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What are you waiting for?
This is one of the questions, most frequently, asked by those who don't believe in God and use it as a "reasonable" justification not to. But the answer is simple. The fault doesn't lie on God, His lack of desire or innability to rid the world of pain in suffering. The fault lies on us.
Most of the suffering in this world need not be, but is brought about by the wickedness of mankind. Mankind could easily rid this world of most of it’s suffering if it were not for our selfishness; our sin. We are allowed by God to continue in our selfishness and sin because of our freewill. God is not a dictator.He will not force us to believe in,love or follow Him. God has given mankind this freedom in order to show mercy and forgiveness to those who will choose to repent. When God created this world it was all “very good”, until sin entered. God’s purpose is to redeem repentant mankind from our sin and to then provide for our eternal welfare. Pain and suffering are allowed to continue because mankind’s freewill continues. Why doesn’t God intervene and take his freewill away? Because, again, God is not a dictator, that would prevent His entire purpose for creation. God’s desire is for us to use our freewill to choose rightly and to be redeemed. There have been times when God has intervened in the sufferings of the world. Many more times than we know, He has brought relief in a supernatural way, or relief by His hand extended through His children. Christians have been His means of demonstrating His concern and His love to a sinful and suffering world.
Non-Christians are't the only ones who suffer. Christians also suffer. Of course, their suffering is very different than the non-Christians. Christians sometimes suffer for doing good (1 Peter 3:17). Persecution and tribulation are a real part of the Christians life as they stay true to the faith (Acts 8:1, 2 Corinthians 12:10, John 16:33). Sickness and affliction also strikes Christians (Philippians 2:25-27, James 5:14). Why does God allow His people, as do lost people, to experience these things? Why doesn’t He intervene? I believe He does, every time. His intervention may not do away with the suffering, but it does bring grace in the form of strength for the situation. Consider the many thousands of Christians who have been tortured for their faith. His grace was with them, even to the point of death. They suffered greatly, but not alone. And none have suffered so greatly as Christ who was beaten,spat on,given a mock coronation with a thornbush crown placed on His head and then suffer an agonizing death on a cross which he hung on for hours. And what makes Jesus' death on the cross the most painful death in history wasn't so much that He died and rose again. Because most people argue that if Jesus was God,what makes his sacrifice so great?He could EASILY endure it and then come back from the dead. So it's really not a sacrifice. But that's not what makes His sacrifice so great. It's that,not only did He suffer PHYSICAL pain. He also took the sins of the world into himself. Which means He suffered through the pain of everything we have ever gone through-sickness,disease,rape,emotional abuse,every kind of pain you can think of, He suffered all at once. That was the only way He could pay for those injustices--to endure them, Himself.Through the suffering of God's faithful followers,His presence was there to sustain them (Romans 8:35-39, Hebrews 11:32-40). The same is true for Christians who suffer sickness, affliction, abuse, or any of the many situation that the world, the flesh or the devil may bring their way. The Lord never said that we would never endure pain or suffering, just the opposite. But He did say that He would never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Also, He invites us to cast all of our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). The Christian suffers much the same as the rest of the world, but he has God’s help.
Recall the account of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). God’s grace was on Lazarus as he lay begging at the rich man’s gate. God didn’t heal him or make him rich, but God did sustain him. Could it be that he was there with purpose? Perchance, to give the rich man an opportunity to respond—to repent of his selfishness. Oh, the many opportunities that have been missed.
