Why did God create pain and suffering?

But by His propitiation at the cost of Himself, of His life and blood, the Son did not restore things as they were in the short day of man's innocency. He saves for the better paradise of heaven, the paradise of God, where nothing can be spoilt or deteriorated; and He left the ruin and the suffering in our present world in order that man might be reminded of his hopeless fall, be brought to feel it, generation after generation, and, by the very feeling of it, be led to turn to the Saviour.

To prove that a God of infinite goodness is not the author of this world in its present state requires no elaborate argumentation, nor does it make any demand upon the least ratiocinative ability. It is everywhere, and in everything, abundantly manifest that a beneficent Creator would not voluntarily give His unoffending creature, whom He has endowed with intelligence, affections, sensitivity, accountability to Himself and to his fellows, into the darkness, the distress, the sufferings, the sorrows, the woes that are the portion of the whole human family.

But why should the creature be found in this unhappy ignorance of his Creator? Why should this world exist at all, with its self-love, its pride, its covetousness, its violence, its cruelty, its corruption? It forces itself upon the thoughtful mind that God, who is all-wise, almighty, omniscient, must have had some marvellous purpose in view when He allowed such a flood-tide of evil to enter His creation, and to sweep over this world of men in the way in which it has done. A benevolent Being—and everywhere do we find traces of His benevolence—would not have allowed His weak creature to be subjected to such a terrible condition of things, without having some wonderful purpose of blessing in view, and which in no other way could have been effectuated.

Thus far we must needs go, then, with the Arminians, and the truth of predestination does not conflict with this in any way. We have here simply to inquire what is, and we can affirm that Omniscient Goodness willed it so to be, from eternity so willed it; did not of course desire or work the evil, but ordained to suffer it, and in this sense that it should be. The mystery of evil being thus suffered we accept, — do not explain, or suppose it possible to be explained. As a fact, we know it is, and know too that God is, and that He is against the evil. Scripture is of course in no wise responsible for it, while it gives us, not an explanation, but such a revelation of God Himself, and in view of it, that we can have perfect faith in Him, and leave it unexplained. The cross has glorified Him in every attribute more wonderfully as to sin than this could raise suspicion; while it demonstrates that not mere power could deal with evil, the victory must be that of goodness, and in suffering.

Thus far we must needs go, then, with the Arminians, and the truth of predestination does not conflict with this in any way. We have here simply to inquire what is, and we can affirm that Omniscient Goodness willed it so to be,- from eternity so willed it; did not of course desire or work the evil, but ordained to suffer it, and in this sense that it should be. The mystery of evil being thus suffered we accept,- do not explain, or suppose it possible to be explained. As a fact, we know it is, and know too that God is, and that He is against the evil. Scripture is of course in no wise responsible for it, while it gives us, not an explanation, but such a revelation of God Himself, and in view of it, that we can have perfect faith in Him, and leave it unexplained. The cross has glorified Him in every attribute more wonderfully as to sin than this could raise suspicion; while it demonstrates that not mere power could deal with evil, the victory must be that of goodness, and in suffering.

Suffering comes to us from different quarters and for various reasons, but that which is testing the greatest number now, and causing the most suffering at this time is the war, and many are asking why it should be? Why, if God is good, should there be any war at all? That is a question that calls for an answer. God is good, ten thousand times ten thousand voices bear witness to His goodness, but the world as such has rejected God, and despised the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that His goodness would lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4) and has chosen to follow Satan, the adversary instead of God. In Eden Adam listened to the voice of Satan and turned his back upon God and by that act of disobedience sin entered into the world and death by sin (Rom. 5:13) and when sin came in, peace spread its wings and flew away. “There is no peace, says the Lord, unto the wicked” (Isa. 48:22). The world has been Satan’s world since that day and “suffering and sweat and tears and blood” are the result, they are part of sin’s foul brood.

But bear in mind that all instruction, which through the grace of God turns to the profit of the individual or community, is in this world; in the next the results will be seen, and these are then eternal and unalterable. Some of God's severest judgments are remarkable not only for divine wisdom in government, but even as containing mercy towards the world. When our first parents fell, we read of no "curse" pronounced on them personally, though we do read, "cursed is the ground for thy sake;" and the very penalties pronounced upon them were morally necessary, and had mercy in them. For example Adam was condemned to toil, and what would men be, what would the world be, without such a necessity? And even as to death, whilst to the Christian it has neither sting nor terror, for "all things are yours'," says the apostle, "whether … the world, or life, or death," etc., yet, even as regards this world, what would the world become, if wicked men lived on in it without dying? So even the penalty of pain in child-bearing is not wholly punitive. There are in fact al ways wise reasons for the course which God's moral government takes, nor does He willingly afflict. We should remember that that government is in view of the whole power of evil, that it has objects and results therefore infinitely beyond our comprehension, and that, even though often and deeply in sorrow, we may well trust the love of Him who has saved us, (but at the cost of the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son,) for the maintenance of His own righteousness.

Whatever laws there may be in the physical universe, one thing is certain, the law of man's relation to his Creator and God was disturbed by his disobedience in Eden . Then there entered into his being and his relations with God what had not been there before. “By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12). “The law of sin and death” (Rom. 8), began then to exercise its inexorable power in the lives of men; they were affected by it spiritually, morally and physically. Tears, death, sorrow, crying and pain (Rev. 21:4) were the result of this invasion of man's life by sin. These things affect him in this life, and after it the judgment. It was to this state of things that the Lord addressed Himself when He came into the world. What had the laws of nature to do with this? The object of His coming was to deliver men from all oppression, to restore the broken relationship with God and to bring them back into full suitability to God, as the Scriptures declare, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Cor. 5:19).

Whatever laws there may be in the physical universe, one thing is certain, the law of man's relation to his Creator and God was disturbed by his disobedience in Eden. Then there entered into his being and his relations with God what had not been there before. "By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom 5:12). "The law of sin and death" (Rom. 8), began then to exercise its inexorable power in the lives of men; they were affected by it spiritually, morally and physically. Tears, death, sorrow, crying and pain (Rev. 21:4) were the result of this invasion of man's life by sin. These things affect him in this life, and after it the judgment. It was to this state of things that the Lord addressed Himself when He came into the world. What had the laws of nature to do with this? The object of His coming was to deliver men from all oppression, to restore the broken relationship with God and to bring them back into full suitability to God, as the Scriptures declare, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them" (2 Cor. 5:19).

We now come to man's fall through disobedience. No sooner had God brought light out of darkness and order out of the chaos, and placed man in the garden of Eden, as the head of the lower creation, when Satan, whose character, ever since his fall, it was to envy all that was good and happy, and try to defile and destroy everything which God had established for blessing — succeeded in instilling into man the same spirit of pride and independence that had caused his own fall, and thus to lead him to disobedience. Thus the first sin entered into the world, by which Adam betrayed himself and the lower creation, over which God had placed him as head, into the hands of the usurper, who thus became in fact, though not by right, "the prince of this world." And not only became Adam an exile from that scene of perfect earthly bliss, to eat in the sweat of his face, in sorrow, all the days of his life of a ground that was cursed for his sake, but by his sin of disobedience he brought in death and judgment, and opened upon the world the flood-gates of sorrow, pain and misery, under which creation groans, subject to vanity for man's sake.