All Creation Groans
Study Guide, July 13, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
Watch video online — https://www.facebook.com/eichapel/videos/1734770530740175
In our study today let’s think together about one of the toughest issues people face in relation to faith, and that’s the issue of suffering. It’s natural and normal to want to better understand both the ‘why’ of suffering and the ‘how’ to deal with it as children of God. And it is very important to be able to then comfort others who love God, but wrestle in their faith over this issue to better understand these things as well. The Scriptures reveal that this is to be one of our primary ministries with others. 2 Cor 1:3-5- “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.” NASU
Now notice; it’s also important to correct others who are still in rebellion against God and are using their false speculations about suffering as further excuses to not repent unto God. These attacks against God and against God’s people are part of what the Apostle also pointed out in
2 Cor 10:5- “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” NASU Worldly people often use the troubles of this world to cause further trouble to others because of their own resistance against God and God’s people. So we need to know this…and to know that whenever the issue of suffering arises there will be both – those who truly want to know more about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ in order to better know God and walk closer with God…and there will be those who do not want to truly know more about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ because they do not want to better know God nor do they intend to walk in obedience to God. So we need to be discerning about ‘why’ people are asking whatever ‘why’ it is that they are asking. Remember, scoffers are not looking for God’s answers to their questions. No, ‘scoffers’ simply use questions like they do accusations…accusations that have no basis in truth or reality. And ‘truth’ is that which corresponds to ‘reality’. And ‘reality’ is that which corresponds to ‘revelation’ – God’s revelation.
And that brings us to a starting place in responding to the issue of suffering in this world. And that is, that whenever suffering and tragedy and trials strike, it naturally takes us into the ‘unknown’ of ‘why this’, ‘why now’, ‘why them’, ‘why me’, and so on. But although that is the natural response to suffering…as children of God we are first go to the supernatural revelations from God. We are look to God’s Word for what is already ‘known’! For what is ‘already known’ will always help us better deal with what might be ‘presently unknown’. And we say ‘presently unknown’ because one day we will fully know what we now only know ‘in part’. 1 Cor 13:12- “Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” NLT There are some things about this life in which our present understanding will be partial and incomplete. We could rightly say this could apply to areas of struggles and trials and tragedies and sufferings. God has fully given us everything we need to know about our Creator and our Redeemer, about Christ’s great salvation, and about our great commission in sanctification and service. In fact, the Apostle Peter revealed this: 2 Peter 1:3-4- “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by His own glory and integrity. Through His glory and integrity He has given us His promises that are of the highest value. Through these promises you will share in the divine nature because you have escaped the corruption that sinful desires cause in the world.” GOD’S WORD Version
In our new spiritual birth and eternal life relationship with God, and in God’s revelation of the Scriptures to us, God has given us everything we need to live a life of godliness and to live out the plan God has for us on this present Earth. Everything we need to know is in God’s Owner’s Manual, the Bible, which God has preserved for us. God has already told us everything we need to know, and one day, as the Apostle Paul stated, God will explain to us everything else we would like to know. Remember, the Bible is not information about everything we would like to know, but revelation of everything we need to know, for now, in order to live a full and faithful life! The Bible was not given for our ‘Information’, but for our ‘Transformation’. Although, in God’s gracious ways with His children, He has also given us so much information about so many things in this world and life as well. The Bible is an overflowing well-spring of essential revelation and of wonderous information.
We are to look to what we already know about the God of creation and His revelation, and then find our assurance and our comfort in what God has already made known about His character, and about His care for us, and about His love for us, and about His promises to us, and about this world around us.
Therefore, whenever you face any suffering or sorrow or struggle…always start with the ‘known’. You start and restart with what you know about your God and your Savior. And, granted, suffering can even unsettle the faith of Christians who do love God, but become disoriented by the harsh circumstances of life. Remember, there was a time when even John the Baptist became disoriented by his sufferings and asked the Lord to help him deal with his doubts. We see this in Matt 11:2-6- “Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” NASU
That might surprise us to think that even John the Baptist had questions and needed reassurance by the Lord. In a way, that’s strangely reassuring to us all, right? Note something carefully here…God deals much differently with believers in their doubting and with their questioning than He does with unbelievers with their scoffing and with their mocking. Respectful questions do not disturb God at all. He deals gently with those who have respectful questions for Him. You and I can come boldly before the throne of God’s grace, and we will find God’s mercy and His help in our times of need…our times of disorientation…our times of questions. But disrespectful scoffing against God…oh, that is very disturbing to God, and He will respond with justice and judgment with those who scoff at and mock Him or His people. So remember, Jesus is careful and compassionate with those who care for Him…but Jesus rebukes and convicts those who do not care for Him. And that is the example we must follow as well.
With John the Baptist, Jesus didn’t rebuke him for his question in the midst of his sufferings, rather He reassured him about everything; that he was right about Jesus being the Messiah, and right in his relationship with his Messiah, and that what he had been doing was exactly what was right in his ministry for his Messiah. And note carefully: Jesus assured John with the ‘knowns’…He assured him with the things that were known about the Messiah and God! All that Jesus was doing was exactly what the revelations of the Prophets said that the Messiah would do! And thus, knowing more about the ‘knowns’ of God’s Word is what gave John peace in the midst of his sufferings. And it will be the same for us.
