Welcome, Family

Last week, we talked about believing before seeing—how Noah built for 120 years without evidence. This week, we're addressing the question that makes people stop believing altogether.

"If God is good, why does He allow suffering?"

You've asked it. Your friends have asked it. Maybe a little boy died and you couldn't reconcile a loving God with that kind of pain. Maybe a tower fell and you wondered why innocent people were crushed. Maybe you're looking at your own life—the job you lost, the relationship that ended, the dream that died—and you're asking God, "Where were You?"

Here's what you need to know: The question is valid. And Christianity is the only worldview that actually answers it.

Not with philosophy. Not with platitudes. But with a God who bled.

This week: the house built on rock, the tower that fell, and why Christianity is the only religion where God doesn't just explain suffering—He enters it.

🍞 This Week's Bread

• ⏳ The Sign: Why Americans Are Asking the Suffering Question

• 📖 The Word: Two Houses, One Storm (Matthew 7:24-27)

• 🌍 The Witness: The Only God Who Stepped Into Suffering

• 🔥 The Work: The Foundation Audit

• ⚡ Midweek Power: Wednesday Prayer

_{⏳ THE SIGN}
Why Americans Are Asking the Suffering Question

Most Americans say they've spent time in the past year thinking about big questions like the meaning of life and why bad things happen to people.

But here's the disconnect: Most Americans blame random chance for human suffering, while relatively few believers blame God or voice doubts about God's existence for this reason.

Translation: People are asking the question, but they're not asking Christians for the answer.

Why? Because they assume we don't have one. They think we'll say "God works in mysterious ways" or "Everything happens for a reason" or some other religious cliché that doesn't actually address the pain.

But here's what they don't know: Christianity is the only worldview that takes suffering seriously enough to put God in it.

Every other religion has an explanation:

• Islam: Allah is sovereign and distant. Submit to His will.

• Buddhism: Suffering is an illusion. Escape it through enlightenment.

• Hinduism: Karma explains it. You're paying for past sins.

• Atheism: Random chance. There's no meaning. Deal with it.

But Christianity? Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God.

That's not a weakness. That's the whole point.

📖 _{THE WORD}
Two Houses, One Storm

Notice what Jesus doesn't say.

He doesn't say the wise man avoids the storm. He doesn't say faith protects you from rain, floods, or wind.

Both houses experience the exact same storm.

The rain descends on both. The floods come to both. The winds beat upon both.

The difference isn't the storm. It's the foundation.

The Rock vs. The Sand

The rock is Christ's teachings—His words, His character, His truth. The sand is everything else: your feelings, your logic, other people's opinions, cultural trends, self-help philosophies.

When suffering comes (and Jesus says when, not if), the foundation determines whether you stand or collapse.

Here's the principle: Suffering doesn't create your foundation. It reveals it.

The Question Nobody Asks

But this parable raises a harder question: Why does the storm come at all?

If God is good and powerful, why does He allow the rain to descend, the floods to rise, the winds to beat? Why does the little boy die? Why does the tower fall?

Jesus addresses this directly in two other passages—and His answer will shock you.

_{🌍 THE WITNESS}
The Only God Who Stepped Into Suffering

Story 1: The Man Born Blind (John 9:1-3, KJV)

The disciples see a man born blind and ask Jesus, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

They assume suffering is always punishment. Someone sinned, so someone suffered. That's the transactional logic of every other religion.

But Jesus says neither the man nor his parents sinned: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

Translation: Suffering is not always about sin. Sometimes it's about glory.

Story 2: The Tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-5, KJV)

People tell Jesus about a tragedy—Pilate killed Galileans while they were worshiping. They're asking the same question: "Were they worse sinners than everyone else?"

Jesus says no. Then He brings up another tragedy: A tower in Siloam fell and killed eighteen people. Were they worse sinners? No.

Jesus makes three things clear:

1. Suffering is NOT proportional to sinfulness

2. Tragedy is NOT always God's judgment

3. Bad things don't happen only to bad people

Jesus refuses to give a neat philosophical answer. Instead, He redirects them: "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Translation: Stop trying to explain their suffering and deal with your sin.

The Answer Only Christianity Can Give

Every worldview has a theory about suffering. But Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God.

In Christianity, suffering finds comfort in knowing that God himself entered our pain—not just that a perfect human showed us how to suffer well, but that God became flesh and bled.

God the Son took on everything that makes us human, including a human mind and soul, and experienced the whole range of human emotion—and though He never sinned, He suffered and died.

When you ask "Where was God when the little boy died?" the answer is: On the cross. Dying for that little boy.

Through the redemptive suffering of Christ, in which He took all human evils on Himself, God has done everything necessary to defeat evil.

He didn't create suffering. But He stepped into it. He absorbed it. He conquered it.

And that's the foundation that holds when the storm comes.

🔥 _{THE WORK}
The Foundation Audit

Time to check your foundation. Grab your journal.

1. The Storm Inventory
What "storm" are you currently in? What rain, flood, or wind is beating against your life right now? Name it specifically.

2. The Foundation Check
When the storm hits, what's the first thing you run to? Your feelings? Your logic? Other people's advice? Or Christ's teachings? Be honest.

3. The "Why" Question
Have you been asking "Why is this happening to me?" like it's a sin/punishment equation? What would shift if you asked "How can God's works be made manifest in this?" instead?

4. The Incarnation Reality
Do you actually believe that God knows what your pain feels like? Or are you treating Him like a distant deity who watches from heaven without understanding? Write out one way Jesus experienced the exact kind of suffering you're in right now.

🙏 PRAYER CORNER

Every Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST, we gather to build on the Rock.

This Week's Focus:
Praying for those in the storm. Declaring Matthew 7:25 over your life. Asking God to reveal where your foundation is sand and where it's rock.

📅 What's Next

Virtual Prayer Meeting (Virtual)
Wednesday, January 28 (8-9 PM ET)
We gather weekly to strengthen ourselves in the Lord—just like David did at Ziklag.
[🔗 Join Live] 

Virtual Bible Study (Virtual)
Friday, January 30 (8-10 PM ET)
[🔗 Join Live] 

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✝️ Final Word

The question is valid: If God is good, why does He allow suffering?

Every worldview has an answer. But only Christianity has a God who didn't just explain suffering—He entered it.

He didn't create pain. But He stepped into it. He absorbed it. He conquered it.

And when the storm comes—and it will—that's the only foundation that holds.

The rain will descend. The floods will rise. The winds will beat.

But if you're built on the Rock—on the God who bled for you—you will not fall.

In His Love,
- Mogaka Events Ministry

Come As You Are is a Spirit-led devotional for young adults hungry for God's presence. Written by Ravi Patel and Chriss Mogaka.