Chapter 4: Why God Allows Deception and Suffering
As we saw in the first chapter, deception isn’t just an unfortunate thing that happens to people—it’s actually part of the serpent’s strategy. But that raises a big question: Why does God let it happen? If deception keeps misleading His people, why doesn’t God remove it altogether? The answer might surprise you.
Here’s more good news: You don’t have to be fooled by it. The bad news? Most people would rather believe the lies.
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?” (Jeremiah 5:31)
This isn’t a new problem. Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have chosen appealing lies over undesirable truths.
So why does God allow this? The Bible shows us that evil, hardship, and even deception play a role in God’s bigger plan—to test, strengthen, and separate those who are faithful from those who aren’t. One of the best-kept secrets in the Christian walk is that God uses our adversity to build our character. The sooner we learn this, the sooner we can begin to lean into the trials, temptations, and even suffering we face in this life—knowing they are not random, but purposeful. When we look forward to the purpose, we can shed the fear and embrace the process that leads to our purification and ultimate perfection.
Let’s look at what Scripture says about how God uses trials for His purpose.
God Uses Hardship to Test and Strengthen Our Faith
James 1:2–4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Romans 5:3–5 adds, “Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance [produces], proven character; and proven character [produces], hope; and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
And 1 Peter 1:6–7 reminds us, “Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
These passages remind us that trials aren’t just random hardships to endure—they’re part of a process God uses to shape us. He’s producing something in us that can’t be formed any other way: endurance, proven character, and a faith that’s genuine, refined, and anchored in hope. None of this is wasted. The pressure we feel in hard seasons is actually proof that something eternal is being worked into us—something that will result in praise, glory, and honor when Christ is revealed.
What seems like an extremely difficult situation to us—especially when we consider the amount of suffering in the world—is not a failure or inability on God’s part whatsoever. Nothing in this world is too difficult for God. Instead, what we are witnessing—intimately—is just how devastating sin truly is. It’s one thing to wipe it out and start over—but it’s an entirely different thing to rehabilitate and reform people who have been seduced by the deceitfulness and depth of the depravity and destruction that sin ultimately produces. And there is no other way to thoroughly purge us from even the desire for evil without us enduring what we are going through in this world.
“5For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels. 6But one has somewhere testified, saying, ‘What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. 8You have put all things in subjection under his feet.’ For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we don’t yet see all things subjected to him.” (Hebrews 2:5–8)
When we consider suffering, we need to balance it with the goal God is shaping us to become through that suffering—namely, the ones to whom “he left nothing that is not subject to him [mankind]”, which was not given to angels: “For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.”
So then, all this suffering is the chastening—the “burn” we feel as we are being perfected for glorious mandates in the ages to come. We’re getting all this evil “out of our system” by experiencing firsthand its devastations.
No one walks into a gym and says, “Give me the muscle, but skip the workout.” Yet we do that with suffering—forgetting that glory requires training, and training always comes with resistance. The greater the results we expect, the greater the sacrifice required to get there.
Now, guess how great the results must be if this is what it takes to get us there.
“18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. 19For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:18–19)
And if that’s what God is doing, then we shouldn’t resist the testing and proving of our faith—we should actually learn how to rejoice in it, just as James said above. These trials are not pointless pain; they are God at work in us, accomplishing His good purpose, and He has already told us exactly what those results will be.
And if we are still suffering after we’ve repented and turned toward Him? Then we are experiencing firsthand what it truly means—and costs—to lay down our lives for our friends, just as Jesus did.
God Uses Trouble and Evil to Correct and Judge
Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.”
Amos 3:6 asks, “Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?”
Lamentations 3:37-38 says, “Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it? Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?”
And Deuteronomy 8:5 says, “You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.“
God Uses the Actions of Evil People to Carry Out His Plan
Genesis 50:20 records Joseph saying, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.”
In Exodus 9:16, God tells Pharaoh, “But indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.”
And Habakkuk 1:5-7 says, “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe though it is told you. For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.”
The story of Joseph shows us that even when people intend evil, God is still in control and can use their actions to fulfill His good purposes. What Joseph went through was painful, but what it produced was glorious. The same is true in the cases of Pharaoh and the Chaldeans—God didn’t approve of their evil, but He used their actions to accomplish His plan and display His power. This reminds us that nothing is outside of God’s reach. Even when things feel unjust or chaotic, God is still working. He is not absent in times of evil—He is weaving those moments into something far greater than we can see.
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
God Uses Suffering to Bring People in Alignment With Him
Hebrews 12:6-7 says, “For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?”
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul writes, “He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Psalm 119:67 says, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word.”
And Jonah 2:7 says, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.”
God Can Even Use Satan for His Own Purposes
In Job 1:8-12, God allowed Satan to test Job, but set limits on how far he could go.
In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.” Jesus commissioned Peter even though he knew he would be a work in progress.
And in 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul says, “By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.”
These scriptures show that God uses suffering, hardship, and even evil actions and characters to carry out His bigger plan—whether that’s growing our faith, correcting us, calling us to repent, fulfilling prophecy, or showing His power and authority.