Now then, when tragedies arise people often question the ‘love of God’…as in ‘How can a loving God allow…and so on?” If there is one thing about God that should never be a question, it is ‘the love of God’. Why, God is the very revelation of love to our world. The Apostle John even reveals that the central essence of God is ‘love’. 1 John 4:7-10- “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” NASU
Yes, there are reasons for sufferings in the world, and even sufferings in our own personal world, but they never have anything to do with anything defective or deficient in the love of God. The love of God for the world, especially for His children, is the most perfect thing in existence, for our perfect God is perfect love. Plus, the greatest possible demonstration of love to this world was the Cross of Jesus Christ! John 3:16-17- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” NASU
John 3:16 is the answer to any question about the love of God. The Cross of Christ is the ultimate answer to any question about God’s love and care for the well-being of people, especially of those who have believed and received Christ and His salvation. The Cross settles all questions about the love of God, and thus, any question that should ever arise in any of God’s children about God’s love and care for them, due to their trials or troubles or sufferings, should subside into a settled assurance about God’s love for them because Jesus has already proved that to us in this greatest possible demonstration of how much He loves us. God’s love for us is a complete and settled ‘known fact’ of life…of our lives!
Then, sometimes the question comes in the form of “How can a good God allow suffering?” That reminds me of another question…a question Jesus asked the rich young ruler after he called Jesus ‘Good Teacher’. Jesus asked him: “Why do you call Me ‘good’? There is only one who is ‘good’.” Jesus was asking him if he understood that only God is ‘truly good’ in the complete sense of the word. And therefore, in Jesus accepting that title of ‘Good’ He was essentially asking him if he realized that he was talking to the Messiah, who was not only the only Savior, but also the only God! This rich young ruler’s real problem was that he didn’t know God in a personal way at all. He didn’t know the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit. He needed to come to know the Triune God!
Many who ask the question of ‘how can a good God allow suffering’ won’t understand the answer either, because they don’t what they are asking. They don’t know that their idea of a good God is not the Biblical revelation of ‘Who’ God really is! They don’t know the one holy and just God of the Bible, who is not only good, but He is completely good and completely perfect!
Think about it: the question of ‘How can a good God…’ implies that something that God is doing is not good, that is, that something is wrong with what God is doing or not doing. But since God is perfect in His character and in His conduct and in His will and in His works, whenever there is ever anything wrong or deficient, it is never in God’s perfect will and perfect works, but always in this present world of countless wrongs and deficiencies, and in our imperfect understanding and reasoning about it all. Our response to God about anything we do not understand should always be like the Father’s whose son Jesus had delivered from an evil spirit, who said: “I do believe…help me with my unbelief…help me to believe more.” Or, “I know that You, my God, are perfect, loving, righteous, and just in all of Your ways and works…please help me better understand what’s wrong and defective and broken in this world of trials and tribulations and sufferings.” The problems are always from this cursed world, which is not our real home anyway, and never from our Perfect Parent, our God and Savior, who is walking us through this foreign land to our real home of Heaven.
Mark it down: Whenever there is anything we presently don’t understand about God and about God’s working, the problem always lies in our present imperfect understanding and never in God’s perfect character and His perfect workings. Think about it: If there were ever any deficiency, any defect, any imperfection, or anything wrong at all with our God, then our problems would be far greater than any and all the sufferings and problems the world has ever known. For that would mean that we would have an imperfect God and an imperfect Savior. And that would mean something was wrong with John 3:16. And if something was wrong with John 3:16 then we would be without truth, without a Savior, without forgiveness, without hope, and without Eternal life.
But our God is perfect in every possible way. All His words are perfect and true…all His promises are perfect and true…all His works are perfect and true. There is absolutely no problem ever with our Perfect God and in His perfect works. Again, the problem is always in this present broken world that is suffering from the effects of the curse of sin, which has affected and infected all of creation, from the Earth to the Stars. That’s why the Scriptures reveal that even Creation itself is groaning and awaiting its redemption, awaiting its deliverance from the curse and its renewal to a New Heaven and a New Earth!
And, as we stated, the problem is also in our present partial, imperfect, and limited understanding. And we’ll continue to expand on this in our next study. But for all of us who are blessed and privileged to know the One true God, who Himself is, The Way, The Truth, and The Life, if you should ever be asked either of those questions of ‘Why would a good God…or Why would a loving God allow suffering’, answer it with saying: “Let’s ask that another way in order to help answer that, because we need to start with what we know. So: “Since we know that God is a loving God, since we know that God is a good God, and since we know that God is a perfect God, how can we better understand the presence of suffering in this broken world, and in the lives of God’s people who are still living in this world?”
And then, with that settled, now you can look for what’s really wrong with this world and it’s works, because we know that there is nothing…there is not anything wrong in our God and in His works…in His works in this world and in His works in our own lives. There are a host of problems with this broken and dying world for sure. But as for God…our God is our only hope and strength and help in any and every trial and struggle that comes from living in a world of sin and suffering.
Let’s read together the doxology that the Apostle Paul wrote after also dealing with questions of the many problems of this world, but then rejoicing in the hope and help of our God. Rom 11:33-36- “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” NASU