All of us are affected by evil and suffering. It is a thorny issue, both philosophically and experientially.
Almost without exception, people who seek out counsel (either formally or informally) seek it because they are going through trouble of some sort.
One typical human response to suffering that can be seen in counselling is the desire to know why a particular thing happened; why God allowed it to happen in the first place. Yet, frustratingly, God doesn’t seem to be all that interested in answering our ‘why’ questions. Whilst there are many general Biblical answers to the ‘why’ of suffering, God rarely provides context-specific answers for it in the Bible; instead He seems to prefer to explain what He is doing with suffering, and how He is helping His people through it.
I suspect that one reason that God is reluctant to answer ‘why’ questions is that they tend to become accusative. They make humans authoritative and place the responsibility upon God to explain himself. As the supreme, all-wise, loving, ruler of the universe, God has no need to answer our questions; He has His reasons and [whether we know what they are or not] they will be good reasons. He is the most rational and sane being in the universe.
One example of God taking this approach can be found in the story of Gideon’s call in Judges 6:11-14. Gideon is busy threshing wheat in a winepress (an unusual place to thresh wheat) when the angel of the Lord appears. The angel initiates a conversation with Gideon – who replies by questioning the apparent inactivity of God in the midst of their troubles (raiding Midianites). Gideon struggled to see God in the troubles that he and his people were facing. God appeared to be doing nothing, yet that was only the appearance and not the reality. The story that follows in Judges 6, documents a number of miraculous events that reassure Gideon that God really is involved and actively working in the midst of his troubles. There are many people who, like Gideon, struggle to see God’s activity in the midst of their troubles. Some of these reach the point of doubting the existence of God because of His apparent absence and lack of activity on their behalf.
There are at least three things that suffering can potentially do to people: it can isolate them from God, it can hide God from their view, and it can warp their view of His character.
Long-term trouble is little like being ground down in a pestle and mortar. It can grind you down until you see God as a mean, detached, arbitrary being who is uninvolved in your life and enjoys watching you suffer. But this is not an accurate view of the character of God. He is caring, strong, concerned, sensible and intimately involved in our lives (Matthew 10:29). Whilst suffering people find it difficult to bring God close (because He did not prevent the harmful thing from happening) it is critical that they do - so that they can access the help that He offers. For people to bring God close in their troubles, they will need to see and discover how He is already involved in their suffering, and how He is working to help them even when they can’t see it.
God is always at work (John 5:17), and He is always up to something good, even if we can’t see it.
God give us eyes to see it.