First God wants you to know He is real and He loves you very much! God does not want us to suffer. But the sin and evil in this world has caused all kinds of pain, sickness, and suffering. When Jesus, who is God alongside God the Father (Matthew 1:23), came to earth, He showed great compassion for those who were hurting. Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.“
Consider this other passage, when one of Jesus’ friends passed away. “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”” (John 11:32-36).
Jesus came to earth to save us from the sin in our lives and the evil in the world that causes us all pain, suffering and heartache. Jesus also came so that we could conquer death. Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal live. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.“
One of the reasons God has not eradicated evil and stopped Satan completely is answered in 2 Peter 3:9-13, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
This verse shows us God is patient to give His final judgement to the world, because He is patiently waiting for other people in the world to repent and follow Him. God doesn’t want any to face judgement or be destroyed along with Satan and the rest of those who practice evil. Therefore we endure a “light momentary affliction” (2 Corinthians 4:17) as we wait to receive God’s promise of eternal life for those who repent and follow him.
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