Rev. David Holwick X I Believe in God, But...
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 16, 2017
2 Samuel 12:13-23
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW LITTLE KIDS TO SUFFER?
I. The biggest stumbling block.
A. Every parent's nightmare.
David had it all - his strong army had subdued all his enemies.
His control over his country was complete.
He had several wives who were committed to him, and many
children.
This child was different.
He was the product of an adulterous affair.
David had thought he had gotten away with it, but the prophet
Nathan had exposed him.
He not only rebuked him for his sin, but announced a sentence
on him - there would be turmoil in his family from this
point on, and the child would die.
Sure enough, the baby became sick.
In spite of the prophet's declaration, David prayed and fasted
and abased himself before God.
Any of you would do the same thing.
For one week David tormented himself.
And then the child died.
The servants were afraid to tell him, but he figured it out.
Instead of doing something drastic, he washed and worshipped.
He ate a regular meal.
Apparently the servants had expected him to take his life, but
David simply tells them, the child is dead and there is
nothing I can do about it.
I will go to him, but he will not return to me.
You can take it two ways:
He could be saying the child died, and so will I someday.
This is fatalism.
Or he could be saying, I will be reunited with him in heaven.
This would be faith.
He might have asked, why did the child die instead of me?
David deserved it, and seems to have anticipated it (v. 13).
But the prophet lets David off the hook.
That is hard for us.
The death of an innocent child doesn't seem fair.
Especially when the parent is so utterly guilty.
Under God's good heaven, why do kids have to suffer?
B. This question has perplexed Einstein and schoolchildren.
1) I posed it to people I met this week.
2) One was an engineer who attends a church with his family.
a) He said it was the biggest stumbling block to his faith.
b) How can a good God allow babies to suffer?
c) Because of this one question he was inclined to think
God does not actually exist.
1> Because if he did, he would do something about
suffering.
C. It is a dilemma found throughout the Bible.
1) The prophets and psalmists often ask, why?
2) Jesus himself has a view on it, though you may not like
his answer.
3) I am sure you have asked it yourself.
a) Sometimes it is posed as a philosophical issue, more
of an intellectual exercise.
b) Often, it arises out of intense personal experience.
1> Someone in your family suffers and you become
angry at God.
2> Of course, there is always someone suffering in
other people's families, but that doesn't
register as strongly with us.
3> God is not unfair until he is unfair to US.
D. What do you do with it?
1) Every Christian should consider this critical dilemma.
2) We believe in a loving God, and an all-powerful one.
3) How do we square this with the realities of life?
II. Evil and suffering exist.
A. They are not figments of our imagination.
1) (Buddhism and some Christian sects take this approach.)
2) Most of us know that suffering is real, and hard to square
with a loving and all-powerful God.
3) The philosopher Gottfried Leibniz coined the word "theodicy"
to describe it.
a) Some resolve the tension by saying God lacks power.
1> There are things he cannot or will not do.
b) Others say God has the power, but he is not good.
1> Disappointed believers sometimes feel this way.
B. Christians believe suffering is the result of our freedom.
1) God loved us enough to give us the freedom to make bad
choices, and we suffer because of them.
2) Not only do we suffer, but others can suffer because of
our sin.
3) And a great deal of suffering is not due to the bad
choices of an individual, but because our world is
broken due to our rebellion against God.
III. Skeptics don't accept our answers.
A. Some of our explanations do ring hollow.
1) After the 9-11 attacks, many asked where God was.
2) One email writer responded, God was busy saving people.
a) The planes were only one-quarter full and the towers
had less than half their capacity of people.
b) God held up the buildings long enough for two-thirds
of the workers to escape. #16592
3) In other words, it could have been much worse.
a) But if God can hold up the buildings so two-thirds
can escape, why not hold a little longer so all can?
b) We crave explanations that make sense of tragedies,
but God has not chosen to give us these answers.
B. Tragedy often triggers an emotional response.
Dr. Harold O.J. Brown tells of a 21-year-old woman who was
admitted to a hospital with stomach pain.
Twenty-four hours later she was dead of a highly unusual
infection.
Her parents had never shown much evidence of faith, attending
church only at Christmas and Easter or for weddings and
funerals.
After her death, they were bitter.
They said, "We can't believe in God. No good God could ever
permit this to happen."
#25060
1) Even though they have rejected God, they are showing at
least an intuitive awareness of him.
2) If there is no God and no divine purpose to life, the
sudden death of a young woman would not be the least
bit surprising.
C. But consider the logic.
1) If there is no God, what is the explanation for their
daughter's death?
a) There is no purpose or meaning in it, just blind chance.
b) Whatever happens, simply happens. So why get upset?
2) The fact that they, and millions like them, get upset shows
at least an intuitive awareness of God.
a) In our innermost thoughts we do not really believe the
universe if blind.
1> We sense there really is a God, a Creator.
b) There is something else in our innermost thoughts - we
think we are decent and deserving.
1> When bad things happen, we blame God for not
treating us fairly.
2> But are we that decent? King David wasn't.
IV. Jesus himself was asked why bad things happen to good people.
A. A tower had collapsed and killed a bunch of people.
1) Jesus said they were not worse sinners than anyone else.
2) He doesn't say why these people suffered this way - but
he adds, "Unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Luke 13:4-5
a) Apparently we are in no position to ask God why terrible
things happen.
b) We are only to seek God's forgiveness for ourselves.
#19775
B. I don't think it is up to us to explain tragedy.
1) It involves too much mystery, too many factors that are
hidden from us.
a) We should not offer explanations when God has not
revealed an explanation.
b) Don't be flippant, but ponder the pain that is out
there.
c) Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel noted, what we say
about God we must be able to say over the darkest
pits of life. #26107
2) Instead, we should focus on healing it, and precluding it.
a) Have empathy for those who suffer. "Mourn with those
who mourn," Paul says in Romans 12:15.
b) Assist them through the pain they are enduring.
c) Don't explain, or judge - just care.
3) One person I questioned this week understood this.
a) She said she doesn't know why kids suffer, but she
wants to do something positive in response.
b) As Paul says in Romans 12:21,
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good."
V. Our final victory waits for the end.
A. It is OK to ask why.
1) All of us want to know the reasons and motivations
behind life's occurrences.
2) Some preachers say Christians should never question God.
a) To them, it shows a lack of faith.
b) But even Jesus asked why, when he was hanging on the
cross.
B. This side of heaven, we will not get all our answers.
1) We can only trust that God is greater than any tragedy,
and know that he loves us.
2) That is why he sent Jesus, to fix the cause of this
broken world.
a) He is the only one who can bring life out of death.
b) Do you believe in him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#16592 “At Wedgwood, God Was 'Exactly Where He Was' When Jesus Died On
the Cross,” by Jeff Robinson, Baptist Press (with Crosswalk.com);
<http://www.baptistpress.org/>, July 26, 2000.
#19775 “Where Was God?: Reflections On God's Goodness and Terrorism,” by
Charles Colson, BreakPoint Commentary, Prison Fellowship
Ministries, September 18, 2001.
#25060 “The Problem of Evil,” by Dr. Harold O. J. Brown, Moody Magazine,
entered June 30, 2003; <original link is dead; magazine has
ceased publication>.
#26107 “Holy Ground,” by Jill Carattini, A Slice of Infinity:
Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; November 19, 2003;
<http://rzim.org/a-slice-of-infinity/>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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