Faith Like A Mustard Seed

We all know that God allows suffering. He does. Everyone goes through suffering at some point in there life, some more than others. The thing is; we act as if suffering is just something that happens to us out of nowhere.

It all started way back when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. They had choices to make back then, and almost every choice was an excellent one; should I have pineapple today or Mango? Should I take a swim in the river or not? Should I take a ride on that Giraffe? Now, maybe those aren’t the exact choices that they had to make, but you can imagine that they had some pretty amazing choices to make from day to day.

There was one thing though that God told them they could not choose; fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. One bad choice in all of the Garden, and guess what; they made that choice. Satan, the one who deceives the whole world, tempted Eve to eat of that tree, and she did, and then Adam also ate of it. From that point on mankind became imperfect, turning from God mankind chose to do what should not be done. God then sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden with some consequences to bear:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. -Genesis 3:16&17

God sent them out so that they would not be able to eat of the Tree of Life also, and live forever. Why did God do that, did He want them to die? No, God didn’t want them to die, but in their present state they were imperfect and separated from God. If they were to eat of the Tree of Life in such a state, they would live in an imperfect world forever separated by God. The suffering would now be passed down from generation to generation leaving no one immune for no one could be perfect, that is, apart from Jesus Christ, whom God would later send to redeem this fallen world, not from suffering of course, but from sin and death.

So that’s it? We suffer because of Adam and Eve’s choices?

That is what started it all, but it never has stopped because mankind continues to make awful choices. The whole Bible records the bad choices that mankind has made throughout history, and it continues today. Mankind believes the lies of the enemy and constantly turns from the Creator God. Mankind constantly makes bad choices that lead to suffering of all sorts. God loves each of us unconditionally no matter what choices we make, but His love is not a pampering love. God’s love is a perfecting love. Sometimes when we go through suffering it’s for our own good, whether it is something that God wants us to learn, or the result of certain choices that we have made in our daily lives.

But what about the children who suffer?

This is a difficult one for people to grasp because no one wants to see a child suffering. Here’s the thing though; we can do something! It’s true! We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this fallen world. He wants to use us for His glory and His great purposes. God loves His children, He said that the kingdom of God belongs to them. We can help children who are suffering through various ways; World Vision, International Justice Mission, other non-profit organizations, we can pray, we can give of our time and finances, we can spread the word, etc… We can do all sorts of things to put an end to some kinds of suffering around the world. It starts with each individual. If you’re so concerned about it, if it really bothers you that much, then get to work; you can do something. You can make a difference.

I’d also like to inform you about another kind of suffering; suffering for the sake of following Christ.

There are many followers of Christ around the world, even today, who are suffering just because they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. They did nothing worthy of imprisonment, yet they are Christians, so they went to prison. It doesn’t stop there, many of these believers are beaten and tortured day and night because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes their persecutors and jailers tell them that they can go free if they would just deny that Jesus Christ is Lord. Many of the Christians just can’t do that because it wouldn’t be the truth. People don’t understand this, but suffering for Christ in this way is something they feel like they must do if it is for God’s glory and greater good. I get a lot of information about our persecuted brothers and sisters from the Voice of the Martyrs ministry. You can get a free copy of Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. He spent many years in prison for His faith, and that is what the book is mainly about. Some of it was hard to read, but it was truly an inspiring read. Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world as they suffer in chains for their faith in our Lord.

Finally, we must look at one specific suffering, that being the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. He gave up His rightful place in heaven, and came to earth in the form of a man, and He did suffer, make no mistake. He suffered before the cross, He suffered on the cross, and He suffered after the cross before being raised on the third day. He was beaten before even going to the cross, a beating that could have killed other men. He was nailed to the cross, and felt the separation from a holy God while the burden of our sins was placed on Him, a separation that He had never had to go through before, and it was all for us. He really did suffer, and He knew that it was all going to happen. At any point He could have let go of the burden, He could have called down angels from heaven to destroy the earth, but that was not the point. He suffered, and it was for you, and for me. If you need to wonder about suffering, shouldn’t it be about His suffering?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? -Romans 8:32

Jesus indeed died for you and for me with much suffering. He died so that we might be reconciled to a holy God. He took our judgment which was death, and restored our relationship to God forever. Jesus paid it all in our place. Have you accepted His payment? No one else can answer for you, no one else can make your decision for you. Jesus paid the price for our sins, will you accept it? Ask forgiveness for the things that you have done that you know are wrong, tell Him that you turn from those things now, accept His forgiveness and payment for your sins, and thank Him for what He has done.

Praise be to God for His accomplishment through Jesus Christ our Lord! Only He is awesome.

Dave Earley
Faith Like A Mustard Seed
Bible Study Forum