Reasons for suffering

 19 Aug 25

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Life Application Study Bible Devotion


Reasons for suffering

A common belief in Jewish culture was that calamity or suffering was the result of some great sin. But Christ used this man's suffering to teach about faith and to glorify God. We live in a fallen world where good behavior is not always rewarded and bad behavior not always punished. Therefore, innocent people sometimes suffer. If God took suffering away whenever we asked, we would follow him for comfort and convenience, not out of love and devotion. Regardless of the reasons for our suffering, Jesus has the power to help us deal with it. When you suffer from a disease, tragedy, or disability, try not to ask, "Why did this happen to me?" or "What did I do wrong?" Instead, ask God to give you strength for the trial and a clearer perspective on what is happening.


“His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”John‬ ‭9‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Reflections

It may be super natural to think that all sufferings arise from sin. This is more of a world thinking I feel because the world believes in karma. Karma says what goes up must come down and everything goes in circles. After some digging, I found that karma stems from buddhism and hinduism. 


However this is not so for Christianity. There are no cycles of life. We live and die only once, after which is where we face judgement and that’s the end. However, what we do have is sowing and reaping. The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:8-9, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” You may think this is similar to what the world believes but there is still some difference. The blessings that we receive is not from our works but from the death of Christ on the cross. He redeemed it all for us so we can all receive. He never say that we can earn it by doing good deeds.


I may not be able to explain why He allows suffering but looking back in my own life, the so-called sufferings that I experienced are life hard lessons that I had to go through. So I wouldn’t really call it suffering but more like a level-up experience. And of course at that point in time, I wouldn’t have believed if you told me those were necessary. Like how could I? But He has indeed charted our paths in such a way that even in times of “suffering”, we can find joy in it. So yes, praise the Lord!

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