Well, how can God be good and sovereign over all things and also allow intense personal suffering into people's lives? This is a such an important question really central to some of the things that we do at Desiring God In fact, and it's a question that arrived in the inbox from a young man.

Hello Pastor John My girlfriend is becoming a respiratory therapist and since beginning her training She has interacted with many patients who are brain dead or have no control over their bodies And she has serious questions about where is God in all of this personal suffering? How can if he is sovereign be good by allowing certain people to suffer in this way?

What purposes do they serve in this state? I've spoken to her about these things trying to answer her questions And I will continue to do so for I only desire her to see the Lord's character in all of this But I also wanted to ask you for guidance in answering these questions.

What scripture should I walk her through? What's the best approach to answering her question? I have found it helpful to distinguish between what I call micro reasons for why people suffer and macro reasons for why they're suffering in the world because when it comes to micro reasons like Why this particular suffering?

Why on this particular person? Why at this particular time? Why this particular? intensity, why with these peculiar complications Lord Why in all these particular relationships? Why this particular duration? Etc. When we're talking about those micro reasons, we usually don't have answers The Bible doesn't address the precise particular Situation of each person and that's where a lot of people stop and they just say oh, we don't know why Suffering is a total mystery Instead of saying no, no, no, no, no, no keep reading your Bible when it comes to macro reasons For why there is suffering in the world.

The Bible is rich With helpfulness, it's explicitly intending to be helpful for us at the macro reasons and I have time to go into them all here if People want to see what I mean and what they are Go to desiring God and just type in the search engine Five purposes for suffering and and you'll get a little short summary of what I mean by the macro reasons So what I thought I would do here is just give one perspective That our friend and his girlfriend May not have thought about much that could perhaps Be a fresh insight into dealing with either brain dead people or or people Who are totally unable to help themselves?

We usually look for the purposes of suffering in the effect it has on the sufferer So for example, Paul says three times I pleaded with the Lord about his thorn in the flesh that would leave me but the Lord said my grace is sufficient for you My power is made perfect in weakness.

And so Paul concludes well, okay I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me So so Paul the sufferer Turns his pain into a Christ exalting experience by showing Christ's all-sufficiency in his weakness. That's the way we that's the way I usually think about Trying to come to terms with why I or somebody else might be suffering but what we don't usually look for is God's purpose for our weaknesses in the lives of others in other words could our weaknesses be intended by God our Suffering be intended by God to draw out of others something they wouldn't otherwise have experienced concerning Christ and we don't often take into consideration that There's a whole spectrum of weaknesses ranging from minor personality annoyances Which might call for patience from a husband or a wife or or friends all the way to being?

braindead or being utterly dependent on the goodwill of Others, so let's think about this for a moment. This is very very helpful for me to do this I saw things in pondering this question that I had never seen before in 1st Thessalonians 5 14 Paul says we urge you brothers admonish the idle Encourage the faint-hearted help the weak Be patient with them all now think of it God in his sovereignty Could cause idle saints to be industrious.

He could cause faint-hearted saints to be lion-hearted He could cause weak saints to be strong But instead he tells the leaders of the church that these people are an occasion for their patience At least in the short run, then he doesn't act as if they're going away Some people are just gonna be that their weaknesses draw out of others evidences of God's grace now consider the fact that being utterly unable to feed oneself or care for oneself or Even communicate is at the far end of the spectrum of disabilities That the church is called upon to serve Many churches are awakening not only to the responsibility to serve those with disabilities, but the privilege of Serving them and and the key text may be helpful with regard to those who are all the way at the end of the spectrum of Disability namely the brain dead So I'm thinking of 1st Corinthians 12 21 following which says the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are Responsible and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor and our Unpresentable parts are treated with greater Modesty which are more presentable parts do not require verse 26 if one member suffers All suffer together if one member is honored all rejoice together.

Now, this is amazing when you think about it Paul doesn't say that the weakness and the dishonorableness of these people is to teach them anything The way his own thorn in the flesh was meant to teach him something keep him from being conceited. He says these weak seemingly Dishonorable people whom the world would probably despise or just throw away are Here for you.

They're here for you You are strong They are here for you to show honor to for you to serve for you to care for and show grace toward Service that can never be paid back in this world. Their suffering is not about their sanctification It's about your sanctification Like Jesus said in Luke Luke 14 14 when you give a feast Invite the poor the crippled the lame the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you I mean, how little will you get paid by a brain-dead person?

nothing except You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just Luke 14 14 and here's a remarkable thought about those who seem unable to make any Contribution at all had never never thought about this before I offer it for your consideration. This is first Corinthians 126 Consider your calling brothers Not many of you were wise according to this world standards.

Not many were powerful Not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose What is low and despised? In the world and then this phrase even things that are not What is that?

To bring to nothing things that are so that no human being may boast in the presence of God. Do you think? This is just I'm offering this for you to seriously ponder. Do you think? even things that are not which God chose To shame the things that are to make the strong realize they have a need Do you think even things that are not people so low so despised that they may as well not even be?

Might have a relevance to the brain-dead One last text about the the week for us to reflect on acts 2035 in all things I have shown you That by working hard in this way, we must help the weak in other words our work needs to supply what they can't supply that's the point and Remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give Than to receive in other words the existence of the weak For whom we are to work in ways that they can't is Described by Paul as an occasion for us to be more blessed Because it's more blessed to give to work for the weak than to merely work for ourselves So God's ways are not our ways.

He he has purposes with our weaknesses even Those massive disabilities that leave us unable to do anything for ourselves This is not about sanctifying the helpless in this world. It's about sanctifying the strong That's the whole point of those texts indeed Paul goes so far as to say it's about their joy Not just their patience Because it is more blessed to give than to receive even as we lay down our lives for the weakest of the weak Hmm some really profound connections here in these texts to feed our personal meditation and considerations Why weak and needy people are in our lives is very powerful Pastor John.

Thank you appreciate those texts. Thanks for the question We appreciate those questions coming in to us and thanks for listening to the podcast over at our online home You can explore about twelve hundred now almost thirteen hundred past episodes You can scan a list of our most popular ones read full transcripts even send us a question that you may have of your own Go to Desiring God org forward slash ask Pastor John and while you're thinking of it consider subscribing to the podcast as well We tend to publish three times a week and you can follow us along as we as we publish Well over a dozen emails have arrived in the inbox from listeners who want to better understand Jesus is parable in the first half of Luke 16 Does Jesus celebrate?

Dishonesty, it's a real head scratcher of a text and I'll put it before Pastor John next time I'm your host Tony Reinke and we'll see you next time on Wednesday Exploring Luke chapter 16 verses 1 to 13. We'll see you then