Day 189

DAY 189

WHY SUFFERING?

Job 34 & 35 and Acts 15:1-21

We have been wading through Job for a number of days, and underneath the text is the fundamental underlying question, “Why is Job suffering?” Here is Job, we know a good man, and he is suffering. Now those of us who have read chapter 1 will understand that God has allowed Satan to test Job. Satan, bold as he is, challenged God and basically said, “The only reason Job is a good man is because you have protected him and allowed him to prosper. If he were to suffer for a moment he, Job would curse you, God.” God says, “Go ahead, test him.”

Job and his so-called counselors have no idea of this meeting with God, but remarkably they all have the same SINGULAR idea about how the world works: Be Good and God Blesses…Be Bad and God Punishes. Isn’t that Satan’s comment to God, Job is only good because you are blessing him. And listen to Elihu in chapter 34 verse 11, “…according to the work of a man, He (God) will repay him…”

For the people in Job’s life they have this one singular answer to the question of “why suffering.” Other people look at this idea of “testing” and conclude that God is testing them to see if they will break. To this I say, “Really?” “Really, you have cancer, or you lost your child, or your marriage failed, or you were fired, or…you fill in the blank…really all these things happened because God is testing you? I have several times in this blog asked, “What is your image of God?” Is it a God who only will bless if you earn it, or of a God who is testing you because he wants to make sure your faith is real? If that is your image of God then you have forgotten Jesus and the Cross – look at the Cross to re-image your God.

With respect to my opening question, “Why Suffering” there is a theological answer. The problem is that it does not offer much comfort.

Before I offer it, let me just say this tends to be true of all “theoretical” answers. While they explain the logical reason, they usually fail to offer solace or hope or any explanation for the deep emotion we experience. Take something as superficial as fireworks (hey its 4^th of July weekend); we can explain exactly why they do the things they do, but we cannot explain the wonder we experience by looking at them. We know why many things happen in this world, but those answers offer very little explanation in the area of emotion.

Returning to the question of suffering, there is pain and suffering and evil in this world. Why, because sin has entered it. The world we say is “fallen” – the world is not perfect. Sin is in us, in those around us, in the human-made systems and societies and it even is passed on from one generation to the next, at times building momentum. And yet that answer, when you are the one caught up in the suffering, offers no solace, no comfort.

My mother passed away six days ago and I am writing this blog having finished the funeral and driven home. Were we suffering as a family? Yes, we comforted ourselves knowing that she had lived a full life and that she was spared a long ordeal. Yet our grief was real. Imagine if we all sat around the church and reviewed why mom died. I can picture us reading Genesis 3, noting that this is when death entered the world, and all agreeing, “Yes, this is why mom died.” I cannot imagine that this would have offered us any comfort.

What did we cast our grief and cares upon to draw strength? Jesus Christ and his victory over all that pain and suffering and death. The point of all these words is to get back to the question of “Why suffering, or why does God allow it?” There is not one answer and we simply cannot know. Might it be testing by God, well certainly, we are reading a long book about it. Might it be God punishing us, well certainly, we have read about God doing that. Might it be part of some larger plan that you and I are caught up in and cannot see, I think most likely.

As we are drawing to the close of Job, I am sorry if you are suffering. What I pray you we think about is the futility of focusing on the “why question” and I want to encourage you to ask the “how question.” How do I live as I endure this pain?