Why Does God Allow His People to Suffer?

In the Bible, God often speaks of blessing his people.

So why does he allow his people to experience suffering and even persecution? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with my friend Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

And this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Well, first up today, a woman in labor had her husband stop on the way to the hospital last week so she could cast her vote. Poll worker Karen Gonzalez said she was processing voter ballots for Orange County, Florida last week. When a man came in with his wife's driver's license, the man said his wife was outside in the car and wanted to cast her vote. He explained she was in labor, but she insisted on voting before going to the hospital.

Elections officials helped the lady turn in her ballot, and they plan to send her baby a onesie that reads first vote. Oh, that's so cool. Wow, she's committed. I love it. It is. That's a person who really believes in our democratic process. Well, let's get to our first question of the day. This is from Hannah, and she says, Hey, Pastor Adriel, recently on the show, you said you do not have the authority as a pastor to bind the consciences of other Christians in regard to politics.

I get that. And I also realize the Bible does not explicitly address lots of everyday life issues. However, what can pastors in the church do to help people live through various aspects in life that are not addressed in the Bible without binding their consciences?

Thanks so much. Thank you, Hannah. I really appreciate this question. And really, the point is saying that pastors can't bind the consciences of people regarding things not outlined in Scripture is supposed to be a safeguard for the church. This was a really big issue during the time of the Reformation, where essentially the medieval church had created a number of extra biblical traditions that they were requiring the faithful to participate in binding their consciences. But there's another danger here, and it's this, and I think you're picking up on it. We also don't want to not address or provide insight regarding the real important and pressing issues of our day. So how do we do this? Well, I think for one, there are some general guiding principles we should cling to as we navigate the issues of today, like what does God's law have to say?

That's first and foremost. This is God's revealed will. And that's something as a pastor that I am obligated to preach and to call God's people to. So when it comes to binding consciences, you know, we're ministers of the word. God's word, his revealed will, his law is what should bind our consciences. But I can't, and I don't want to make extra laws that are not outlined in Scripture to try to bind people's consciences, and that's really, really dangerous, and that's what you see happening at times. And I think it was even happening, you know, just with this whole election season and pastors saying you need to do this or you need to do that.

Well, that's where we have to be really, really careful. Another question we have to ask is, is the issue in question more of a gray area issue? Consider, for example, the controversy over meat sacrificed to idols in the early church. There was a lot of division about it.

You know, no doubt things got heated among Christians who had differences of opinion, but the disciples encouraged maturity and charity. Now, if you're unfamiliar with that debate, and I'm sure many people might be, you know, you had people that were coming to Jesus Christ, abandoning paganism, and in these pagan religions, what you had were these offerings, these meat offerings that were offered to particular idols, and then these meats would be sold in the meat markets. And some Christians said, oh, you can't eat that meat. It's tainted. It's got these demons attached to it. And other Christians said, oh, you know, an idol, those things don't even really exist.

They're not real. There's nothing wrong with eating that meat. And so you had this division, and the disciples, they didn't say, you know, you have to do this or you have to do that, but they did say you need to be mature, growing in our biblical understanding so that our conscience wouldn't be scandalized by something that it didn't need to be scandalized by. And this is where Paul gets into, you know, discussions about the weaker brother and that kind of a thing.

But you don't just need to be mature. You need to be filled with charity or love, bearing with one another, even when there is a difference and wanting to make sure that we're not causing a brother or a sister to stumble. And so what does God's law say?

What does God's law reveal? This is one of the ways we help people, but then also we help them by being able to navigate through some of these more gray area issues and encouraging maturity and charity. And number three, I would say pastors should help us grow in the category of wisdom. Not everything is black and white.

You know, issues are more complex than that. And while sometimes we'd like it to be easier, it isn't always. Wisdom is a gift from God by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and it's the proper application of the truth of Scripture, sometimes in those gray areas. And I think one of the things that pastors are called to do, that I'm called to do, is help people to grow in their understanding of the Bible so that the Spirit of God might work in them, filling them with that wisdom that comes from God that James tells us to pray for. Pray asking God for wisdom, asking with faith, knowing that God will give it to you so that you can rightly apply Scripture to whatever situation it is that you're facing in life.

And so there's this balance that we need to have. We can't bind people's consciences where the Bible hasn't spoken clearly, but we also need to apply the Bible to the issues of today. Not everything is as black and white as we'd like, and so we need wisdom. And hopefully you're in a good church where your pastor is preaching the Word of God and training you up in the Scripture so that you can have that wisdom. And that's what pastors are called to do.

God bless you. You know, Adriel, I'm often impressed with how much wisdom we can find in the book of Proverbs. Things that I think a lot of Christians don't even realize are there that give us some really practical insights on how God would want us to live our lives.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think especially in these days, Proverbs would be a good place for us to camp out. And you think about all the things that Proverbs says related to even how we should speak to each other. You know, the soft answer, turning away wrath, those kinds of things. I think this is really, really important because you look around us today and it seems like one thing that a lot of people are lacking is wisdom.

Here's another thing. You know, sometimes even in the wisdom literature like Proverbs, it can seem very black and white. You know, you do this and this will happen.

