Daniel Unlocked #4. A Planet in Rebellion Continued.
The Bible is a chronical of what sin and rebellion has done to our world. The death, misery, suffering, starvation, wars, natural disasters and so forth are the fruit of the tree that lucifer has planted here. Daniel, the most apocalyptic book in the Old Testament, outlines the history of that conflict as it has affected the people of God for the last 2600 years.
There is another story in the Bible which helps us to understand the great battle we are involved in between good and evil. In the first two chapters of Job, we see how satan seeks to destroy Job’s faith in God by attacking his livestock, his business, his servants, and his children. Finally, satan even attacks Job’s health. Despite all this, Job remains faithful to God, (Job 1:22; 13:15) and reminds us that when trials and tragedy come, we are better to draw nearer to God rather than push Him away.
In answer to the question, ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world?’ the Bible provides at least three responses. Firstly, because of sin, we live in a broken world. Our world doesn’t operate the way God originally planned it. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 9:11 that ‘time and chance happen to everyone.’ So, like Job you may be the most faithful believer in the world and tragedy can still strike in a moment. Secondly, we have an active adversary, satan, who ‘goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,’ (1Peter 5:8). The story in Job is great testimony to this fact. Thirdly, there is suffering in the world because of human selfishness.
We don’t like to admit it, but much of the world’s misery is man-made.
While we want God to eradicate evil, we don’t want Him to eradicate us. God loves human beings, but He doesn’t always love what we do. God wants us to let Him into our lives so that He can deal with the sin problem we all have. In the New Testament Peter reminds us that God, ‘is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,’ (2Peter 3:9).
Notice in that last verse that God is ‘longsuffering.’ God suffers too. In fact, when we consider the cross and the suffering that Christ endured before it as well, we recognise that both the Father and the Son suffered together. Jesus bore the sins of the whole world on the cross, and in that sense has experienced suffering on a deeper level than anyone before or since. The prophet Isaiah reminds us that, ‘the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all,’ (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus suffered separation from God so that we don’t have to. God has done, is doing, and will do, everything He can to ensure you and I get to heaven, a place where sin, suffering and pain are no more, (Revelation 21:4). Through Jesus, God demonstrated His great love for us. The question for us is do we love Him? Do we trust Him?
God asks us to put our faith in Him so that He can ultimately put an end to suffering in our lives and bring in everlasting peace.