God allows hurtful things for His own good reasons. But those things hurt Him also. He limits them to only what is necessary for His plan and our best interests.
Elisha and Hazael
Second Kings chapter 8 tells a story that I just discovered recently. King Ben-hadad of Aram (Syria) was sick. He heard that the prophet Elisha was in the area, and sent an emissary named Hazael to ask him for help. Elisha answered that Ben-hadad would survive his illness but…
He [Elisha] fixed his gaze steadily on him [Hazael] until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.”
2 Kings 8:7-15
Hazael went back to Ben-hadad with the word that the illness would not be fatal…then he murdered him and usurped the kingdom! The next several chapters describe battles between Hazael and Israel during the reign of Israel’s evil king Jehoahaz. Elisha, speaking for God, foresaw the carnage … and wept for it.
But when Jehoahaz died and God decided that Israel had been punished enough, Hazael died also. Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash fought with Hazael’s son Ben-hadad 1 and recovered all the territory that Hazael had taken (2 Kings 13:22-25). Verse 23 tells us that the recovery happened because “the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them“.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet”. He is considered the author of two books of the Bible: the one named for him and the one called “Lamentations”. His commission as a prophet was to warn of the coming destruction of Israel and the exile of its people to Babylon. God, through the prophet, was pleading with the people to turn from their long-embedded evil, to turn back to the One who had rescued them from Egypt and been faithful to them ever since.
No matter how strongly Jeremiah called out their sin and reminded them of God’s faithfulness, he knew it wasn’t going to work. That broke his heart, as he expressed repeatedly: Jeremiah 4:19; 9:1; 10:19 – 20; 23:9, Lamentations 1:16; 2:11,18; 3:48 – 51. But he also expressed how righteous the punishment was, and how long God had tried before resorting to this kind of devastation. Nothing else had gotten the people’s attention.
Jeremiah also comforted that the punishment would have limits, a specific time limit of seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10-14). God was waiting to forgive and rescue His people when they returned to Him. Chapters 30-31 are a promise of hope. The people would return from Babylon. In fact, in chapter 32 God has Jeremiah purchase a piece of property as a sign that it was worth the investment: “Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Then, chapter 33 gives a ringing promise of not just the restored earthly nation, but also of the coming Messianic kingdom:
Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Lazarus
Even many who are unfamiliar with the Bible still know that its shortest verse is John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” That happened at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. Several days earlier, Jesus had received news that Lazarus was very sick. He could have easily done the expected: Rush to his side to heal him, or even simply say the word and heal him from a distance (as He did for the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:2-10). Instead, He deliberately delayed His arrival until after Lazarus had been dead for four days.
Unsurprisingly, Lazarus’ sisters were upset with Jesus for His delay. He wept for their grief and confusion (which He had allowed) … before performing His greatest miracle to date by calling Lazarus to come back to life and out of the tomb.
Jerusalem
Jesus lamented the fate that He knew was coming for the capital city of His people. No matter how much He loved her, she wasn’t willing to accept it. That broke His heart. 😔
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
Matthew 23:37-38
Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome less than forty years after Jesus spoke these words.
But the last book of the Bible tells of a new Jerusalem, capital city of Heaven. All that was lost will be restored, many times over.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
Jesus
Jesus was prophesied to be “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3-6). He lived up to that prophecy, especially in Gethsemane the night before He was crucified (Mark 14:32-36, Luke 22:44).
Then, when Jesus was crucified, the Father’s grief was shown as the world went dark for three hours (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44-45).
But even grief that profound was considered worth it, in order to provide salvation for mankind.
God is with us…even in grief.
One of the names used for Jesus is “Emmanuel“, which means “God with us”. Part of the reason the divine Son of God became a man was to identify with us even in our most difficult experiences.
Time and again, God allowed people He loved to suffer. He had reason, and the suffering was temporary (although seemingly endless at the time!) on the way to something better. Still, each time, He suffered also. He empathized with them, stood beside them, and cried along with them.
Does any other religion or worldview have such a God? He is incredible!
Note: A couple of similar articles on this site are “Why Bad Things Happen” and “God is Great, God is Good“.