Is Suffering Insufferable?

People who question God’s existence often express their main point of contention as follows: how could an all-loving God permit suffering? And this is almost always followed by tragic examples. Wars. Famine. Cruelty. Sick crimes against defenseless people. And not only atheists and agnostics ask these questions. So do believers. Questions about suffering are very valid and very real.

I would like to take a look at this question from a completely different perspective. The reason is that most often the response to this question includes how God brings good out of bad, that suffering can be transformed into something beneficial. I’m not arguing against that point of view, but I think there is an important element that is often left out.

Imagine for a moment that you are on a cruise ship. Your destination is a place to which you are looking forward to arriving. You will end your cruise in a fabulous resort where you will be able to relax and let the cares of the world fade into the background. And this is permanent. It does not end.

While on this ship, however, you encounter stormy weather, perhaps even a typhoon. You spend half of the journey crouched in your room, praying that the ship doesn’t sink, hoping that you will reach your destination soon. The turbulence gives you nausea. You are unable to eat. The lights go out. You’re in the dark.

But when the ship reaches its destination, and you disembark, all of that is faded, gone. You have before you a wonderful place that you have hoped to visit, filled with all the delights you can imagine.

So the question is…if you knew about the turbulence beforehand, would you have gone ahead with the journey? Is a destination filled with everything that you can possible hope for, a place in which you will remain forever, worth the perilous trip?

If there is no destination of fulfillment (paradise), if this earthly life is all that we have, then yes, suffering is something which detracts from everything we can possibly have. That would mean the grave is all we have to look forward to. The Epicurean idea of the pursuit of pleasure in this world would then make sense, since once life ends, there would be nothingness.

Why then does God permit suffering? Answer – because this world isn’t the end of our story. Suffering is temporary. Since Earth is not our final home, God permits mankind to make all kinds of mistakes and commit all kinds of sins because this tells God what we value in life and what we want our final destination to be. He knows that no matter what suffering we experience, whatever pain others cause us, we will leave all of that behind one day.

No matter how great the suffering of this world is, no matter how tragic the circumstances of a person’s life, no matter how great the loss that a person experiences…the story does not end here. A play which is a tragedy ends when the curtain is closed. So does the suffering of this world.

Take heart, then, in the face of great suffering. God did not spare His only Son this. When we take up the cross to follow Him, we know that the end of the journey is not crucifixion and death, but resurrection and life!