On Saturday night, the Lord was really speaking to me about the subject of suffering. He told me that many Christians in the West don’t really know His purpose for suffering and trials. The image he gave me was quite humorous:

I saw a sword being heated in the fire, then placed in cold water, and then hammered out. As I looked, I heard the voice of a Western Christian through the three stages of sharpening. As the sword was put in the fire, he yelled, “Lord, why have you forsaken me!? Why do you abandon me to the fire?” Then when he was taken out, he said, “Look, I’m glowing!” Then he was put in the water, and he cried out, “Lord, why have you brought this winter of the soul? What wrong have I caused you?” Then, as the Swordsmith took him out, he said, “Look, I’m hard. I can withstand anything!” Then the sword began to be hammered out. The Christian yelled, “Why do you beat me so? How can I withstand your wrath? I am afflicted of the Most High!” Then the Swordsmith held up the sword, and the Christian said, “Look how sharp I am. I can cut through anything with the least force!” Then the process started over.

A very humorous picture of the Christian life, indeed. Let’s have patience with our circumstances and understand that the Lord is refining us.

Heidi recently heard an interview on NPR the other day about the topic of suffering. In the interview, professor Bart D. Ehrman of UNC Chapel Hill discusses his book, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question Why We Suffer. I think the timing is impeccable, as I just wrote a post about suffering a few days earlier. I want to counterpoint some specific issues in the interview with my opinion on the matter.

Free will as an explanation for suffering does not account for starvation or natural disasters. I think that much of the suffering experienced in the world IS a result of choices made by individuals that are contrary to the teachings of Christ. As for natural disasters and other forms of suffering that are not the result of choice, I think there is a larger explanation in the plan of God.

Job gets rebuked for questioning God about suffering. Saying that we can’t question God on the issue of suffering because we can’t understand His ways is like saying there is no answer to the question of suffering. I believe that God delights in wrestling with us. He never gets angry at us when we question Him or ask Him concerning His ways. Job’s sin was thinking he was God. When God answers him from the whirlwind, He does not rebuke Job for questioning his lot in life. He rebukes him for questioning God’s integrity, and trying to make himself equal with God. It is true that we cannot understand the ways of God. That doesn’t mean we can’t ask, or try to understand.

People think that suffering is God punishing people for their sins. Can God be that cruel? No, He can’t. He does not inflict suffering because He’s pissed off at us. He is a good father, and often corrects us. Many times we view this as suffering, but it’s just His way of getting our attention. He never hurts us just to hurt us. Many shepherds would break the legs of wandering sheep and carry them until they healed so they would learn to stick closer to the shepherd. Sometimes God does the same thing so we learn to trust Him more.

Not all suffering is redemptive. In fact, most suffering seems senseless. Suffering is never senseless, but always has some redemptive purpose in the heart of God. Suffering grieves Him deeply, however - more so than it does us. What grief do you think it caused the Father heart of God when He allowed His Son to be tortured, beaten, and brutally executed? Yet, there was not ever suffering that produced so redemptive an outcome.

Some people believe that suffering occurs because God has relinquished control to evil, but He is coming back one day to establish utopia. This is a false hope. Every generation has thought they were the last generation, and they were all wrong. First of all, God has NEVER relinquished control of the earth. This is a deist, and not a Christian view. Secondly, the return of Christ has been imminent since his ascension. We met a priest in Romania who explained Orthodoxy’s view of the return of Christ. He said,

The early disciples were very near the return of Christ, as we are now. His return is nearer now than it has ever been. If Christ chooses to return ten thousand years from now, that does not mean that we were any less near the end. Christ has always intended us to live the same whether we thought He was coming today, tomorrow, or ten thousand years from now - with purpose.

It’s as if the Father has been inhaling steadily since Christ’s ascension, and is preparing to shout. Just because you don’t hear the shout doesn’t mean that He isn’t there, or isn’t listening, or isn’t speaking. He’s waiting for His will to be accomplished - the salvation of the Gentiles. Thirdly, Christ IS coming again to redeem what was lost and restore what was broken - the natural order, and the relationship between God and man. This is not a man-made utopia, nor will we call it such when it comes. It is the very grace of God manifest on the earth.

I hope this gives a rounder view of my position on suffering. God loves us, and allows us to suffer so that His character can be made manifest in our lives. We must remember the words of the apostle James, who was martyred for his faith, and was writing to believers who were being martyred for their faith:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

-James 1:2-4

“Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?”

Job 15:11-13

I’ve been meditating on the concept of suffering for the past couple of months. I’ve often been asked, ”If God is so loving, why is there so much suffering in the world?” I think that it is because of His love that there is suffering. When we suffer, we are at a point where our strength is no longer enough. When trials come our way, He leaves us no choice but to trust Him and rely on Him. If we were capable of solely relying on Him every moment, then perhaps He would not have to bring suffering. There is no doubt in my mind that there is pain in the world because of sin. However, I think we give Satan too much credit for it. Every time something doesn’t go our way, we call it ‘backlash.’ I think that sometimes the Lord brings pain in our lives to get our attention. In the verse above, Job’s friend rebukes him for being angry with God in his suffering. He tells Job that God has been speaking words of consolation gently to him. It is because of our unwillingness to listen to the voice of God that gets us to that point in the first place. In meditating on this subject, I have learned one thing for sure - God will order our circumstances so we listen to his voice. As Heidi and I learned in marriage counseling, you must trust the heart of the one you love. Do you know what I think God expects our response to be in the midst of suffering? Like Paul and Silas, He expects us to fill our darkness with His praises. The next time you enter a time of trial, stop and praise the Lord instead of trying to pray it away. Perhaps the Lord is trying to get your attention. Use the time to draw closer to Him in intimacy. The Lord longs to have our hearts. Seek him, and listen to the cry of His heart - the heart of a Father longing for His children.