You don't do this and that will happen. But the wisdom literature itself is sort of meant to be read in counterpoint because you have books like the book of Proverbs, but then you also have Ecclesiastes in the book of Job, which really emphasized the fact or highlight the fact that, you know, even the godly suffer, right? You read Proverbs and you might walk away thinking, hey, if I just walk with the Lord faithfully, I'm never going to suffer. But then you read the book of Job or the book of Ecclesiastes and you realize, no, wisdom helps us to see things on a case by case basis.

We realize that the world is more complex than we often would like it to be. And that's why we desperately need God's help. We need to be rooted in the scriptures and we need to pray for guidance from the Lord. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Jonathan posted this question on our website. He says, Does Revelation 3-5 teach that we are once saved, always saved? Yeah, and that phrase right there is one that you sometimes hear thrown around in the church. Once saved, always saved.

What does that mean? Well, let's unpack that and look at this text in Revelation chapter three. And of course, this is in the context for those of you who are not familiar with the book of Revelation. The first couple of chapters, particular chapters two and three, are Jesus's words to the various churches there in Asia Minor. The seven churches that he addresses and here in chapter three, he's speaking to the church of Sardis. And he says in verse five, The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. So the question is, does this suggest that those who don't conquer the quote unquote not so victorious Christians, are they going to have God scratch their name out of the book of life?

And then with that, and then this is kind of a crazy thing to think about, but how victorious do you have to be in order to be secure? I mean, what does it mean to conquer, to lead the victorious Christian life? Now, the idea actually of being blotted out of the book of life, it first appears in the book of Exodus, in Exodus chapter 32. I'm turning there right now. You could turn there if you want, but it's Moses speaking. And if you know Exodus 32, you know it's kind of a heavy chapter.

It's where the children of Israel had committed idolatry with the golden calf. And Exodus chapter 32, beginning in verse 30, we read this. The next day, Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord.

Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. So Moses returned to the Lord and said, Alas, this people has sinned a great sin they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written. But the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.

Heavy chapter there. And Moses is acting as the mediator between God and the people of God there. And he's saying, Look, God, forgive them.

If you're not going to forgive them, blot me out. And the Lord says, I blot out those who sin. Now, what's really interesting is you look at the book of Revelation, where it talks on a number of occasions about this book of life. And I think one thing that's absolutely clear that we find as we look at these other texts of scriptures that God doesn't make mistakes. In fact, in chapter 13, verse eight, and in chapter 17, verse eight, both instances where it talks about people whose names are in the book of life, it says that they were written in the book of life from before the foundation of the world. So you get the sense that this isn't just like, you know, this sort of willy nilly thing where people are in and out and in and out. No, their names are there from the foundation of the world. So I think that the emphasis here is not necessarily on people getting their names blotted out, but on the fact that those who conquer will never have their names blotted out. In other words, they're secure.

They have this hope. And then the question becomes, well, how do we know if we're conquerors? What does it mean to conquer? Well, I think John gives us a real clear insight into this in another place.

In the first letter that he wrote in 1 John 5, verse 4, listen to what he said. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Who are those who conquer?

It's those who are born again by the grace of the Holy Spirit, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, as John is going to say later in the book of Revelation. Here's another really interesting thing, not to go on and on, but that word overcome or conquer, it's the Greek word nikao. It means to conquer, to overcome, or to prevail.

It's from the word nike, where we get our word Nike from, Nike the shoe brand. And John, he sort of transforms what it means to conquer and to overcome throughout the book of Revelation. He says Jesus overcame. You see this in Revelation chapter 5, verse 5. He's the ultimate conqueror.

And how did he do it? Through suffering and death. And we overcome by his blood, Revelation chapter 12, verse 11. But actually in the book of Revelation, it even seems to happen in the same way that it happened with Jesus. I mean, the church is being persecuted in the book of Revelation.

The beast overcomes the saints, we're told in Revelation 13, verse 7. They're suffering persecution, and yet through that suffering, they're conquerors. You see, sometimes we think of the victorious Christian life of conquering, Jonathan, and we think it looks like, man, you know, you have everything together. You're perfect, you're victorious over health, you're victorious over your finances, you're victorious over sin, meaning you just don't sin anymore.

Well, that's not the case at all. Sometimes the people of God suffer and suffer intensely. But through that, even through suffering with Jesus our Savior, for the gospel's sake, we are conquerors by faith in Jesus Christ.

And that's the hope that we have. And so I think that the phrase once saved, always saved is not necessarily so helpful. It can kind of communicate to people that it's just a sort of easy believism, you know, you made a commitment to Jesus one day and then you just sort of turned away, you don't go to church, you don't really walk with the Lord, care about God's law.

I mean, there's a real problem with that. There are a lot of people, I think, who are deceived into thinking they're saved simply because they said a prayer at one point in their life or something like that. Now, when we're saved, when we're truly born again, the Spirit of God fills us and begins to work in our hearts, transforming us.

