Does God want us to suffer?

Does God want us to suffer?
What if the answer to that question is yes?

Does God want us to suffer?
This question may arise in the midst of catastrophes.
C.S. Lewis, a convert from atheism, may provide us the answer. In the movie Shadowlands, a biopic on C.S. Lewis., Lewis is shown giving a lecture on the topic of suffering:

Yesterday, I received a letter...
that referred to an event that took place...
almost a year ago now, December .
My correspondent hadn't forgotten.
I doubt if any of us have.
That was the night...
a bus drove into a column...
of young Royal Marine cadets in Chatham...
and killed all of them.
You remember?
The letter asks...
some simple but fundamental questions.
Where was God on that December night?
Why didn't He stop it?
Isn't God supposed to be good?
Isn't He supposed to love us?
Does God want us to suffer?
What if the answer to that question is yes?
See, I'm not sure that God particularly wants us to be happy.
I think He wants us to be able to love and be loved.
He wants us to grow up.
I suggest to you that it is because God loves us...
that He makes us the gift of suffering.
To put it another way, pain is God's megaphone...
to rouse a deaf world.
You see, we are like blocks of stone...
out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men.
The blows of His chisel, which hurt us so much...
are what make us perfect.

*****

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