One of the impediments to people believing in God is why s/he allows suffering. It is a good question and has not been satisfactorily answered, though various explanations are offered.
However, it is worth looking at how God is involved in suffering to come to a better perspective on the subject. Most people assume that God somehow stands aside and dispassionately watches suffering but I contest that understanding.
If we accept that God is omnipotent and omniscient then it follows that there is nothing that God does not know about: not only in the material world but in the spiritual and emotional world as well. If God is to comprehend everything then s/he must not only ‘see’ what we see and ‘hear’ what we hear but also ‘feel’ what we feel both physically and emotionally, as well as ‘thinking’ our thoughts. God cannot be truly God if s/he somehow lacks this complete knowledge in relation to every living thing.
So when we (and all living things) suffer, God not only knows all ‘about’ that suffering but also ‘feels’ that suffering to the degree that we do. Otherwise God would lack the total knowledge that is essential to being God.
Consequently, while the mystery of why God allows suffering remains, the unanswered question should be tempered by the knowledge that God also completely experiences all that suffering. What I suffer, God suffers with me. Not only that but God ‘feels’ the suffering of the whole world from the smallest thing to the largest.
While that may be of little consolation to us, it surely puts God’s relationship with suffering in a new light. It also sheds light on God’s involvement with the suffering of Jesus himself.