“JB unfriended God. After being stuck in this pandemic so long and God hadn’t done enough to stop it, so JB decided to just unfriend Him. After all, friends don’t let friends suffer, do they? JB had given God his Sunday mornings and even an occasional extra day. JB had prayed to stop this mess, but it just kept on. He was tired of staying at home, tired of wearing a mask, tired of keeping his distance, and it had been nearly a year. He just wanted his life back. And it wasn’t just JB, he looked around and saw how many other people were suffering? It certainly looked as if God had “unfriended” JB; he would just return the favor. Fortunately, God never had unfriended JB.”
Why God allows suffering is one of the greatest mysteries and sometimes one of the greatest obstacles for some to overcome. There are no easy answers; I certainly don’t have one. Fortunately, I don’t have to understand everything to trust God. I know that His love was so great that He allowed His own Son to suffer and die for my sin and the sins of the world; I can’t doubt that kind of love. I may not be able to understand, but I can trust that kind of love and that kind of God. I know there are some wonderful explanations about this and I encourage everyone to search those out. For me, this is my starting point: Almighty God is in control, He loves me and has a plan and purpose for my life; I can trust Him.
One of the purposes of my life with Him is that I would be conformed to the image of His Son. While salvation is instantaneous, being conformed takes time. He must continually cut away everything that does not reflect the nature and character of His Son. It is a long and painful process, but the result is a deeper relationship with God and knowing Him in new and more intimates ways. God is more concerned in deepening this relationship than the avoidance of temporary discomfort. So at times, while there is a temptation to believe that God might have “unfriended” me, I know I can go and trust Him. He is our faithful, loving God.
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