"Why doesn't God do something?" "How can a loving God allow such suffering?" These questions surfaced again in a recent Alpha Group, for they are questions that linger in the minds of many of us who seek to make some connection between the God of the Bible and the real world. Logically, it is indeed difficult to reconcile the claims we hear about God's nature of love, with the terrible suffering we see in some parts of the world.

This dilemma is not new. In fact, we find it running through the pages of Scripture, from the suffering of Job to the discussion of Jesus' disciples.

Two possible answers come readily to mind: The first is that the problem lies with God. Either He is not really loving, but like the gods of some other religions, fierce and unpredicatble, only appeased by costly sacrifice. Or else He is not really in control of the world, and not able to really do anything about the terrible disasters that occur. Such a god is hardly wirth a second thought, and is clearly not the God of wonders revealed in the Scriptures.

The second possible answer is that the problem of suffering really lies with us. That view is also deeply embedded in the human psyche, and surfaces in many religions including Hinduism and Buddhism, with their terrible doctrine of karma and re-incarnation. It was the view of Job's friends, who searched and probed for some sin or failure in his life that would explain his terrible suffering. It was the view of Jesus' disciples, as they discussed the condition of man blind from birth.

However, while it is evident that some suffering is clearly the result of sin, the Bible is quite clear that that is not always the case. Sometimes the reason for suffering lies in the unsearchable wisdom of an all-loving God. And we know that God is love, because He gave His only Son to rescue us. And we know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him.

God is not unconcerned about the suffering in the world. For example, the Bible tells us that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem as He saw the terrible suffering that would come upon them, as a result of their rejection of Him. A number of times the Gospels note that Jesus had compassion on the multitude. When we look with compassion on the suffering of others we are touching the heart of God.

What we often do not realise is that when God allows us to share His compassion He expects us to do something about the problem! In Matthew 9:35 - 10:5 we read how Jesus went around preaching and healing every disease and sickness. Then, because He had compassion on the crowds, He told His disciples to pray for more workers, then sent them to do what He had been doing. In Matthew 14:13 - 21 we see that when the disciples expressed their concern for the crowds that needed food, Jesus said to them "You give them something to eat".

Jesus not only did much to alleviate the suffering around him, He trained and equipped others to multiply that ministry. John records in his account of the feeding of the crowd, that when the disciples brought their meagre resource of five loaves and two fish they asked: "How far will they go among so many?" That is often how we feel, confronted with the enormous amount of suffering in the world.