I like to say once we're saved, we're kept by God and He works in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure, as Paul says in Philippians 1. So thank you for that question, and God bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and sometimes we can really start to feel overwhelmed by all the negative things going on in our world. And it can actually lead some people to claim that God doesn't exist.

So how should we respond? Well, here at Core Christianity, we have an excellent resource that provides an answer to this difficult dilemma. Here I was just talking on and on about the book of Revelation and the comfort that Christians are to receive from that book as persecuted believers longing to continue to walk with Jesus. But one of the things that you get also from that book is the great trials and tribulation that the church has experienced throughout the history of the world. And I think a lot of people ask this question, you know, why is the world a mess? Well, we have a four-week study called Why is the World a Mess? It'll take you through the reasons why suffering and evil exist today. But it'll also show you what God has done to deal with suffering and evil. And you can find it on our website, corechristianity.com, and it is free for you when you sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to download Why is the World a Mess? You can also call us for that offer or any one of our offers at this number 833-843-2673. That's 833-The-Core. Let's get to a call that came in, Adriel. This was from Shelby in Texas. Hi, Adriel and Bill.

I just love you guys' broadcast. My question is, the Bible clearly states that we were created as eternal beings. And I'm just wondering, prior to us being born, where was our soul?

I know our soul is in our body when we're born, but if we're eternal beings, then that means we were somewhere always. So, hopefully you can give me some clarity on this. I've thought about this several times over the years, so I look forward to your answer. Thank you again.

God bless you both for the wonderful work that you do. Hey, Shelby, it's good to hear your question. And I'm curious as to maybe what passage you're thinking of when you say that we are eternal beings. God is the one who is eternal, uncreated, the Lord, right? We are creatures, created. We have a beginning, we're finite, and God is the one who created us.

And so, I think there might be a little bit of confusion here. We actually are not eternal souls. The Bible doesn't teach that our souls pre-existed.

And I know that some people have taught this, I think actually that the Mormon Church teaches this, but you really don't find any evidence of that in scripture anywhere. I think of what we read at the very beginning of the book of Genesis, Genesis 2, verse 7. Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. God creates our bodies and our souls. And so there is no pre-existence and there is no eternal soul.

God is the eternal one who created us. I do think sometimes people will go to that passage in Jeremiah chapter 1. Some people say, well, is this an example of the pre-existence of the soul or something like that? And Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5 says this, God speaking to Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations. But that's really not speaking about the eternality of the soul or our souls pre-existing. What that's getting at is the special call that Jeremiah had on his life from even before his birth that God knew exactly what he was going to do with him. And one of the beautiful things that we see in scripture is that God foreknew us even before the foundation of the world. Now that doesn't mean that our souls existed and we had some sort of relationship with God prior to our being created. It's just God as the eternal omniscient one who knows all things and chose to set his love on his people in a particular way from eternity past. He's the one who's acting, but we're finite.

And that, Shelby, is a really, really important distinction for us to grasp. It's what we call the creator-creature distinction. God is uncreated, eternal, holy. He's different than we are. His ways are above our ways.

We can't even comprehend him. We can't know him as he is in his essence because we're finite. Through Jesus, we get to live forever in that joy of being in God's presence.

We're not eternal creatures in the sense that we always existed like God existed. So, thank you for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Adriel, someone posted this on our Instagram account. What is the motivation to live a godly life when we suffer the same persecution as non-believers? Why did God allow suffering for believers? The answer to this question is so well articulated in Psalm 73, and so I just want to read Psalm 73 with this question in mind. What's the motivation to live godly when we suffer? And even worse than non-believers, that's precisely what the psalmist, Asaph, is saying in Psalm 73. So just take a moment and listen to what the psalmist says here. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 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. Pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them, and they say, How can God know? Is there any knowledge with the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease.

They increase in riches. Now listen to what the psalmist said. He's just been reflecting on how the wicked prosper, and listen to what he says now in verse 13. All in vain I have kept my heart clean, and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end. Truly you, God, set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you, but for me it is good to be near God.

I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all of your works. You see, dear friend, this question that you have, what's the motivation to live godly when we suffer the same persecution as non-believers? And even, I mean, in the context of Psalm 73, it's we suffer way worse than non-believers. It seems like Asaph the psalmist is saying that the non-believing, those who reject God, they're fat and happy. They don't get sick. It just seems like everything is going well for them.

They've got all these riches. And then he says, I think about myself, and it just feels like, man, in vain have I sought to follow God every single day. I feel stricken, rebuked every morning. God, what's the deal? By the way, is there any psalm that more clearly refutes that heresy known as the prosperity gospel? Here is the faithful psalmist, Asaph, calling out to the Lord. He's been walking with the Lord, faithful to the Lord, and yet he doesn't have health or riches. Actually, he feels stricken, smitten, and afflicted, as the hymn says.

That's how he feels. And yet, as he meditates upon this and he goes into the temple of God, God gives him an insight. Everything that the wicked have that they put their hope in, one day it's going to disintegrate. As brothers and sisters, we might not have health and wealth. Maybe we do.

Maybe we don't. But here's what we do have, the forgiveness of all of our sins, the nearness of the eternal God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.