Why God allows Struggle?
Why God allows struggles to happen?
So why does God allow suffering? Why does he allow bad things to happen in the world?
First, and foremost let me humbly admit that there's no way I can know exactly what God is thinking. He is omniscient and therefore knows everything. He knows the things of the past, the things of the present, and the things of tomorrow. However, I have a couple of guesses as to why he allows suffering in this world.
God knows what we don't know. It we start to try to process and understand everything that God knows, our little minds would begin to explore. He knows what's happening in the remote regions of Timbuktu, in the research facilities in Antarctica, and at your family cookout, all of the same time. We don't even have the capacity to remember as much as God knows. For example, what was the 10th food that you have every eaten or tried in your life. What did you have for dinner 407 days ago. What is your great great great great grandmother's middle name? You see, as humans, we like to think that we are pretty smart. However, the limited capacity of our brains makes it such that we can't even begin to comprehend all of the what's and whys of this world. So even though we may look at suffering and be like, how in the world can God allow this, just remember, that he knows something that you can't even begin to try to understand. Think about it, if a 3 year old wants a cookie, they might through a fit the entire time that your in the store. To them, that cookie is their world, and the world is ending if they don't have it. However, you as an adult may have additional knowledge that the 3 year old doesn't understand. For example. you know if they eat the cookie, they won't want to eat dinner. You may be trying to teach healthier habits. Or maybe the cookie fell in a pile of dog poop. Either way, that 3 year old throws a fit because things aren't going according to their plan. As the adult, you really just want them to trust you, because you have their best interest in heart. Everything is going to be okay. The next day that child forgets all about that cookie and is on to the next thing. However, for that moment that cookie was that child's life. Sometimes we go through things in life, and for a 3 year old, it might be a day. For us, it might be a year. For others it might be 10 years. God realizes that what you are going through is only lasting a blink in time. He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to know that He has your best interest in heart and in mind. He wants you to know that everything is going to be okay.
The World is not permanent. God grants us a set amount of time to live in this earth because we enter eternity either with Him in heaven, or away from Him in hell. Although, we think 80 years to live is a long time, the reality is that 80 years is only a bling in the eyes of someone who has lived for eternity. God knows that the goal of your life is to end up in eternity in Heaven with Him.
Free Will opens us up to so much. God really wanted man to have free will. He already had angels that worshipped Him daily. But we were created in His image and in His likeliness. So we are even more special to Him. He wants us to choose Him on our own accord. He didn't want drones. He wants us to choose Him through the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, in sickness and in health. Hmmm...It's interesting how we can say these things in our vows, but we can't commit to it to the one that deserves it the most, our Creator. Making a Choice to follow God is a big part of salvation. You have to choose to have faith. You have to choose to do God's will and not the will of others.
Sin = Death. People like to blame God, because its easy to blame the big guy. But don't forget, to have an up you must also have a down. Where there is white, there is also black. Where there is goodness there is also sin. Where does sin come from? Well it comes from the devil. What is the result of sin? The answer is death, and not just physical death, but death to a lot of things. When you let a toxic person into your life, you experience the death of your peace. When billionaire are greedy and destroy land so that they can make it a profit, it leads to death of the environment. When we are angry and say mean things, it can lead to death of a relationship. When we sin and do evil things, then Satan gets glory. When we obey God, then God gets glory and we open our lives to move blessings. The tricky part is that sometimes Satan can pretend to give you a blessing, and in reality it is really just corrupting you more. So you really have to ask yourself, is this blessing coming from God, or is it a guise by the devil. Don't forget, the devil knows how to deceive you with beauty, vanity, greed, money, and with your own desires. Satan was once a beautiful angel named Lucifer. But when he rebelled against God, one third of God's angels that rebelled against Him with Lucifer were cast out of heaven. There only goal now is to keep people from going to heaven. Why? Because he knows that God loves His people, and he wants to hurt God as much as he can by taking God's people to Hell. God can easily stop this all, but He really wants humans to have the opportunity to have free will and with their free will to choose them. But since we have free will, Satan uses sin, suffering, and sometimes even desire to try his best to turn us from God. Just look at the life of Job. Satan took everything from Job (his health, his family, and his wealth. Why? Because he wanted to prove to God that Job didn't truly love God, Job just loved the things that God provided for him. Unlikely how we are today, Job didn't curse God and turn away from God. Instead Job continued to worship God. In the end, God rewarded Job with multiple of everything that Satan had taken. Job didn't know that his blessings would multiply if he made it through these tests; he just knew to continue to trust God in everything. Job even questioned God to be like, "Hey, what's going on? Why are all these bad things happening to me." God responded by asking Job, where was he when the world was being created. In other words, we can't begin to understand God's ways. In reality, it was Satan attacking Job, and God giving the opportunity for Job to use his free will to either deny God or to continue to trust God. Unfortunately, we don't past this test a lot of the times. So some of us may never get to see God's reward to us for remaining faithful to Him even in trying times. For some of us, if we remain faithful, God will reward you right here on Earth. For others, you may not see your reward on Earth; but trust, you will see it Heaven. In other words, you will be rewarded eternally.
John 16: 33 - Jesus says:
"These things I have spoken unto you, than in me ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (King James Version)
"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world." [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.] (The Message)
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." (New Living Translation)
Job Chapter 1 - Job Chapter 42
Things to Remember: Takeaways
God is always in control.
We may not understand God's will, but we don't have to.
Following God's will is going to lead to life and blessings.
Not following God's will always ends in death. Don't be distracted by the brief sense of enjoyment and security. Satan's goal is to trick you into believing sin is fun, so that you continue to do more of it.