Why do you allow suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? Because these two questions to God persist, suffering is one of the most common reasons for rejecting God. You've heard the statement, "I can't believe in a God who would let that happen."

The attempt to make sense of God's role in suffering is a monumental task. Sometimes the good we do leads to suffering and sometimes suffering just happens at random. We want suffering to make sense, but it can end up leading to more questions. There is an assumption that bad things should only happen to bad people, so when bad things happen to good people, we wonder if those people are actually bad.

When suffering occurs, we're focused on who is to blame. Because we're invested in the idea that bad things happen for a reason, we blame victims or we find a way to justify the suffering. Jesus wasn't interested in assigning blame. John's Gospel describes Jesus's encounter with a man who was born blind. When the disciples asked whether the man or his parents sinned, Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." Then he healed the man.

Jesus takes a different approach to suffering. In John 11, he weeps with sisters Mary and Martha after learning their brother Lazarus has died. Jesus didn't blame the sisters for the death of Lazarus. Instead, Jesus grieved with Mary and Martha. In other words, he joined them in their suffering. When Jesus tells us, "Take up your cross and follow me," his message is twofold. Jesus is saying you will suffer—and I will with be with you. When we suffer, God joins us instead of taking our pain or grief away. A grieving widow once summed up the relationship between God and suffering when she told a group of friends, "Without suffering, there is no resurrection."