Human beings lament on our current state of being so much that often we ended up in questioning the existence of the Almighty Creator. If there is a God, why would He allow such seemingly "bad" things to happen to us? We tried to justify ourselves like Job, who simply refused to accept his friends' verdicts. I did no wrong to deserve all these. And what about Tom? He is a better guy than me. What such predicament for him? It is simply unfair. Why would God, if He ever exists, allow such calamities to happen? Doesn't He love the world as the Bible states? What has gone wrong?
This is the topic of Pain and Suffering which many people ask, regardless of their religious beliefs. Some people advocate complete escape from pain and suffering, others resort to preventive measures, yet a majority of us choose to ignore this complex issue altogether and resign reluctantly to fate.
What do the teachings of the major world religion taught us? All acknowledges that pain and suffering are ever so real and present in our midst. No one is spared. As mentioned above, some teach on how to avoid them (more so in future), some how to minimize them (a peace of mind), but none except Christianity explains the root cause of pain and suffering.
The Bible teaches that human beings and the world have been agonizing from the very beginning of time since our first ancestors sinned ("We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." ~ Rom 8:22). And everyone is anticipating redemption from such a fallen state ("Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." ~ Rom 8:23).
Indeed, God has provided an effective redemption for all of us. It is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who died and rose on the cross for our sins. Through God's saving grace, our relationship with our Creator has been restored. It is precisely the undaunting faith in this gospel message that instills hope for the future glory and joy when we finally arrive in heaven's gate.
Yet, that does not solve the current problem of pain and suffering. There is another form of grace mentioned in the Bible. It is the prevailing grace of God ("For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ~ Rom 1:20"). Such prevailing grace of God are eloquently discussed in chapters 38 and 39 from the Book of Job. To those who questioned God, He has this to say: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" (~Job 38:4). To those who think they are wise, God probes: "Who endowed the heart with wisdom?" (~ Job 38:36). To pseudo-Nature lovers, God interrogates: "Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?"
The climax of God's prevailing grace would be summed up in these two key verses, "He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished" (Rom 3:25b), explaining that God has left sins committed in the past to go unpunished "so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Rom 8:26b). This is a valid response to those who think that God is unfair to those before Jesus' time. For all who acknowledged their wrongdoings, repented of their sins, and believed in the coming Messiah (or Savior) from the Almighty God will be saved.
O How sweet the prevailing grace
That paves the way for the saving grace
Someone once asked me to define hell. How could I since I have never been there before? But the Bible states that it is definitely an undesirable place of eternal torments and sufferings. And those people continued to question why does a loving God wants to create such a horrible place? True enough, it did occur to me that eternal damnation is not really biblical because Jesus had taught His disciples to forgive their enemies, and to Apostle Peter's question on how many times, He replied seventy-seven times! That form of forgiveness requires a lot of help and trust in God.
Now that I have a better grasp on the prevailing grace of God, the issue on hell can be better read in this light. Hell, in its definition, is a place without any form of God's grace. Yes, the absence of saving grace and prevailing grace. Technically, it is not a place created by God, it is a self-made exile prison where all the rebels chose to be at when they rejected God's grace which was avail and given freely to them. In such a self-centered environment, there can be neither happiness nor joy within the imprisoned cell. And there is no sentence of duration of stay, because these people had renounced their creation rights to live in such a detached place. The Bible further teaches that it is the grace of God that enables people to come to repentance. Without it, human beings are hopelessly lost and incapable of knowing our divine Creator. That is the vicious cycle revolving in the place called hell.
Therefore, the prevailing grace of God in the world has enabled us to know our Creator. It has also sustained the ecological system and made life possible. It has created justice and law in our midst to protect inhabitants. It has remedied and unwound the mistakes that human beings have committed. It has instilled hope and love for the continuation of our offsprings. It is the utmost precious gift from God to His creation.
So now, back to the problem of pain and suffering. With this understanding of the prevailing grace of God, we can perhaps use another theological len to view the issue. Imagine a world without prevailing grace, it would be like a little child without his parents or guardians. It would be like a sick person or wounded chap without any medical assistance. And what is the end-result? They will suffer and pass away tragically. But not so in our world. God's prevailing grace has actually allowed human beings to experience lesser pain and suffering. The fact remained that the actual creation of pain and suffering is by human beings ourselves. If only everyone in this world can make right godly decisions, then the problem of pain and suffering will be minimized or even cease to be in existence. But no, that would not happened at all because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). There will be some people out there trying to create havocs in this world. They are governed by their own greed, pride, self-centeredness, jealousy, and all sorts of other vices. They renounce the presence of final divine judgment and ignore the One who judge. That is the root cause of pain and suffering. People making selfish decisions and hence bad actions that deprive some people of good. Some pain and suffering can even be traced back to a few generations back or more.
Therefore, we need God to come and intervene in our life. We need His saving grace to set things back to normal again. We have heard too many surface explanations which states that God allow such things to happen. However, we must also be reminded that God will not sit back and do nothing. His prevailing grace will prompt remedy actions to be effected swiftly in order to minimize our pain and suffering. A clear example would be the termination of the Tower of Babel. If God did not stop that massive building project, i am quite certain that all human beings would ultimately denied the grace of God and chose to go to hell instead. This is yet another prevailing grace of God.
"Heavenly Father, thank You for Your prevailing and saving grace."
