Message Minute (Why Does Suffering Bother Us So Much?)

"Give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." - 1 Peter 3:15

Have you ever wondered why suffering bothers us so deeply? Think about it—we live in the most advanced era in human history, yet we're more troubled by pain than any generation before us. Our ancestors expected hardship, but we get upset when our Wi-Fi goes down!

Here's something fascinating: if we're just evolved animals, why does injustice make us so angry? A gazelle doesn't have an existential crisis when a lion attacks. Animals don't question the meaning of suffering. But we do—something deep inside screams that children shouldn't die of cancer, that evil shouldn't exist.

This outrage actually points to something profound. We're made in God's image, which means we have a built-in sense that things aren't the way they're supposed to be. As Tim Keller put it, "The reason we are so troubled by suffering is because we know intuitively that this is not the way things should be."

Other worldviews struggle with this. Atheism can't explain why suffering feels morally wrong if there's no ultimate standard of good and evil. Eastern religions call suffering an illusion. But Christianity does something different—it gives us a God who doesn't just observe our pain from heaven, but enters into it with us.

The cross validates our outrage at suffering while promising its ultimate defeat. When Jesus cried, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" He entered the deepest human experience of abandonment. Only Christianity offers a suffering God who truly understands.

Reflection Question: What suffering in your life or the world around you makes you most angry? How might knowing that God shares that anger change your perspective?

Prayer: God, thank You that my anger at injustice reflects Your heart. Help me trust that You understand my pain because You've experienced it too. Amen.