• No great lives would exist.
• We would lose these 5 things.
• And you might not even exist.

Just please, don’t ever expect to understand everything.

You probably won’t.

Why would you assume that you would?

Without the possibility of suffering, practically every great true story in history would be false. No one would ever have made a significant sacrifice for anyone else. No great moments of forgiveness and reconciliation. No opportunities to stand for justice against injustice. No compassion (because nothing to be compassionate about); no courage (because no dangerous situations requiring courage); no heroes. No such thing as “lay[ ing] down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13).

-Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale, Why Suffering?

As with most things, pain needs time and perspective to understand better.

Rationality is of little use in the moment though.

For who wants to argue philosophy when they are struggling to simply make it through the day?

Love is needed.

As Keller puts it, if evil can be explained, our individual obstacles and suffering might have a larger purpose too.

At least, I hope so.

Tim Keller puts it very well: With time and perspective most of us can see good reasons for at least some of the tragedy and pain that occurs in life. Why couldn’t it be possible that, from God’s vantage point, there are good reasons for all of them? If you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because he hasn’t stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have (at the same moment) a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can’t know. Indeed, you can’t have it both ways.

-Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale, Why Suffering?