We live in a world regulated by natural law. This would suggest a certain amount of suffering is inevitable. If, for example, the law of gravity behaves consistently, a building may fall on someone, killing or injuring him. Jesus mentioned an incident of the collapse of the tower at Siloam and the deaths of eighteen men, yet noted that those me were no greater sinners than their peers.
We benefit from the laws of nature and we suffer the consequences when they are violated. Suppose a plane crashes and scores of people are killed---is God to be blamed because an engineer, mechanic, navigator, or pilot overlooked or ignored an aeronautical principle or perhaps a weather factor was not properly considered?
Imagine a world where God suspended the laws of nature whenever someone "prays."
Suffering and evil remind us that this world was not designed to be our eternal home. The author of Hebrews tells us we should be as strangers in this world. Jesus has prepared a better place for those who serve him and suffering helps us to long for that place.
Praying for God to help us to avoid suffering is against his plan.
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