Why is there so much suffering in the world? Satan's Cycle of Pain VersusGod's Cycle of Comfort Part 2 of 2

Satan's Cycle of Pain

In my last blog, I wrote about Satan’s cycle of pain.  It is a very simple cycle, yet sadistically brilliant.  Something in life causes us to suffer.  The pain can be physical such as an injury, emotional such as the sadness we feel when something depressing occurs, or spiritual such as when we have been victims of physical or sexual abuse.  That is when the devil and his forces step in with their lies, lies that point us in any direction but God for relief.  So we turn to addictive drugs, drunkenness, gluttony, porn, prostitution, revenge, cruelty, meanness, masochism, worldly obsessions and who knows what else to make ourselves feel better, or at least to keep ourselves from feeling worse.  The problem is that these forms of relief are not only temporary, but they actually lead to more pain, thus creating the cycle, except now our level of suffering has actually increased along with the need for stronger forms of relief.

The good news is that God of Jesus Christ, our Creator, has a much different cycle, one that is also simple to understand, yet beautifully brilliant.  I call it “God’s cycle of comfort.”   While Satan’s cycle was forged out of the fires of his hate for us, God’s cycle was conceived out of a deep, passionate love for His creation.



God's Cycle of Comfort

 Ironically enough God’s cycle begins in the exact same place – with pain.  It doesn’t matter what kind of pain it is, any form of suffering will do.  The big difference here is that God points us to truth, truth that can either relieve us of the pain or at least give us the inner strength to deal with it in a positive way.   This truth also sheds light on the lies of the Enemy, thus increasing our disdain for evil over time, instead of disdain for God.
Let me give you some examples. 

In God's cycle of comfort,
our hate for evil increases over time.

Perhaps I am filled with bitterness because I have been betrayed by a spouse, a friend, a coworker, or a classmate.  Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ”  Now if I embrace this truth, what will I do?  Forgive the person who did me wrong.  What happens to my bitterness when I forgive?  It is transformed into inner peace.  What happens to my view on bitterness and holding grudges?  I see the havoc that it wreaked, the evil fruit that it bore in my life, and it begins to sicken me.

But as I said earlier not all truth relieves us of the pain we feel.  Instead it simply gives us the strength to endure it, to persevere through it.  There is absolutely no better example of this than Jesus Himself.


Jesus was God’s Son.  He had the power to do anything.  The winds and the sea obeyed His command (Matthew 8:23-27).  He fed thousands on more than one occasion starting with enough food for just a handful of people (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:29-39).  The Divine Dude walked on water for crying out loud (Matthew 14:22-36)!

Yet when Jesus was being crucified, He didn’t save Himself.  His own murderers were mocking Him and basically “triple-dog daring” Jesus to save Himself (side bar: I hate Satan’s ways).  Yet instead of responding with “Oh yeah!  I’ll show you!”, He stayed there until it literally killed Him.

This begs the question: How in the world did He do it???  How did He maintain such unbelievable self-control in such a high-pain, high-stress situation?

Well, the writer of Hebrews tells us exactly how – Jesus embraced truth.  This is Hebrews 12:1-3:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [of people who had faith in God], let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." [emphasis added]

What truth did Jesus embrace?  There was a joy that was coming, a joy that made the cross worth enduring.  By trusting the truth, Jesus found the inner strength He needed in the midst of His suffering to stay the course, and die to take the punishment for our sins.

Now this is where the beauty of God’s cycle of comfort rises to a whole nother level (nother really is a word, isn’t it?)  You see, if it ends with relieve of suffering, there is no cycle.  But God out of His passionate love for mankind doesn't want us to just sit there and stare at this incredible gift of relief from pain and strength to endure pain.  Instead, He wants us to share the gift!

In 2nd Corinthians 1:3-7 Paul writes, saying, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."

What does God want us to do?  Take the comfort we’ve been given and comfort others who are in similar situations!  How do we do that?  We point people to the same truths that helped / are helping us!  What happens when they embrace that truth?  They find true relief and then they go out and comfort others in similar situations!   That is beauty!  That is love!  And that's just one reason as to why our God is so awesome!

“Oh yeah!  If God were so loving, there would be no need for this cycle because He wouldn’t allow us to feel the pain and suffering in the first place!”  Look.  I am hearing you.  And such a large point of contention deserves another blog for another day, but in the meantime please let me give you my "Cliff’s notes" on this matter.

First major point:  How can I learn mercy in an environment where nobody needs it?  How can I learn compassion in a world where no one suffers?  How can I learn forgiveness if I live with perfect people who never make mistakes?  How can I learn to trust when doubt is never an option?  How can I learn the beauty of God’s ways in a world where the ugliness of Satan’s ways are not possible?  As I look at my life, I know have needed my trials, tears, sweat and suffering to see and understand God’s love for good and hate for evil.

Second major point:  A world without the pain and suffering of which you speak is exactly where God is taking us!  Let me please share with you truth of a coming joy, along with a warning, that can give you strength to persevere if you are following Jesus now or the inspiration to hop off of Satan’s cycle of insanity if you are not.

The following is Revelations 21:1-8.  This was a vision given to John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, of where God is going with all this so-to-speak. 

“Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth', for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.' He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."



My Third Major Point.
Hey!  What good is a blog if
you can't throw some humor into it?

I have had to deal with a lot of inner pain in my life.  Pain from failures and mistakes, pain from disappointments, pain from unrealistic expectations, pain from my clumsiness (can you say "Size 15 feet, boys and girls?"), pain from wherever.  In the end though I know that my pain is a drop in the bucket compared to what so many in life go through.  Still, what I have been trying to say in these two blogs can be summarized this way:  In the midst of my pain, Satan and his forces have tried to destroy me out of a hatred for me and my loved ones.  God and His forces have tried to help me and make me a better person out of their love for me and my loved ones.  It is the same for you, the same for us all.  Choose this day whom you will serve.

In all this you may have come away with the impression that God is calloused toward suffering, that God has a "It's good for you, so get over it" attitude when it comes to our pain.  The reality is quite the opposite of this, a reality I hope to write about in my next blog.

Thank you for reading!!!