Today I am taking a break from studying (it is Friday, after all). I thought I would take this time to give my attention to the dear 'ol blog. To continue the series, Into the Glorious, let's consider the following question: why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?
Let me preface the furthering of this post with a confession: I do not have an answer that satisfies every yearning of my soul in regards to this question. No matter what conclusions we draw on this small, inadequate, blank white page, there will still be parts of me that simply hurt.
Because that's the real question at hand: why does it hurt?
Why does this world hurt so much?
Before we point fingers at who's to blame, let's examine the actual issue: a world of hurt. Upon hearing the news that a mall in Kenya-a mall I was in just four years ago-was invaded and terrorized resulting in the death of numerous lives, many of which were only children, this question came to mind: why does something inside of me hurt so much?
Why did I spend the evening weeping silently for the lost lives of people I've never even met?
Hurt exists. Suffering is real (I think we forget this sometimes). I cannot, however, attribute the cause to God. Most of the suffering that exists in the world today is brought about by what we humans do (or do not do) to one another. Man, not God, has invented knives, guns, arrows, bombs, and all other instruments of torture that have been used throughout history. Everyday humans all over this earth make choices that affect their lives and the lives of other people, and oftentimes these choices yield way to drastic consequences-even the existence of suffering.
The blame cannot be placed on God for causing the hurt in this world. Whatever the source is-human beings, dark spiritual forces, or some other variable-we can say it is not God, because God's heart is not found in hurt and suffering. Does God allow what goes on in this world? Most certainly, but that does not mean He is the cause of it all. This brings up a separate question: why doesn't God stop all of the hurt? Why didn't He place a protective shield around every small child in the Kenyan mall that day? Why doesn't He alleviate the poverty in Africa, or in Haiti, or in the United States, or anywhere else in the world? Why doesn't God do something?
Why don't we?
Oftentimes I forget that I am a broken person-a rusty container-but God in all of His goodness and love has chosen to place His truth inside of me. He has chosen to use me to show His love. When I sit back and wonder why people in Haiti don't have food, God reminds me that I have been given the opportunity to feed them.
Me: Why doesn't that child have proper shoes?
God: Why don't you give him a pair?
Me: Why is that person shivering out in the cold?
God: Why don't you invite her in?
Me: Why don't the Haitians know how to use their land? Grow their food? Have clean water?
God: Why don't you teach them how to use their resources?
God has chosen to work through my life, and by Him, through Him, and for Him I contain potential to alleviate the suffering in this world-the suffering that we ourselves often cause.
We now must consider two factors: free will and the order of the physical universe.
There are times when God performs miracles that defy any laws of this universe we know to be true. As for His timing and decisions behind such miracles, I cannot explain, for I am not God. Only He knows how His miracles work. We may wish for more, especially in regards to deliverance of suffering, but perhaps what we cannot realize with our finite knowledge is the chaos that would result as a consequence of interrupting these two sets of forces (free will and the order of the physical universe). If God takes away free will, then God is denying us a part of Himself, for if we cannot choose at all, then we cannot choose Him.
Suffering is indeed an argument for God, because without it, we would not be able to overcome it. Without darkness, we would not need light. Without hurt, we would not need a healer. Without brokenness, we would not need fixing. We would have no need for a Savior.
What about natural disasters? How can tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, famines, and volcano eruptions be explained away?
Perhaps they cannot.
Here is where we must enter in the Christian concept of hope; we must dwell on what we know to be true. The character of God has been revealed to us-and what has been shown to us is that He works all things for the good of those who love Him.
Nothing is wasted.
Because He loves us, He allows us to hurt. In Aldous Huxley's, Brave New World, a utopian society is created in which no human experiences any emotion of any sort-no happiness, no excitement, no sorrow, and no pain. Free will is also done away with. The result is a catastrophe, with the utopia becoming a distopia and falling to it's flaws. The Giver, by Lois Lowry is another example of this concept. In this novel, all emotion and color is taken away. The entire world is literally black and white to everybody in existence-except the protagonist Jonas. He is exposed to the all that is missing in the world, and at one point in the story he is given a choice: should he stay in the safe, shallow life that is seemingly a utopia, or should he run away to pursue a world of love, emotion, life, color, and free will?
What sort of God would not allow hurt to exist?
Know this: there is no trial that lacks potential for growth.
That is where the heart of God is. He is found in the restoration that comes from a world of dischord. He is found in the healing that comes in the midst of the hurting. We oftentimes want a different world or a different God, but when this is what we want, then we have missed the entire point of who He is. God is the Fantastic Savior. The Marvelous Healer. He is the One who holds our hearts strong and steadfast when the world around us is crumbling. To quote C.S. Lewis:
'We want, in fact, not so much a father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven-a senile benevolence who, as they say, ''likes to see young people enjoy themselves'', and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ''a good time was had by all''.Without a world of pain, we would become creatures even more prideful and sinful than we already are. Without injustice to correct, we would not be people who strive to live out God's love. Something must be broken before it can be fixed. Without these hurtful experiences, wouldn't we turn into shallow, self-centered creatures with no sense of right and wrong? Where would be the place for valiance, nobility, or striving to better the world? The world must be a lacking place first in order for us to want to make it better.
We will not be able to make sense of every sort of suffering-or any sort of suffering-in this world. That isn't the call of a Christ-follower, though. We aren't supposed to be making sense of our world, necessarily, for if we knew every answer to every question right when we wanted it, in what ways would we grow? Oftentimes the reason for a happening is revealed to us at a much later point than when it originally occurred, and for this we should be truly grateful! I don't want to know every answer to every question within my timing. Obtaining such knowledge scares the crap out of me. I'm glad that God is the only One who knows the full answers to all of the tough questions, because it assures me that He has all of creation in His loving care. Nothing can slip through His strong, solid hands of grace.
If I were the One holding this universe together, it would most definitely go up in flames. The biggest reason I am able to have confidence in God's sovereignty is because I know that I have nothing to offer. All I can offer is a life lived in service to the One who loves me.
I can only give thanks, because He is good. I can only be thankful, because He has grown me. Even my suffering-which pales in comparison to the rest of the world-has taught me the most valuable lessons, and even though I have had past times that were full of tribulation, I'm not sure I would be the person I am today had I not journeyed through such experiences. As the German theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer said,
'Time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering'.This last point is proper to end with: no suffering that any human being ever experiences will match the suffering that Jesus Christ endured on the cross. It wasn't just that He died. It wasn't that He was tried, mocked, spit on, beaten, and crucified.
It was that He was God, and yet He allowed Himself to die for guilty sinners.
The innocent One gave His life for the guilty ones.
Jesus' favorite name for Himself was the Son of Man, which means, 'the Suffering Servant'. This term implied that whoever the Son of Man was would take on the suffering of the entire world-and not only that He would, but that He would choose to. It was His divinity that allowed Him the ability to fulfill this title, for only God could take on the suffering of the world. Only the innocent One could intentionally take the place of the guilty ones, and in doing so He overturned the world of hurt and created a hope in the midst of the suffering.
It's ironic, this question. Through it is the implication that God is causing suffering, and that isn't the message of the Gospel at all. Quite oppositely is the truth of the Gospel-that Jesus came for the sick. He came to alleviate the suffering. We ask why He does not love, but He indeed did love. He is loving-only now it is by His Holy Spirit and through the lives of human beings. He came to show us how to love. He came as our example. Now it's our turn. His commands are to love the poor, the widowed, and to love, feed, and clothe the people that are in need. The answer to suffering is in the person of Jesus Christ.
That alone should calm our anxious, questioning hearts.
