Recently the
pastor of one of my churches led a four week study on suffering (see the
powerpoint slides here: fbcsp.org). As might be expected, the study was thought
provoking and discussion provoking. The large classroom was filled each
session. He quoted a lot of scholars (see the powerpoint slides) and provided
multiple perspectives on the subject.
The
following comments are not from a biblical scholar. They do not represent the
mature thought of one who has struggled long years with suffering and reached
profound conclusion. In fact I have found more questions than answers in my
brief life. The surprise for me is not that I have found no answers, but rather
that my questions have a changed a bit through the years.
Three
persons in scripture have helped shape my questions. I suppose one must start
with the Old Testament hero Job to begin to formulate questions in a context of
suffering.
Why do bad
things happen to good people, to God’s people? Job’s first response was simply “the
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” When
the suffering became personally physical and lingered on day after day, then
Job began to ask the big question “Why”. The only answer Job received was in
the sovereignty of God some events were to be accepted without an understandable
answer. Allow the circumstances to draw you closer to God and not become a barrier
between you. Understanding can never be a prerequisite to a dependent
relationship.
Chapter
eight of Matthew begins with an encounter between Jesus and a leper. The social
outcast comes to Jesus and in humble posture makes a statement, “Lord, if you
are willing, you can make me clean.” Job’s faith drove him to point his finger
in the face of God and demand answers. This leper does not ask why. He only
admits that healing rests in the will of Jesus.
In some
measure perhaps Job’s quandary takes this same form. Like the leper Job is confident
that God (Jesus) can rectify the situation and make the “bad” go away, or at least give an explanation. The question
does not reside in the “can” but in the “will”. For the follower of Jesus
Christ, who sees him as Lord, Savior, and compassionate companion, there is no
doubt about the ability to perform the needed miracle. The question is rather a
focus upon doubt concerning the will of God, his willingness to intervene and
produce the good. Here the strength of the Christian’s faith can be revealed as
in no other situation. I know you can, God, but can I count on you to do it? It
is not your power I doubt, but your own desire to intervene.
Mark 9:24
records the words of a man with whom I readily identify and perhaps most admire
for his honesty. “I believe; help my unbelief.” His son lies captive in the
clutches of an epileptic demon. The father is helpless to drive away the demon
or save his son from its torture. His heart is being driven to despair. He has
gone everywhere for help to no avail. He turns first to the disciples of Jesus
and then to the Master himself.
In his words
we find desperate hope covered in a shroud of doubt. “If you can, please help!”
Jesus turns the table and his reply might be seen as a stinging rebuke. I am
not the one to doubt. It is your own faith that is in doubt.
The words of
the agonizing father ring down through the years, “I believe; help my unbelief.”
I see a
battered child, a wounded warrior, a third miscarriage, a malignant tumor, a
fatal wreck involving a drunken driver, diabetic wounds that refuse to heal,
pancreatic cancer, and relentless congestive heart failure. One time standing
by a casket, I asked why allow cancer in someone who leaves behind a widow and
four young children. Now after having stood by a lot more caskets, I have a
tendency to confess, “I believe; help my unbelief.”
