Question: “How do you say God loves and cares about everyone, if some people suffer while others prosper?”
It is interesting that this question, apparently an argument against the existence of a loving, in-control God, acknowledges a sense of injustice, of outrage at inexplicable suffering.
Why?
Why should this be felt without an absolute, objective Judge in this realm? You cannot be outraged at suffering, pain, and injustice (any more than you would be outraged at good health, happiness, and justice) if they, per a creator-less, evolution-driven universe, are all mere byproducts of the meaningless, chaotic thing called life, which stumbled onto its own existence and which lacks any inherent moral standards or purpose.
This question presupposes an ideal of justice and an aversion to lack of meaning and pain, yet these cannot be logically derived from a meaningless world. At its core, this is an attack on God’s presumed attitude toward suffering based on an incorrect set of assumptions regarding its inception and continued existence.
Assumption 1 – God is the cause of all suffering
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 5:12
Some variants of this question posit God as a cruel despot who causes every evil on this planet and delights in the suffering of his creation. However, Genesis shows that suffering is the side effect of sin wilfully brought into the world by Adam and Eve – despite God not wanting it for them and warning them about the consequences. Even today, it’s evident that a lot of suffering can be directly attributed of people’s misguided/sinful actions (for instance, health complications as the result of overeating for a decade, broken marriages as the result of cheating, etc.). Additionally, people bring suffering upon others due to their sinful actions (abusive parents, traffickers, etc.).
And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jeremiah 19:5
God Himself is aghast at the extent of sin and suffering we bring upon ourselves and each other!
As human beings with God-given free will, many of us voluntarily choose sin and thus are to blame for the suffering it eventually brings.
Assumption 2 – Suffering is meaningless & shows God’s lack of love.
Alternatively, the question could be depicting God as NOT holding the reins on suffering, painting Him a laissez-faire ruler who couldn’t be bothered with the cancer that is suffering wreaking havoc on his creation. Scripture, however shows that God is fully aware of suffering and uses it to achieve multiple purposes (Genesis 50:20).
Some suffering is God’s punishment for wrongdoing, for both those who repent and those who don’t: Pharaoh suffered through many plagues (yet did not obey God and hardened his heart against Him) while David suffered from the consequences of his sins against Uriah (yet did repent and achieve reconciliation with the Lord).
Other times, suffering can happen without wrongdoing but is allowed by God to achieve greater objectives than what is immediately seen – see Job, Joseph, Esther, Christ, martyrs throughout the world, etc. Does this mean God doesn’t love the ones who suffer innocently, that for them pain is proof of God’s oversight? Not at all! In fact, His children, those who accept God’s love for them through Christ (John 3:16, 16:27, Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:1, 4:9-10,16) are specifically told that they WILL suffer in this world (2 Timothy 3:12). To suffer without doing wrong is not a sign of God’s punishment – rather, it could be a character-strengthening test, as in the case of Job, or something that the Lord uses to impact others.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for
those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope Romans 5:3-4For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:17But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no
fear of them, nor be troubled… 1 Peter 3:14
The promise – there WILL be good coming out of suffering as a child of God.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper? (Jeremiah 12:1)
The inverse of the suffering question is the prosperity question – why does God allow those who aren’t deserving to prosper? Again, the answer the Bible provides to this is that prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God’s favor, but can just indicate God’s forbearance with the unrepentant, up to a point.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just
and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also
reap…And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if
we do not give up. Galatians 6:7,9The sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous. Proverbs 13:22
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth. Psalms 37:7-10
Assumption 3: Suffering of the innocent is a permanent state:
Wrongs will be righted, injustice will be rectified, and all evil will be forever destroyed – this is what we as divinely-created humans yearn for, and this is what Scripture promises. There will be an end to all the suffering, pain, ugliness, confusion and decay that we see, and our trials will bear eternal fruit.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4
Why does the Lord put up with the suffering and ugliness of this world? The only reason suffering currently endures is because of God’s loving patience. How so?
Because He can end all suffering, injustice, pain and decay in the blink of an eye, but to do so would require an end to all sin in the universe – including ours. And if we’re still caught up in our sin when this happens, we’d have no hope. God, in his forbearance, is allowing you and I time and opportunity to repent of our actions and turn to Him – He is not going to stand for the suffering of the innocent for long.
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God
and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had.been. Revelation 6:9-11
Our God suffered too!
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:3,4
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many
sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through
suffering. Hebrews 2:10
Our Lord, wanting us to be reconciled with Him, came down to this plane of suffering, AND TOOK ALL OUR SUFFERING UPON HIMSELF, that we may know the utter bliss of a perfect existence with Him! How can we claim God to be unfeeling and cruel when He, out of His great love and desire to be with us, voluntarily bore that which He did not have to bear?
This question is not a new one – even the writers of the books of the Bible were grieved at the apparent injustice and meaninglessness of the dispersion of suffering and prosperity.
There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to
whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked
people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. Ecclesiastes 8:14
For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For
they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in
trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Psalm 73:1-28
However, knowing that we struggle with this, the Lord has indicated multiple times in Scripture the cause, purpose and entire life cycle of suffering, and encourages us to look ahead to when He will put an end to it once and for all. Ultimately, whether the reason behind our current pain is clear or not, per the Bible we can be assured that suffering is not a meaningless effect of an unthinking universe that we should live in dread of, but a symptom of a fallen world, kept for a while to open our hearts to Christ’s great gift of perfect life for us.