Wheter allegory or true, Jonah was swallowed by a big fish which I am sure was no picnic. But his suffering was needed to further the plan of salvation for all mankind.
Job lost it all to further the plan of salvation for all mankind. His suffering shows us that the God of the universe has the authority to determine the fate of every person on the planet. Which of course He does every day for every person. Everyone will die someday to receive either comendations or justice.
God promises to do what is best for all of us and sometimes what is best is to suffer a bit to further the plan of salvation. What is best for us is to get what we need but not neccessarily to get what we want. And what we need is to be saved from our sin and live an eternity in heaven. Often what we want is to have happiness and a big house.
Jonah and Job are intersting case studies but mostly that is not what is happening. Mostly the suffering we experience is the result of sin. Our own or the sin of others. When I sin I reap the consequences and often that results in suffering for me. Who is to blame but me?
When another sins it also results in suffering for someone. The murderer or rapists causes pain. God cannot be good and take away the free will of the murderer to commit murder. We would all be nothing more than automatons then. Who is to blame for the suffering caused by the rapists except for the rapist?
Most suffering is the result of some sin in the world. A good God cannot take away our free will and a good God would also do something about it. Which He has. He has created a plan to bring about the salvation of all who would trust in Him.
He created me for the purpose of loving Him. He also created my to further His plan for all of humanity. If He chooses to bring me blessing or suffering I hope that I can be thankful either way. If the homeless man is devout all his life then that is a wonderful testimony that people can love God not matter what the circumstances of their lives bring them.
And what should we do about the homless man? Obviously we should help him. You and me, individually or collectively as we choose to band together, should help him. You shouldn't force me to help and I won't force you to help. But nothing is stopping you from right now from keeping a McDonald's gift certicate in your pocket just to give to the homeless or making a donation to a charity that helps homless people or anything else you want to do to help. When enough of us help great things happen. When enough of us are negligent it shows how sinful the world is. The solution to sin has always been to change the hearts and minds of those who are sinning; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."
In contrast passing a law that everyone must contribute to the fund for homelessness does nothing to address the real problem while it puts a bandaid on the problem we see easily.
