Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering why God allowed so much pain into your life?
Maybe you’ve whispered these questions into the silence: Why has God allowed these bad things to happen to me? What have I done to deserve this? Why hasn’t God helped me out of this? Does God even care?
If you’ve ever asked these questions, I want you to know something: You are not alone. These are the cries of a hurting heart, the deep soul questions that so many of us wrestle with when life feels unfair, heavy, and downright unbearable.
And I get it. When you’re in the middle of suffering, when your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling and your heart feels bruised from disappointment, it’s hard to believe that God is still present. But let me remind you – just because we don’t feel God doesn’t mean He isn’t working. Just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean He doesn’t have a purpose.
So, take a deep breath and let’s lean into this question: Where is God when life hurts?
Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?
This is one of the hardest questions to answer. If God is good, if He loves us, why do we suffer?
The truth is, we live in a broken world. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, so did suffering, sickness, and injustice. That wasn’t God’s original design, but He allows us free will, and we experience the consequences of living in a fallen world.
Jesus Himself told us in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Let that sink in. He didn’t say, you might have trouble. He said, you will have trouble. It’s a guarantee. But He also gave us a promise – He has already overcome.
But even knowing this, suffering still hurts. It still makes us question.
Maybe you’re walking through something right now, and you’re struggling to see how anything good could come from it. I want to show you a few ways God can work through our pain, even when we don’t understand.
1. Pain Can Reveal What’s in Our Hearts
Pain has a way of stripping away the surface and exposing what’s really going on inside of us. It’s in the tough seasons that we find out what we really believe about God, about ourselves, and about faith.
Have you ever noticed how, when things are going great, it’s easy to trust God? But when things fall apart, we start questioning everything?
Suffering reveals where our trust really lies. Do we trust God only when He gives us what we want? Or do we trust Him even when we don’t understand His ways?
2. Pain Can Strengthen Our Faith
Faith is like a muscle – it grows when it’s stretched.
James 1:2-4 says: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been excited about trials. I’ve never thought, “Oh wow, I’m suffering! Yay!” But James isn’t saying we have to enjoy our trials. He’s saying we can consider them joy because they have a purpose.
God never wastes pain. He uses it to refine us, strengthen us, and prepare us for what’s ahead.
Think about Joseph. He was betrayed by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. It took years before he saw God’s plan come to pass. But in the end, he was able to say to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
What if your current pain is preparing you for a future blessing?
3. Pain Can Draw Us Closer to God
Let’s be real – when life is comfortable, we don’t always seek God as deeply. But when we’re in pain? That’s when we press in.
Suffering can drive us to the feet of Jesus in a way that nothing else can. Psalm 34:18 tells us: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
God doesn’t run from our pain. He collects every tear. He holds us when we feel like we’re falling apart.
If you’re in a season of pain right now, don’t let it drive you away from God – let it draw you closer.
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
It’s a gut-wrenching question. When life is hard, it’s easy to assume God is punishing us.
But listen – pain is not always a punishment.
In John 9, Jesus’ disciples saw a man who was blind from birth, and they asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Sometimes, our suffering is not about what we’ve done wrong – it’s about what God wants to do through us.
Why Hasn’t God Helped Me Out of This?
If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t He just fix everything right now?
Here are three things to remember:
- God’s timing is different from ours (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
- God is working, even when we can’t see it (Romans 8:28).
- God’s answer isn’t always what we expect (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Paul begged God to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” but in 2 Corinthians 12:9, God said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God’s help doesn’t always look like immediate rescue. Sometimes, it looks like strength to endure.
Does God Even Care?
Maybe this is the real question behind all the others. Does God see me? Does He care?
Yes. A thousand times yes.
- He sees your tears (Psalm 56:8).
- He hears your prayers (1 John 5:14).
- He loves you more than you can imagine (Romans 5:8).
And Jesus knows suffering firsthand. He was betrayed, beaten, and crucified – for us. If He was willing to go through that to save us, do you really think He would abandon you now?
Absolutely not!
Hold Onto Hope
If you’re walking through a painful season, I want you to hear this: God has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned you. He is still writing your story.
Hold onto this promise from Hebrews 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Your pain is not the end of the story. God is still working. Even when you can’t see it. Even when you don’t understand it.
Trust Him. Even in the waiting. Even in the hurting. He is with you. And He is faithful.