Could God Do All This Without Allowing Evil?
This is a deep question, and it gets right to the heart of why evil and hardship exist. In theory, yes—God is all-powerful. He could do things differently. But the Bible shows us that God chose a world where evil is allowed because it plays an important role. It helps make free will meaningful, grows our faith, shapes our moral character, brings justice and redemption, and helps us better understand who God is, and more. Without evil, we wouldn’t see God’s mercy and justice in the same way.
This truth is seen most clearly in what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:39, He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
If even Jesus, God’s beloved Son, wasn’t spared from suffering, then we can be sure that suffering serves a much bigger purpose. Romans 8:32 puts it this way: “He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?”
This means that God allowing suffering—even for His own Son—is not a sign that He doesn’t care. It shows that something far more important is being accomplished through it.
The Necessity of Free Will and Moral Growth
If evil didn’t exist, there would be no real choice between good and evil. But God wants people who choose to love Him freely—not people who are forced into obedience like robots. That’s why Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants.” God gives us the ability to choose, and the presence of evil is what makes that choice real. When we choose what is right in the face of evil, our faith grows stronger, and our love for God becomes real and tested.
The Role of Suffering in Developing Faith
James 1:2-4 tells us to count it as joy when we face trials, because they build endurance and help us become spiritually complete. It says these tests produce patience, and patience leads to maturity.
Romans 5:3-5 adds to this idea, saying that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance shapes our character, which then leads to real hope. These qualities—endurance, character, and hope—aren’t created by avoiding hardship. They’re developed through it.
Now, God could have made us with these qualities built in from the start—but the Bible shows us He chooses to develop them through experience instead. That tells us He values faith that has been tested and refined.
The Demonstration of God’s Justice and Mercy
Without evil, there would be no need for justice—and without sin, there would be no need for mercy. But because evil exists, we can see both God’s justice in action and His deep mercy toward those who repent.
Romans 9:22-23 explains it like this: “What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory?” In other words, by allowing evil to exist, God is giving us a way to see both His righteous anger against sin and His incredible mercy toward us through redemption.
Living in a world marked by evil teaches us just how deeply we need God. After thousands of years, humanity is still learning that all this pain and death trace back to the same lie—that we can define good and evil without Him. But the longer the world tries to go its own way, the more obvious it becomes that only God can define what is truly good. When we interfere with that—when we try to take His place—all hell breaks loose, quite literally.
So the real question is: what is the ultimate purpose of all of this? That’s what this chapter is uncovering—what the Bible explains God is ultimately doing through it all.
The Necessity of Evil for the Fulfillment of God’s Ultimate Plan
Some of the most important parts of God’s plan required the presence of evil. For example, the crucifixion of Jesus—God’s greatest act of love and redemption—couldn’t have happened without people choosing to do evil.
Acts 2:23 says Jesus was “delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” and was then crucified by “lawless men.” So even though God had planned it, He used the free choices of sinful people to carry it out. Without evil, the cross wouldn’t have been necessary—and we wouldn’t understand the full depth of God’s love and the power of salvation through Christ.
This shows us that God doesn’t see suffering in isolation. He sees it as part of a bigger picture. Just like Jesus endured the cross because He trusted the outcome, we are called to trust God even when we don’t yet see the whole purpose behind our own trials.
The Eternal Perspective: A Finite Suffering for an Infinite Glory
Here’s something important to keep in mind: as painful as suffering is, it doesn’t last forever. God has limited the pain, death, and sorrow caused by sin to a short window of time in this life compared to eternity.
Paul put it this way in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.” He’s saying that what we go through now is nothing compared to the glory that’s coming.
Paul also quotes from Isaiah in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” Right now, we may struggle to understand why suffering happens—but God already sees the end result. He knows the eternal joy and glory that will make it all worth it.
Some people blame God for being cruel or unjust for allowing evil in the world. But that view misses the bigger picture. It misunderstands what God is doing through it all—something with eternal purpose and life-changing consequences for those who love Him. God is not the instigator of evil. James tells us…
“13Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.” (James 1:13-14)
…but He is the Master of redemption. He allows what He hates in order to produce what He loves: hearts refined by truth, faith purified through testing, and a people prepared for glory.
In the same way, when we resist or try to escape the trials, tribulations, and persecutions that God has purposed for our growth, we interfere with the outcome He intended. We may not see it now, but every painful moment surrendered to God becomes part of a much greater work—one that lasts forever.
If God allows deception as part of His plan, then it’s vital that we understand how the enemy works. Collecting intelligence on the serpent’s playbook is one thing—but it won’t help much unless we also know exactly what the cause is we’re fighting for. In the next chapter, we’ll expose the tactics of the enemy and see how God uses them to reveal who truly loves the truth. The goal is to help us understand how the temptation to distort God’s truth fits within the broader framework of trials and testing—and why resisting and overcoming it is so central to walking faithfully with God.