Why does God allow suffering?

If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does he allow suffering?
This is one of the hardest questions believers have to face.

Jesus Himself faced this question. In the Gospel, He speaks about the eighteen people who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them. And He’s very clear: their suffering was not a punishment, not because they were worse sinners than anyone else. Innocent people do suffer. Jesus refuses the easy explanation.

The truth is: much suffering is caused by human sin—by the wrongful use of our freedom. Violence, injustice, rape, abuse, greed, neglect.

God gives us freedom because love is impossible without it, but freedom can be misused, and others often suffer the consequences.

But here’s what Jesus makes absolutely clear: not all suffering is deserved.
Why? Because we do not live in Eden.
We do not live in the best of all possible worlds. We live in a fallen world—a world wounded by sin, disorder, and death. A world that often feels less like a city of joy and more like what the Church calls a “valley of tears.”

So where is God in all of this?

The Christian faith gives a surprising answer. God’s ultimate response to suffering is not an explanation, but a presence.

God becomes human. Jesus enters into our pain, our injustice, our fear, and even our death. He suffers with us and for us. On the Cross, God is not distant—He is Emmanuel, God-with-us.

If you are suffering right now, I want you to hear this clearly:

God has not abandoned you.
Your pain is not invisible to Him.
Your tears are not meaningless.

So if today you feel broken, tired, or overwhelmed, you do not suffer alone. Christ is beside you. He carries you when you have no strength left.

And because Jesus passed through suffering and death, He opened a future beyond them. A promise that this pain is not the end.

There is a banquet prepared, where there will be no more tears, no more parting, no more sorrow. And Scripture tells us something tender and personal: God Himself will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

Hold on. You are not forgotten. Suffering will not have the last word—but that Everlasting Love and Eternal Life do.