Pastor Ryan of Palm Valley Church: There are some questions that can never be fully answered. This is one of them.
There is no reason or logic that we, as humans, can discern for sick children.
There is not an answer of which we are aware, as humans, that will make us feel better about sick children.
There is not a simple Bible verse for us to quote, as humans, that explains the suffering of sick children.
All I know is that the world as it exists today, was not God’s original intent. Our world is corrupted.
When God created the universe, He said that it was “good.” But God’s standard of “good” is much higher than my standard of good–and certainly higher than my kids’ standard of good, specifically when it applies to how clean their rooms are! In other words, when God finished creating the universe, it was PERFECT.
The purpose of creation was singular: To bring God glory. The last act of creation was when God made man. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a very special distinction: They were created in His image. God had a personal relationship with Adam and Eve. The scriptures say that God came down and walked and talked with them in the garden that He created for them. Now, we must not mistake this intimate relationship for a peer one. God was the creator, and they were His creation. To demonstrate this, God gave them a rule, a boundary. He was in charge, and they were not. The rule revolved around a tree at the center of the garden called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were commanded to never eat from this tree. They were guaranteed certain death should they defy the command.
Those were very clear expectations. ALL but ONE thing was in bounds: Enjoy the garden, enjoy creation, enjoy our time together, but if you choose to disobey me by eating from this tree, you will die. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
Even if you have never heard this story before, you probably know where it’s headed based on the dramatic presentation. Well, Satan entered the garden and tempted Adam and Eve with a lie. He said that they would NOT die if they ate from the tree, but that they would become like God, knowing everything. Then, Adam and Eve gave in to temptation and ate the fruit from the tree. Adam and Eve broke God’s rule and, because of this, sin entered into the world. This broken rule tarnished the relationship between God and man. God is perfect and Holy and cannot associate with sin. Man chose sin over God. Man rebelled. The consequence was death, not only a physical death that would now be the curse of all creation, but also a death deeper than that—a spiritual one, a separation from God.
What is important to understand here is the direction of the rebellion. Man didn’t sin and cause God to punish him by separating Himself. To the contrary, man chose to separate from God by choosing death. When we watch the news, we often wonder how a good God could allow such evil to happen. The truth is, God didn’t, we did: Man chose sin and death over a good and loving God.
Sin corrupted everything. From the relationship between God and man to the way the earth produced food, everything was now tainted. Difficult. Broken. Painful.
Does this give us a good, comforting reason why innocent children get sick and die? No.
Were you hoping for a verse like, “God works all things together for good?” Probably.
I am not saying He doesn’t. In fact, I have seen incredibly beautiful endings to tragic and horrible stories. But what we need to wrestle with and try not to explain away is the fact that bad things happen that we cannot control and that we didn’t necessarily cause because the world is simply broken.
The story of man would be a very short one if it were not for one thing: God’s love. Man rejected God but, because of God’s love for man, He made a promise and gave us hope. As Adam and Eve were leaving the garden, God promised to conquer death. There was no timeline given. There was not an immediate remedy or description of what this would look like. There was only hope.
This promise is found in the curse God delivers to the serpent, Satan:
“And I will cause hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15
Christmas is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise. God chose to conquer death by sending the Savior down to earth to pay the penalty for man’s sin and conquer death. In the first chapters of Genesis, we don’t know the fullness of what God is promising, however, we have a promise that Eve’s offspring will one day defeat the serpent. As we travel through the scriptures, we see God unfold this plan with clearer, more focused promises as well as messages to His people through the prophets about what to look for.
Jennifer: While I appreciate all of this response, the closest thing to an answer for an unanswerable question and, in my opinion, the best part came within the first few paragraphs: “The purpose of creation was singular: To bring God glory.” The universe was designed to bring God glory. We were designed to bring God glory. All things that God creates are designed to bring Him glory. While the last word I would use to refer to suffering children is “glorious,” it really is all about God’s glory, even the crappy stuff.
Some years ago, I lost an incredibly faith-filled friend to a chronic and debilitating illness. Through his suffering, he really helped me understand this idea. His sentiment was that he would do everything he could to use his illness to bring God glory. He prayed for a miraculous recovery, as did we all, but he knew that it might not happen and that, if it didn’t, the reason would be to bring God glory beyond what healing him could. He even chose to be grateful to God for entrusting him with such a challenge to endure. I hated it all at the time and still do (I’m tearful as I write this and remember), but it’s the only way I can wrap my head around such things as suffering children and the early demise of strong Christians.
I don’t understand it all. I know that I never will. But I accept it through faith…faith in God and his processes, however much I may disagree or hurt because of them. Because believing in God and his methods just makes more sense than any other explanation of things.
