Where do troubles come from?

Someone once told me there are three sources of our troubles: 1) God; 2) Satan; 3) the result of our, or someone else's, being outside the will of God. What I found, though, is that regardless of the source that seems most obvious to us - a natural event, our own failure, someone's meanness, demonic influence.... - ultimately, God, being sovereign, is quite willing to take responsibility. Does that mean He causes suffering?  Let's look at some examples.

No, for example, God doesn't cause divorce - it's the result of human sin and failure. It comes with deep pain. That we have a conscience, and our hearts can break because of our choices or the actions of others, these things are the gift of God for our protection. If there were no pain involved, we would not think twice about divorcing our partner, or for that matter, raise the question as to why it happens. If the marriage itself was uncomfortable, we'd just walk away. In that sense, pain is from God. It isn't that He's waiting for us to do something wrong so He can zap us with pain. Our own decisions bring the discomfort. From the very first twinge of pain and discomfort, God is making us aware that we are outside of His will and in need of Him. It is the call of a lvonig Father to turn again to "consider Him."

God does not kill. According to John 10:10, it is Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus took on  flesh and blood to render of no effect "the one who had the power of death, that is the devil" (Hebrews 2:14). Will I still die. Yes, but for the believer, death has lost its sting. There is no horror there. To die is gain. For those left behind, there is still a sense of loss and loneliness. Those feelings too are reminders of the fact that He alone can ultimately fill & satisfy our hearts, and He alone will never forsake us or leave us.

What about sickness? Another someone once told me there are 3 types of sickness in the Bible: 1) the sickness to the glory of God; 2) sickness unto death; 3) sickness for chastisement. After hearing this, I decided to dig into the Scriptures and research it for myself.

The only examples I found of sickness to the glory of God were situations were God was glorified by the healing of the sick person. The only mention of "sickness unto death" is in John 11, where Jesus said that Lazarus' illness "is not unto death, but for the glory of God." Lazarus died. But then Jesus raised him from the dead "that the Son of God may be glorified by it." I never found a mention of sickness for chastisement per se. The disciples asked a couple of times whether a persons illness was because of sin, and Jesus' response was that the person's condition was so that God could be glorified. Then He healed them.

Tomorrow we'll look at this further with a look at Job's story.