Does suffering distract you from God's will?

God's creation is in frustration because of the curse of sin. The ground is cursed because of sin. All their lives, people struggle to scratch a living while the ground grows thorns and thistles for us, though we eat of its grains. By the sweat of their brow, people have food to eat until they return to the ground from which Adam, the first person, was made. He was made from dust, and to dust, he returned. So shall we.

We see the effects of sin no clearer than when we see suffering and death. The problem of suffering has shipwrecked the faith of many. One of the most notable examples is Charles Templeton, who was once a part of a ministry with Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist since the Apostle Paul. But the problem of suffering and an all-powerful God who is always good who chooses to temporarily permit it shipwrecked his faith. Though he admitted in an interview late in life, "I miss him" (referring to Christ), he never repented and returned to him before the end of his life. When someone dies, especially unexpectedly, and especially one who has spent their lives loving and serving God, it makes the question of suffering even more challenging to wrestle with. But wrestle with it, we must, for it will never completely go away until Jesus returns to set up his kingdom on Earth.

But suffering does not have to distract you from God's will. I just did a podcast today where I talked about the prerequisites to finding the will of God for your life and the road signs we can go by to discern God's specific will for each of our lives. God is not the author of evil. He can use suffering to get our attention because God is willing to use anything in a broken world to bring us closer to him, but it is not his fault. On the other hand, Satan would prefer to use suffering and evil to pull our focus away from God and onto ourselves and our own understanding.

I would say that, far more than suffering, my distractions from the will of God for my life have come in the form of pleasure, ease, and comfort rather than pain and suffering. If anything, times of distress, suffering, trouble, and difficulty have caused me to lean on God more than running away from him. I am much more easily sidetrackable by pleasure and comfort than anything else. That doesn't mean I wish to suffer more. It means I need to do what is necessary to strengthen my relationship with God so that neither positive nor negative circumstances impact it one way or the other.