GIVING GOD THANKS AMID SUFFERING

 

 

I just returned from a 3-alarm fire 2-3 blocks away from where we live. It had been terrifying to see this in my own neighborhood. However, after it was subdued, I wanted to tell the firemen that I really appreciated them but could not do so with the tears of gratefulness in my eyes.

 

Suddenly, I felt part of the community and connected to others. A couple of hours later, I returned to survey the damage. It was a joy to be able to talk to my neighbors. Had I approached them on an ordinary day, they would have wondered, "What does he want?"

 

Tragedy brings us together and connects us. We need tragedy in our lives, even the prospect of death, a fate common to all of us.

 

The skeptic accuses, “If God is all-benevolent and all-powerful, why couldn’t he have created a better world without suffering?” I am convinced that the better world requires suffering. Without consequences, it seems that we become no more than please-seekers, and others become no more than tools to serve our pleasures.

 

I certainly do not understand everything that God does – far from it – but this should not stop us from giving Him the thanks He deserves.

THE PROBLEM OF PAIN

 

 

 If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there so much suffering? This is a massive question and can be approached from many different directions. As with all of our “Why did God” questions, we cannot answer this one comprehensively, but perhaps we can offer some meaningful answers.

Why so much suffering? Perhaps we need it. I know that I need suffering. Suffering teaches and grows us. Without it, we tend to take our closest relationships for granted. A wife had faithfully nursed her husband through his nine-year struggle against cancer. She explained that he came to truly love her during his ordeal.

A video following the catastrophic Haitian earthquake caught a husband crying and fervently kissing his wife after she had been dug out of the rubble alive several days after the quake. Suffering and loss teach us to value what we have. Therefore, the psalmist had written about our need to be aware of our impending death:

·       So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

We need painful consequences, especially death. The psalmist, King David, suggested that the awareness of our temporary sojourn also teaches us humility:

·       “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! (Psalm 39:4–6)

 It is humbling to realize that we die and that everything we have worked for comes to an end. While a man struggles to exalt himself and to prove his significance, it is nothing after his last breath.

It is also our suffering and neediness that draw us together. Otherwise, we tend to become jaded, self-satisfied, and arrogant when things are going too well for us.

 Perhaps suffering is a necessary gift as long as we are plagued in this life with the corruption of sin and selfishness. Just consider a world where there are no consequences for evil, where we’d live forever without any infirmities? Sometimes, as I look upon my wife as she sleeps, I remind myself that I will not always have her. This thought makes me want to cherish her before death takes one of us away.

 God had barred Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the tree-of-life, after sin had laid claim to them, lest they eat from it and live forever. Yes, this was a curse, but death seems to have been a needful curse. The Apostle Paul explained the need for the Fall and death:

 ·       Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse [the Fall]. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. (Romans 8:20-23 NLT)

 Suffering was both the consequence of human sin and causes us to long for deliverance. It resets our priorities on the things that matter. Therefore, we hunger for the glorious and eternal marriage to our Savior:

 ·       Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. (1 Peter 4:12-13)

 It is a joy to finally receive what we have longed for. How does suffering accomplish this? It transfers our hope in ourselves to hope in our Savior alone. We are created for love and devotion and not for the self-sufficiency we normally crave. Paul explained that suffering was necessary for him to learn that he couldn’t trust in himself:

 ·       We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

 Without suffering, we would never learn to trust God. It’s just too convenient to trust in ourselves. I would like to believe that I have what it takes to successfully deal with all the challenges. However, such a trust would prevent me from learning to cherish God or even others. Instead, without suffering and the self-reflection it brings, we remain blind, proud, and would aggrandize ourselves, as kings often do:

 ·       The people gave [King Herod] a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!” Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. (Acts 12:22-23 NLT)

 Herod’s kingship had enabled him to think that he is a god, diminish others, and to abuse them. This is a common theme. It seems inevitable that whenever Israel’s stomach was full, they would forget about God and conclude that they had what-it-takes to live a fulfilling life, as many of Jesus’ parables indicate:

·       “Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else” (Luke 18:9).

 Self-righteousness is always a comparative exercise. We require more of this commodity than others have, and when we have it, we look down on everyone else. However, Jesus concluded the parable:

 ·       “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)

 Humility is the soil into which every virtue must sink its roots. Humility is also a matter of truth, of an accurate self-knowledge of our inadequacies and moral failures, and our utter dependence on God. Consequently, if we reject God, we also reject self-knowledge, the knowledge of our true status, our inadequacy and dependence. Without the love and reassurance of our Savior, we flee from this painful knowledge and disdain humility.

 Why then the need for suffering? To shake us up and to open our eyes to bring about change:

·       Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word…It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:67, 71-72)

 The Apostles Paul also taught that if we want to become more Christ-like, there is no way to bypass suffering:

 ·       always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10–11)

 But how do we justify the great extent of such suffering? When we compare it with eternity, it no longer seems so great:

 ·       Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. (Romans 8:18 NLT)

Our hope rests in the bosom of eternity. It is the answer to all our pains. In comparison, our temporary suffering is a small price for the harvest of eternal bliss.

We need a theology of suffering and to understand it as a positive and not a negative in the hands of our Savior. We need to regard our God as merciful and righteous and not a kill-joy!

ANSWERING ATHEISM

 

An atheist laid out this challenge on Facebook:

·       Why do people believe God is guiding and protecting them, yet children die across the world? Can someone religious please give me a legitimate reason as to why a child has to die?

Here is my response:

“Thanks for your challenging question. However, I must warn you from the start that my answer will not be a comprehensive one. However, even science cannot give us comprehensive answers. In fact, science cannot even give us comprehensive answers about the basics – What is time, space, matter, light, not to even mention the nature of sub-atomic particles? However, here are some basic assumptions to shed light on your question:

1.    God will not shield us from the implications of our freewill choices. In fact, we need to be cognizant of the fact that God will not always bail us out from our irresponsibility. One probationer had explained to me, “Now that I have a child, I am going to change and get a job.” He understood that he had to bear responsibility for his child’s welfare, just as God would have it.

2.    We go bad without sorrow and loss. We begin to take others for granted, if there are no consequences, namely death. We have seen scenes of people being found alive in the rubble, days after an earthquake. The family members are filled with hugs, tears, and gratefulness. But why don’t we experience this on a daily basis? We become jaded and need to be awaken by tragedy.

3.    The suffering and loss are preparation for our final destiny. Perhaps we will not appreciate the end of all pain unless we know what pain and destruction are like.

You mention your own sorrow and sense of unworthiness when you hear about others who suffer far more than you. This is a healthy response, because none of us are worthy. However, to walk around in a state of guilt and unworthiness leads to self-destruction. (We might even resort to masochism to reduce the guilt.)

God knows this and He addresses our guilt by first confirming that our feelings of unworthiness are revelatory, but that He has made provision for our guilt by dying for our sins. This is a sacrifice available to any who will come to Him acknowledging their need.”