Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
B. The activity of Satan is another cause.  People would do well to look here for the true cause of all human suffering, not merely in the sense of his having introduced and instigated sin into the human race, but also in the sense of being an ever-active agent at the present time in promoting sin and rebellion against the laws of God. This brings suffering upon all. The innocent suffer as the result of actions of the guilty, as when a drunken driver plunges over a cliff with five young people in his car.  The world we live in makes no sense at all unless there is Satan in it, organizing its evil, discouraging its saints, opposing the truth and making every conceivable effort to accomplish the total ruin of humanity.  May every man take the measure of his foe!