Well ... mostly all.
I would suggest that we're mostly mistaken on that point. I would argue that the Bible says something different.
The Bible doesn't hold that God is cruel or even capricious. We do agree on that. But neither does it argue that suffering, especially for those who belong to Him, is never His will. I think, if you look, you'll find the opposite. We know that God is love (1 John 4:8), and we know that love always seeks the best for the loved one. We know that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces proven character and proven character produces hope (Rom 5:1-5), and hope is good (1 Cor 13:13). We know that, in fact, trials produce completion (James 1:2-4). So logically it would make sense that God would want good things for us and if suffering is the way to produce them, then suffering would be His will.
Logically. But what about biblically? As it turns out, it isn't merely implicit. It is explicit. God said, "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things" (Isa 45:6-7). Peter wrote, "It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil" (1 Peter 3:17) and went on to add "Let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good" (1 Peter 4:19). In the first case, suffering might be God's will ("if") and in the second, in some cases it is God's will. An excellent example of one suffering according to God's will would be Paul with his "thorn in the flesh." He asked God to remove it and God didn't. Paul wrote,
He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Cor 12:9)He concluded, "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10). In fact, Paul said that suffering was a grant from God (Php 1:29).
But, look, this is pretty simple to prove. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). Now, we know that Jesus met all the criteria to get His prayers answered every time, and this would be no exception. His prayer? "Not My will, but Yours be done." And since it obviously was not God's will to remove the cup from Him (because He didn't), then it had to be true that it was God's will that Christ would suffer on the cross as He did. Again, logically. But we don't have to simply use logic. We can find the explicit statement. Disciples in Acts, praying for boldness, prayed,
Truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27-28)Pretty clear. The Crucifixion of the Son of God was planned and orchestrated by God. No greater suffering has ever been recorded, and it was God's will.
If God claims to "create calamity" and if suffering produces good things and if we have Christ Himself as an example of suffering according to the will of God as a good thing, perhaps it's time to revise our certainty that suffering is never God's will. I don't suggest it's pleasant, but I would argue that we can rejoice in it (Rom 5:3) -- that we can "count it all joy" when we meet trials of various kinds (James 1:2). Perhaps it is our perception of just how bad suffering really is that we should revise. Which, by the way, is one of the reasons I question the standard "Harm Principle" for determining morality. We don't really know very well what is and is not "harm". God does (Gen 50:20). And I'm good with that.
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