All of us are initially and for quite some time quite unaware of the Lord's total commitment to us and His plan for us as His own rebirthed children. We as believers are in fact reborn of His own Spirit-loins, now bearing the Lord's very life and nature by His Spirit DNA within our spirit... but we are reborn still ignorant in our soul. We may be full of zeal while yet our regenerated spirit is yet clothed in a soul that was barely illuminated, still having a unrenewed mindset. Not really knowing the scope of His great and unconditional love for us and His grace extended to us, we may remain ignorant for many, many years. We are then ignorant of His plan for us and His ways of satisfying His desires that He places in our hearts... to become our desires. We wanted to "work and serve the Lord," so many of us ran ahead, not knowing what we needed most was reliance upon Him as "Lord" (governor) of our life. We did not realize that His plan required our dependence upon "God which worketh in you (us) both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13).

Yes, the love that God has for us is far beyond our human comprehension. But also His ways are not our ways.

In that state of not knowing its likely that we at one time questioned what the Lord permitted into our lives. So all of us have asked these following questions at one time or another.

• Why do we as Christians suffer?
• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• Why do Good things happen to bad people?
• If the Lord is a God of love why does he allow suffering, especially to those He loves?
• How should we as Christians view physical death?

We do live in a world of suffering. This is due to the consequences of sin that began by the first two people, Adam and Eve. Because of their disobedience the whole world of mankind is in a fallen distorted state that is exacerbated by the infection Paul defines as "Sin in the flesh" (Rom 8:3b). Thus, we quite naturally have a twisted and distorted view of life, its meaning and purpose; then also we improperly value the seen temporal world while not truly valuing the unseen eternal realm. We need to be made to adopt God's view and mindset, seeing all the things that pertain to our life from heaven's balcony, seeing or looking through all the happenings of our life unto its glorious end.

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Sin, death, and suffering are not God's doing, but these are allowed as the "normal" consequence of the sin infection in all men. Dialectically, the Lord is able to deal with our fallen situation, to then blessing us within the context of His eternal plan, to rescue us and make us an integral part of His eternal plan for "the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1).

The fact is that men only make a heart-felt turn to God out of recognizing their need. The Lord uses the negatives of life to bless the persons who are humbled who are then on bended their knee under the weight of His mighty loving hand. "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: (Psalm 10:17)

As we encountering the negative that occurs due to the consequences of our own sin and the sins of others against us causes us to recognize the discordant and evil ways of our unrenewed selves and of all of fallen mankind in exhibiting our unruly self-asserting free wills. Thus the Lord uses the tool of our sufferings to bring us to yield to Him and not our whimsical self-interest.

Obviously any genuine Christian should come to realize that God is sovereign and He is over all. If we truly come to believe this and know that He loves us unconditionally, desiring only the best for us... we would never fear or question His love for us in the midst of life's necessary firey trials. All of life's trials are to ultimately be blessing for us.

"the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect (complete), stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)

Since we in fact do not know what is best for us and He does, our petitions to the Lord should not be without the Lord's own word's He spoke in the face of the most grievous suffering, "not my will, but Thy will be done." In fact now, personally, now having come knowing His love and sovereign loving care for me in a greater way, He has brought me to cease from asking for a fix of my situations or for blessings. Now the words of my petition most often is simply, "Thy will be done," as Jesus did at Gethsemane's Garden just before His horrific blessed death for all of our sins. I know I've already been inwardly "blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph 1:3). I now know I have His life in me and He is all sufficient.

We must know and believe that nothing happens to us that God is not aware of and that ultimately is not out of His control. He has set the boundaries upon all the things pertaining to our lives. Yes, He allows evil to continue even though it is not His perfect will; but He uses it for the good... of our being "conformed to the image of His Son."

"And we know that All Things Work Together For Good to them that love God, to them who are The Called According to His Purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate To Be Conformed To The Image Of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28-29)

I'm sure you've noticed by now that suffering in this life on earth is not optional; it touches the lives of all men, both the saved believers and the unsaved unbelievers. For unbelievers it is used to humble them and bring them to ultimately know and receive Him and His love. It is so we will learn to yield and trust Him to the uttermost.

For believers, suffering is for our benefit, for our growth and to bring us closer to relying upon Christ in us as our all.

Thus suffering in the lives of all believers is always allowed by the Father as training. Sometimes, occasionally, our sufferings are used as remedial chastisement for the persistently wayward believers. Its then being designed by our loving Father to rescue us from our fallen rebelliousness state as the former son's of fallen Adam. God allows such suffering, but always with a view toward restoration to His original intention for us, and the formation of His Son's character in our soul.

Thus we see good and evil fall upon both believers and unbelievers alike. But believers can and should ultimately make sense out of enduring sufferings in the course of their life... as Christians with a heavenly view.

"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man (body) perish, yet the inward man (of the soul) is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)