4 Reasons God Allows Suffering (Part 4 of 4)
Part 4: And Why That’s Not the End of the Story
Why does God allow suffering? Why would a good God, a loving God, allow suffering to exist in this world?
This question takes on a whole different (and painful) reality when we are the ones suffering. Doesn’t God care that I’m suffering? Why is He allowing these bad things to happen to me?
Reconciling how a good and loving God could allow such pain in their lives (or someone close) is difficult. Many have walked away from their faith because of the suffering they’ve experienced. And I get that. I’ve been there.
Compounding the pain of suffering are the answers often given by Christians. Far too often well-meaning Christians and misinformed churches simply throw band-aid answers at the question and ignore the pain that the person is going through.
“You just need to believe more. Just pray more. You are suffering due to a lack of faith. God is causing your suffering because ‘______.’”
True followers of Jesus are spared from suffering. And the list goes on.
These answers don’t comfort and often aren’t even true. They just make the suffering worse. Thankfully, the Bible offers a better answer to the question: why does God allow suffering?
Let’s take a closer look at what suffering is and how a good God can allow it to exist.
This post is part of the “God in the Pain” series:
The Difference Between Pain and Suffering
Before we get to the deeper question, it helps to understand the difference between pain and suffering.
All suffering includes pain, but not all pain is suffering. Pain can be a good thing, it’s our body’s way of telling us something is wrong. It can be a warning sign, a protection. But when pain lingers or deepens—physically, emotionally, spiritually—it becomes suffering.
And suffering isn’t always visible. Many people carry hidden pain that never fully heals: abuse, betrayal, grief, loss. The weight of the world crushes them slowly.
And so we ask again: why would God allow this?
What the Bible Says About Suffering
The Bible never ignores suffering—but it also rarely gives us the answers we want. As Philip Yancey put it: “Virtually every passage on suffering in the New Testament deflects the emphasis from cause to response.”
Instead of giving us a full explanation, the Bible gives us a Savior who suffers with us. A God who enters our pain, promises to never leave, and one day will make it all right.
Still, that leaves us wondering… Why does God allow suffering in the first place?
Let’s explore four truths that help us make sense of it.
1. Suffering Exists Because of Free Will
This is foundational.
God created a world where love was possible. But for love to be real, we had to have the ability to choose. And with choice comes the possibility of rebellion.
In Genesis 1, God declares creation “very good.” There was no pain, no disease, no betrayal. But it didn’t stay that way. Humans chose sin. And sin introduced suffering.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.”
We suffer because we live in a broken world filled with broken choices—ours and others’. But God didn’t abandon us. He stepped in to redeem what we broke. Because of love.
2. God Uses Suffering to Refine and Grow Us
Even though God didn’t create suffering, He doesn’t waste it.
Over and over in Scripture, suffering is shown to have a refining effect. It wakes us up. It deepens our faith. It reveals what we’re trusting in.
Romans 5:3–4 says, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Think about Joseph, betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused, imprisoned. But in the end, he was able to say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Or Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament while being beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and eventually executed.
Pain is a terrible teacher. But it is an effective one.
3. Suffering Reminds Us of What Matters Most
Pain has a way of clearing away the distractions.
When life is easy, we forget our need for God. But when things fall apart, we’re forced to confront our limits and turn toward the One who is limitless.
Tim Keller once wrote, “You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”
Suffering pushes us to ask the deeper questions. What are we really living for? What truly lasts?
It’s not that God enjoys watching us suffer. But He will use that pain to re-center our lives on what matters most—His presence, His grace, His eternal promises.
4. Suffering Is Not the End of the Story
This is the hope that anchors our souls. Just because suffering exists now doesn’t mean it always will. The story isn’t finished.
Revelation 21 promises a day when God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”
The cross shows us this: suffering may win for a moment, but resurrection has the final word.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.”
J.R.R. Tolkien called it the “great eucatastrophe”, the sudden, overwhelming reversal of everything broken. The moment when God doesn’t just cancel our suffering, but weaves it into glory.
So What Do We Do With This?
We live in the tension of what is and what will be. We don’t always get answers. But we do get something better: we get God.
He doesn’t promise to remove all suffering now, but He promises to walk with us through it. He suffered for us. And He suffers with us.
And if we let it, suffering can turn us toward Him. It can shape us into the kind of people who don’t waste our pain—but grow through it.
The question “Why does God allow suffering?” may never be answered fully on this side of eternity. But perhaps we don’t need all the answers. We need presence. We need hope. We need to know our pain is not wasted. And through Jesus, that’s exactly what we have.
You are not alone. God is still writing your story. And He hasn’t left the page. So don’t give up.
Don’t believe the lie that this is all for nothing. Don’t assume God has abandoned you. He hasn’t. He is with you. He is working. And one day, He will make it right.
Until then, hold fast. Trust the process. Lean into the pain. And let God write something beautiful you can’t yet see.
Because suffering is never the end of the story. Not when God is the Author.
Want to reflect on this deeper? Download the free 7-day devotional God in the Pain—designed to help you process suffering, walk with Jesus, and discover the hope that holds steady even in the darkest moments.
