What roles do natural disasters, tragic accidents, plagues like COVID-19, and other human sufferings play in God’s will or plan?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
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Scripture offers no single, simple solution to this question. Consider these oft-heard answers, open your Bible, and see how they stack up against the Word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Human suffering demonstrates God\u2019s wrath and punishment for sin.<\/b> Scripture tells that God has sent, or permitted, disease and disaster to fall upon people because of their rebellion against Him. Cases in point:\u00a0Noah’s flood, destruction\u00a0of Sodom and Gomorrah, death of David and Bathsheba’s firstborn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These examples do <\/span>not\u00a0<\/span><\/i>prove that\u00a0<\/span>all\u00a0<\/span><\/i>human tragedy and suffering can be traced to God’s wrath or to specific human sins.\u00a0Jesus made this clear in Luke 13:1-5.\u00a0Much or most human suffering appears random and defies easy human explanations. Sin and suffering do have a generic link in Scripture, to be sure. But according to Christ, it\u2019s not our place to say that anyone’s suffering is because of this or that particular sin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Suffering comes to test our faith.<\/b> Job’s suffering is a familiar example of this. Another is the insufferable, or unbearable, order for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Whatever pain or loss God’s people experience, they can be assured that it comes with the knowledge and consent of a loving God who is touched with our pain and who promises that all things work for good to them that love Him and are called to His purpose (Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:28).\u00a0If you believe this when the virus hits\u00a0<\/span>you<\/span><\/i>, you pass the test \u2014 whether you live or die!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Natural disasters, pandemics, and plagues are signs of Christ\u2019s return. <\/b>We should be cautious here.\u00a0On one hand, Jesus told us to watch for His coming and the end of the age.\u00a0On the other hand, most “signs” He gave (famines, wars, earthquakes, pestilences, etc.) have happened in every age. “These are the beginning of sorrows,” He said in Mark 13, “but the end is not yet. . . . But of that day and hour no one knows” of Christ’s return by watching the signs (vv. 7, 8, 32, 33).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Life\u2019s trouble and suffering are intended to refine and build character.<\/b> Peter says so at the beginning and end of his first epistle (1 Peter 1:6, 7; 5:10, 11). Paul and James agree that trials and tribulations produce patience and other fruit toward perfection (Romans 5:3; James 1:2-4). It is said of Jesus that He \u201clearned obedience\u201d by what He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). How much more do His followers have to learn from the same school of suffering, painful though it be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These Bible narratives and verses provide a multi-pronged answer to the question, and there is still more to learn on this topic. Let us rest confident that we\u2019ll \u201cknow more about it [and] understand why . . . farther along,\u201d when all things become plain in the light of God’s eternal glory in Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Trust and obey, and bear up on the way of the cross \u2014 the Jesus way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014 Elder Calvin Burrell<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Have a question you’d like answered? Submit it here:<\/strong><\/p>\n [contact-form-7 id=”23927″ title=”Submit a Question”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What roles do natural disasters, tragic accidents, plagues like COVID-19, and other human sufferings play in God’s will or plan?\u00a0 Scripture offers no single, simple solution to this question. Consider these oft-heard answers, open your Bible, and see how they stack up against the Word.\u00a0 Human suffering demonstrates God\u2019s wrath and punishment for sin. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":25848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1036,4],"tags":[215,919,233,808,884,176,138],"yoast_head":"\n