Why, God, Why?

“Why, God, why? The pain is more than I can bear!”

Almost everyone has asked the question about why we suffer. But is there an answer to this heartfelt question? Many well-known people from the Bible have even asked the question, including Jonah and King David. Perhaps the Bible also has the answer. Let us examine where the Scriptures take us on our journey toward an answer to this ageless question.

Starting at the beginning, Genesis (Bereshit in Hebrew) chapter 1 describes an all-powerful God who made the heavens and earth. He also created the animals, plants, and humankind, declaring all He had made to be good! “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

The first humans, Adam and Eve, lived a tranquil life in the garden of Eden. God gave them only one restriction: not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). However, though His command was simple, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree. This initial act of disobedience to God is at the heart of what causes human suffering and death. These parents of all humanity were exiled from the garden of Eden, cut off from the tree of life, began aging, and eventually died.

History compounds the effects of this first act of disobedience. Throughout the millennia, various types of evil—including war, famine, slavery, and every form of abuse—resulted from the corruption of humanity, which God initially created as very good. Today, when humankind continues to follow a path of disobedience toward God, what follows are personal and societal ills, which may be part of the answer to the question, “Why are we suffering?”

The Bible reveals the root cause of all our suffering and its inevitability. However, it also tells us how to benefit from what we will invariably encounter during our lives. Nobody is exempt from it, not even those we consider righteous and just. Job was a man in the Hebrew Scriptures who was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:1) yet suffered tremendously! Suffering is part of life, yet there is a way to persevere through suffering to enhance and bring deeper meaning to our lives.

Joseph and the Benefits of Suffering 

Many stories and historical accounts in the Bible are helpful in our search to find the meaning and purpose of life amid suffering. We believe the account in the Torah about Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, to be a true story filled with profound truths for those willing to reflect upon them.

You may remember the story of Joseph from Hebrew school, Sunday school, or elsewhere. Joseph’s eleven brothers were jealous of him, threw him into a pit to die, and then decided to sell him to Egyptian traders for twenty shekels of silver. They lied to their father, Jacob, saying wild animals killed Joseph. Their treachery caused intense suffering for Joseph, for Joseph’s full brother, Benjamin, and for their father.

Joseph suffered, and as the story unfolds, we learn he suffered unjustly. Yet, God used Joseph’s suffering for a greater good. How often have you looked to heaven or a close friend or family member with tears, asking what you may have done to deserve the pain and anguish of suffering?

Joseph was taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. Joseph refused to dishonor his master by giving in to the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife and ran from her instead. Enraged by the rejection, Potiphar’s wife falsely charged Joseph with assault. As a result, he was thrown in jail (Genesis 39). Joseph did not know God would use his suffering to relieve the suffering of a nation.  

Suffering usually brings us to a very dark place where we are afflicted by acute agony; all we can think about is relieving the pain. Although we are often unable to see God’s purposes amid suffering, we might be able to see God’s hand of mercy in the aftermath.  Joseph did not realize the good brought about by his trials until many years after the pit and jail time. Although we may not recognize it right away, God allows our perseverance through difficult circumstances—generally brought on by bad human choices, like those of Joseph’s brothers and Potiphar’s wife—to be a great source of encouragement for others.

Following two years in prison, Joseph was elevated to second-in-command to Pharoah after successfully interpreting Pharoah’s dreams, which predicted seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine. As second-in-command, Joseph ordered the stockpiling of food during the years of prosperity to prepare for the years of famine. When the famine arrived, Joseph controlled food distribution for those in need, eventually including his brothers from Canaan (Israel)! God used Joseph to save the lives of his people!

An Encounter with His Brothers

Joseph’s brothers came to him, asking for food to feed their families during the famine. At first, they did not recognize him. Once Joseph revealed his identity, the brothers were shocked. Joseph forgave them for selling him to the slave traders and provided them with enough food to feed their families.

If it were not for Joseph, the nation of Israel and countless other families would have starved to death. Joseph proclaimed to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive”(Genesis 50:20). God used Joseph’s terrible suffering to save not only His chosen people Israel but many nations too!

A Portrait of the Suffering Messiah

As is often the case, what happens in the Tanakh—the Hebrew Scriptures—may be a prophetic portrait of the life and experience of the Messiah. Jesus (Yeshua, in Hebrew) lived a life serving others, providing physical and spiritual nourishment for those who were hungry and in great need. His own Jewish brothers and sisters broadly did not recognize him as the Messiah. Yeshua suffered betrayal by a close companion for thirty pieces of silver and experienced an excruciating death, which atoned for the sins of the Jewish people and the rest of the world.

The Hebrew prophet Isaiah described the Messiah’s difficult death, in which he takes the world’s sin upon himself and brings healing to the world:

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4–5)

God raised Yeshua from the dead, demonstrating to all who would see through the eyes of faith Yeshua is our Messiah, Savior, and Redeemer. By trusting in him and believing in the promises he made, just as Abraham trusted in the Lord and he was viewed as righteous, we receive the gift of forgiveness and everlasting life. The Jewish apostle Paul put it together for us when he wrote, “He made Him [Yeshua] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Meaning and Purpose 
in Everyday Suffering

But what about the suffering we face in our lives, even for those who become followers of Messiah Yeshua? Again, Paul wrote, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Amid our sufferings—even through our sufferings—God brings good to those who love Him. While we will not always understand His ways or timing, we can trust in His goodness and power as Joseph did.

The story of Joseph and the resurrection of Yeshua illustrate how God can transform evil and suffering into a tool of blessing. Just as Joseph’s sufferings led to the preservation of the people of Israel, Yeshua’s suffering led to eternal preservation for all who believe in Him.