Problem of Pain

The problem of pain is an article about a questionable issue.  This article is based on the idea that God must not be all-good or all-powerful if He lets people be inflicted with pain.  To further explain it, people say that God cannot be good if He lets evil and pain flourish in the earth, and if he was all-powerful, He would take the pain away.

 

One quote that I really liked from what we listened to in class was, “We regard God as a pilot regards his parachute.  He knows its there, but he hopes that he’ll never have to use it.”  I think this applies very well to the whole human race because so often we forget about God when everything is going well.  We so often only go to Him for help when we are in pain. 

 

I also liked how he talked about the story of Job.  The devil had to ask permission of God in order to tempt and torture Job.  This is a great reminder of how God is always there watching over us.  He will always be there for us.  When we are in pain, God knows, and Satan cannot do anything without the knowledge of God.

 

We must remember that sometimes God brings sorrow and pain upon us for our own good.  Only our Creator knows what is best for His children.  An example of this is Paul.  He prayed three times for God to take the “thorn” out of his side.  We don’t know what this “thorn” was, but we do know that God chose not to take it from him for Paul’s own good.

 

Romans 8:28, “ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love Him, to them that are called according to His purpose.”  God uses pain for the good of His people.  When everything is going right, we forget about him and we develop self-pride.  Pain reminds us of our sin and the fact that we need Christ.

We need pain to remain low and humble.  God is infinitely wise concerning what is best for us.