If God is real, why is there suffering?

I was asked this week by someone, if God is real why did you get swine flu? My response was why not? Why is it that people attribute suffering to being punished by God? Or that God allows it to happen? Why also do people assume that God should protect everyone from any kind of suffering?
I don't find anywhere in the Bible that it says that because I believe in God that He will put up an impenetrable barrier to protect me from any kind of suffering. The bible says that suffering creates character, It does not say that God is a magic maker, or fairy floss kind of a deity. He is not a magic 8 ball that we can ask questions and have the right answer instantly. He is God.

People forget that if we really and truly believe that there is a supreme being who is perfect that maybe we will not understand why things happen. If you did understand why things happen, would you be able to stand it? Really all the responsibility, all the death, all the suffering and the answers to why people die, why some people don't suffer much at all and how it equates with eternity, how it balances right now? If you think you could handle it, good for you. I think my brain would explode, literally.

Ok so why do people die? Some people die young some very old some before they are born. How can this be right? innocent babies that haven't taken a breath yet? What is the purpose in it, is there any purpose in it? How can God allow it?
Have you considered what it would be like if no one died? Now for the people you love it would be wonderful, but what about people like Hitler, Genghis Khan, Mass murderers etc. Can we say that only bad people should die? How do you define bad then? Hitler thought he was doing the right thing and so did everyone who followed him. Many people who do "bad" things don't feel that they are doing wrong. Where do you draw the line? You can't necessarily go on feelings because they change so much and so quickly sometimes. I felt horrid yesterday and today I feel better, in 12 hours my mood has changed completely.
Eventually every one dies. This is life. You are born, you live, you get old and then you die, if you are lucky. I nearly died about 3 weeks ago. I had swine flu (I didn't know it at the time) and we went away to a remote area I got sick and went into respiratory failure. An epi pen saved me. Now I could say "Why me? this is crap it ruined my holiday, and now I am tired most of the time and have had trouble recouperating, why did you let this happen to me God?" But as I stated before God doesn't promise us that we won't suffer. Now if we can look at the bad stuff, the crappy horrible make your toes curl garbage that invariably happens to us some time or another and think, what can I learn from this? Or can I help someone else by using this experience? Sometimes people need empathy (comfort from someone who has been through a similar experience) not sympathy. If we didn't suffer would we be as effective getting along side those people who are suffering?

The other thing I want to put to you is this who are you that you can tell God how your life should be? I am a small human in the grand scheme of things (just see how big our sun is to see how small and insignificant we are - and thats not the biggest planet out there people) suddenly we think we know everything and should be able to tell God (remember the definition above - a supreme being who is perfect plus he made all that awesome massive twinkly stuff out there) how our lives should be going. EEk! Its like a child telling a parent they should be able to have chocolate all the time, too bad about the tooth decay, weight gain, lack of vitamins and minerals and fibre to help the body run. Exercise hurts but we have to do it to avoid heart attack and to have a healthy life.

I believe that God Loves me enough to know when to say no and stop. I also believe that he knows the plan for the world and for my life because I believe that if God is God, then he has to be a perfect supreme being. In being perfect that means I believe that He doesn't make mistakes - ever. Now your reeling. Suddenly we are back at the initial question if God loves us so much why does He allow suffering? Why does bad stuff happen? I don't always understand, actually I understand very little (just ask my husband when he is trying to explain a car engine to me) and in truth I don't want to. It is too much responsibility for me to handle.
Why did I get sick and nearly die? I don't know. Why did I live when others have died? I don't know. All I know is this I believe that God is in control, of everything. I also know that I don't want to be in control of everything, its too much to handle for me, and so it means I don't understand - and I don't think thats bad. I can say I am very grateful that it wasn't my kids or my neices or nephews, or my husband or sister or brother in law. I would much rather have it happen to me than them. I can't bear to think of how I would have coped if we had to do CPR on any of them, but in saying that if it had happened to them I believe that God is still in control and I would have learnt, coped and got on with the situation.

Its a pickle and it can mess your head up. If you don't believe in God then this is all irrelevant. If you are questioning God, I think thats good - I think that God thinks thats good aswell. Any communication is better than none! It isn't wrong to ask why and it isn't bad to question God. I know that God really and truly loves us so much that we don't understand it at all, it goes beyond our small brains (and even the larger brains among us) through His perfectness and absolute Deity. If you think God is bad, well that defeats the purpose of God doesn't it?

I myself would rather suffer some and learn. I want to have the capacity to help others, to have empathy for people in similar situations. I want to grow and become more like the God I believe in and have situations that make me hold tightly on to Him, to seek him out and ask him Why? It isn't fun, don't think I enjoy the suffering, its horrid and very often I think that i could live in a cave away from everything and everyone and my suffering would be limited extremely. However I do not, and I am thankful for a cup of tea, and a warm bed. I am also thankful I don't understand, I can wait for that. Suffering will happen, always has and always will. Use it as a situation to seek out God and His purpose for your life, to find the love that really and truly exists. Ask the ugly Hard questions, He can handle it, He is God. And despite what you may be thinking He really and truly loves you so much that He died for you on a cross. No other religion teaches that about any of their Deities. He knew we couldn't do it alone, and he loved us and made the sacrifice. Do you know that even if no one accepted His teaching He still would have done it? We all have the opportunity to come freely and be accepted and loved for exactly who we are right now. God made you and He doesn't make mistakes - ever!

Romans 5

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^a]">[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^b]">[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we^c]">[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. ⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.