may be displayed by pouring out his wrath on Egypt.
If I can look back where I was brought from–the rock I was cut, and the quarry that I was dug out–I can truly attest to the goodness of God, not because He prevented all suffering, but He transformed it, redeemed it, and ultimately conquered it in Christ. The cross shows us that God suffers with us, and the resurrection shows us that suffering will not have the final say. I cannot dare to say that my God did not sympathize with me because yes, He did. As the writer of the Hebrews says, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us.”
Ekstrom, Laura W. 2024. “Theodicies (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Stanford.edu. 2024. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theodicies/.