Three General Reasons That God Allows Suffering

Chronic pain and illness can be a devastating form of suffering, made all the more painful because there may be no end in sight. In such cases, it is understandable that someone would ask “Why?” In a prior post, we discussed that it is important to precede the why question with the who question (as in, what is the character of God?). Nevertheless, at some point, the why question will likely come up. There are some general answers to this question that God makes known to us, and we will look at just three of them.

But first, beware ever thinking you have the answer to this question (e.g., “God is allowing ______ so that I will learn ______.”) Incidentally, if you have a friend or loved one with chronic pain or illness, do not suggest this to them. This subtly makes God out to be a riddle that we are supposed to solve. It also limits him (he is usually up to ten thousand things, and we might be aware of two of them). Biblical counselor Mike Emlet says, “We should not confidently assert these are the reasons why a particular person is suffering. Don’t equate the endpoint of suffering (steadfastness, hope) with the inscrutable purposes of God for this particular person’s suffering….we should be more tentative in our assertions, knowing that we are not able to truly penetrate the mystery of God’s will and purposes.” That’s a good word for us. We know why suffering happens in general (i.e., we live in a fallen, broken world because of sin), but we do not always know why a particular person is faced with a particular form of suffering.

Here are three general reasons that God allows us to experience suffering, including the trial of chronic pain and illness:

To magnify the goodness and beauty of God

When we trust God in the midst of suffering, the watching world must come to grips. Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Estes say it this way: “Either [we] are mad [i.e., crazy] or there is a living God behind all [our] pain who is more than a theological axiom.” John Piper and Justin Taylor chime in: “God ordains suffering because…it displays to the world the supremacy of his worth above all treasures.”

This does not mean that only suffering can be an opportunity to make much of God, but it does mean that suffering is an opportunity to make much of God in a way that cannot be easily ignored. Piper and Taylor help us again by saying, “It is true that we should bear testimony to the supremacy of God’s goodness by receiving his good gifts with thanksgiving….[But] what is clear from the New Testament is that suffering with joy, not gratitude in wealth, is the way the worth of Jesus shines most brightly….gratitude for gifts does not prove that the giver is precious. What proves that the giver is precious is the glad-hearted readiness to leave all his gifts to be with him…it will be very hard to bring [non-Christians] to love God from a lifestyle that communicates a love of things.”

Personal growth in godly character

Isn’t it fascinating that even Jesus somehow grew in wisdom via the experience of suffering?! It’s one thing to cognitively know of suffering. It’s quite another to experience it; it shapes you and gives you credibility. This is why we are encouraged to come to Jesus, our great high priest, who is one of us, yet without sin. “Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” (Heb. 2:18) “Even Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (Heb. 5:8) If the Son of God somehow mysteriously learned obedience (wisdom) through suffering, suffering will all the more serve that function for us.

Suffering is also intended to wean us off self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Notice that Job knew God before the suffering hit him, but his intimacy with God was increased after (Job 42:5). In this way, Job’s suffering was a severe mercy. There is a way that suffering reminds us we are not in control that few other things can do. And if my decreasing and Jesus’s increasing can happen in no other way, it is good for God to afflict me. The great pastor John Newton (who also wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace”) said, “[E]verything is needful that [God] sends; nothing can be needful that he withholds….” That is a profound statement worthy of our contemplation.

Suffering also protects us from getting our loves out of order. God is to be the one we love more than anyone or anything else. Suffering often forces us to consider if we are holding something as a means to an end (joy in God), or as an end in itself. If God is our first love, losing anything we value will still hurt (because as we love God, that love will spill over onto other things), but it won’t uproot us. Tim Keller says, “We must respond to suffering not ordinarily by jettisoning those loved things but by turning to God and loving him more, and by putting our roots down deeper into him. You will never truly understand your heart when things are going well. It is only when things go badly that you can see it truly.”

To make us more fit to help others

As we said above, even Jesus somehow grew in empathy for others because of his suffering (Heb. 2:18). His compassion for people was not incidental to his own suffering. Rather, the fact that he suffered is directly tied to his compassion. He cares because he suffered. His suffering equipped and qualified him to be our Savior, the one we can turn to in our sorrow. Once again, if it was necessary for this to happen for Jesus, how much more so will our compassion, patience, endurance, and approachability be somehow directly connected to our own suffering? Second Corinthians 1:4 confirms this— “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others….” The comfort we derive from our Heavenly Father in our troubles is intimately tied to the comfort we are able to offer others. We are following in the footsteps of our Savior, who said, “The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary.” (Isa. 50:4)

This post is the fourth in a series deriving from the “Chronic Pain & Illness” seminar that took place at Rocky Creek in September 2025. If you’d like to receive the PDF note packet and audio version of that seminar, you may email allen@rockycreek.church.