Understanding Suffering
Understanding Suffering
If we live long enough, all of us will suffer. Whether it is emotional or physical (or both) we will all experience suffering to some degree. Some of us will taste the bitterness of pain and suffering more than others. Some people suffer more than others, and often we are left with inadequate answers as to why. For many, one of the great injustices of this world is the suffering of apparently innocent people (and conversely, the prosperity of obviously wicked people). But the statistics are in, and it turns out that ten out of ten people die. No one escapes that. The wicked and the righteous will all meet the same end. Suffering and death are a reality, and each of us will be forced to confront these painful realities in our lives at some point. We would do well to arm ourselves with truths and promises that will help us to weather the storm when those difficult times come.
The Bible itself is replete with stories of suffering, right from the start. It begins with Adam and Eve. They fall into sin and are cast out of the Garden of Eden under a curse. Shortly thereafter, Cain violently murders his brother Abel in a fit of jealous rage. Mankind descends into committing unspeakable evil against one another. A devastating flood wipes out humanity, leaving only Noah and his family as survivors with the hope of a fresh start. Abraham and Sarah endure a painfully long wait before God blesses them with a son. The Israelites suffer as slaves under the hand of the Egyptians, and then are forced to wander through the wilderness for forty years before entering the Promised Land. It is not long before Israel is divided politically and they are eventually forced into exile, having been conquered and plundered by the Babylonians and Assyrians. The Psalmists frequently lament their trials. There is even book called Lamentations, itself is devoted to expressing grief over the fall of Israel. We read of Job’s personal tragedy and his battle in coming to terms with it all. The story of suffering continues into the New Testament. The Jews are oppressed under Roman rule while awaiting their promised Messiah. The early disciples are scattered and the apostles face persecution, arrest, beatings and and death. And, of course, Jesus himself suffered crucifixion on the cross.
Our world today continues to be full of suffering. News headlines make for depressing reading, and often our personal circumstances are not much better. As I write this in late 2017, the headlines that 52 people have been killed in a mass-shooting in Las Vegas are still fresh. News that Puerto Rico was ravaged by a devastating hurricane just days ago is fading into distant memory as other stories of disaster fight for airtime. The ethnic violence that has forced nearly half a million people to flee from Burma to Pakistan has been replaced with Hollywood sex scandals. It’s all a little overwhelming if you allow yourself think about it for too long. So we busy our hands and minds with other things to distract ourselves from the pain around us. Unfortunately it’s not as easy to ignore the pain in our own lives. No doubt, as you read this, there will be similar headlines of suffering from around the world. You are also likely to be facing your own personal challenges. We all face death, betrayal, and loss. Humanity groans under the great burden of natural disasters, disease, persecution, dictators, war, genocide, famine, murders, abuse… the list goes on.
The Bible is quite clear that we should expect to suffer. The language of Scripture itself is not “if you suffer”, but “when you suffer”. James writes, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2). Four times in the Gospels Jesus is recorded as saying, “you will be hated for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22; Matthew 24:9; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:17). Yet the Bible also speaks of a gracious, kind and loving God, who is all-powerful and in control of all things (including the suffering of mankind). If that claim is true, then why is still there pain and suffering in this world? This is a question that people throughout history have had to grapple with, and you have likely asked it yourself.
Epicurus (341–270 BC), a Greek philosopher, famously articulated this question as follows:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
To paraphrase Epicurus, if suffering exists because God is unable to stop it, he might be good, but he is not all-powerful. If, however, God has capacity to stop suffering, but chooses not stop it, then he might be all-powerful, but he is not good. Either way, the good, all-powerful God of the Bible could not exist. The problem is this: Suffering is real, which either means that God does not care enough to stop it, or he is not powerful enough to stop it.
In response to that objection, this is the thesis that I will lay out in the following chapters: God is both loving and all-powerful. He has full control over all suffering and pain and sickness. Yet, according to his unquestionable wisdom, God allows and even ordains suffering. Underlying his actions is a steadfast purpose for good and glory, which we may find difficult to understand in the midst of the pain. The appropriate response of a Christian burdened under the weight of suffering is to turn to God for strength to endure the season of pain, hoping in God’s promises, and submitting to his good and perfect will.
I know from personal experience that this theology is easy to profess from the pulpit, but a lot more difficult to embrace and experience as real truth in our hearts when we find ourselves in the midst of the deepest and darkest seasons of suffering. But I also know that although it is hard, it is possible. It is possible because God is the one who sustains his children. He grants us hope when all seems hopeless (Romans 15:13). He comforts us with his promises and his presence (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). He promises to guard our hearts and minds, and to bring the kind of peace into our hearts that would ordinarily seem irrational when confronted with the size of the problems that we face (Philippians 4:7). He gives us the perspective that we need to find total security in having him, though we might suffer great losses (Philippians 3:7-8). He gives us unshakable promises that the best is yet to come, as we endure momentary afflictions in the hope and firm assurance of eternal glory (Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Rather than turn away from him in our distress, let us run to God and his Word for comfort and assurance.
If you are going to read further, promise me that you will read through to the end? A single chapter on its own is like one piece of a puzzle. If you only lay one or two pieces of the puzzle down, you will be left with an incomplete and possibly confusing picture, and you will likely leave feeling discouraged. Rather take the time to put all of the pieces into place and let the full picture emerge. My hope is that as you read this book, and step back to consider the full picture that it paints, you will be equipped with an anchor of truth that will steady your soul in times of trouble.
See Matthew 5:45, where Jesus notes that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
The origin of this quote (and variations thereof) is disputed, but generally Epicurus is cited as its author.
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