Pull Up a Chair: How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

PULL UP A CHAIR: How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

March 9, 2025

COMMON ASSUMPTIONS:

1. The presence of means the of God.

• We call suffering unjust because we have an ideal of the way things should be, and that ultimate good is .

2. If God is real, He must all of our .

• God doesn’t remove all ; He reveals Himself to those who (Matthew 7:7-8)

3. God can’t be all-, all- AND all-.

• God created everything good; He only permitted the of evil.
• God is unimaginably powerful, and yet He is also by His own . (2 Peter 3:9)
• We need to be cautious about passing on the eternal plans of God. (Isaiah 53:10; Revelation 13:8)

4. If God is loving, He must prevent .

• Romans 5:3-4; Hebrews 4:14-16
• “God’s answer to the problem of suffering is that he right down it” (Peter Kreeft).

CHALLENGES:

1. Recognize that pain is a and part of life.

• James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-4; John 16:33; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

2. Reach out with God’s to others in their .

• “Don’t fail to do just because you can’t do ” (Bob Pierce).