Suffering comes to us all. Possibly the worst kind is the truly heart wrenching experience of helplessly seeing our loved ones suffer. How quickly we would swap places with them. Have you ever experienced that kind of suffering? Do you know what it is to feel pain? Physical? Emotional? Mental? Heart wrenching pain?
What Kind of God?
The sad truth is, the only qualification for experiencing suffering is that we live long enough. Isn't that true? When faced with such cruelty, it is understandable that people blame God. What kind of a God does this kind of thing? What kind of God allows this kind of thing?
Unsurprisingly, the answer most people come to is that God is cruel and unjust, or there is no God. You'll doubtless agree with me that, it is easy to see why millions of people would say that. The thing is, I would entirely agree with them, they would be right ... but only if this life is all there is.
If there is a God and this life is all there is, then God is unjust, uncaring and pointless. If there is no God at all, then this life is all there is and life is pretty wicked in the evil sense. Hitler, Fred West and the 911 bombers get the same reward as you and I.
More to it
But, there is so much more to it than that. There is a God, and he does care for you very much, so much more than you know, and he makes the world of difference. The problem is, we cannot see it for ourselves, so God has revealed it to us in the scriptures as we will see in a future blog. But for now, let me explain two things God does now.
A Devoted Friend
I love the 'Lord of the Rings". Frodo sets out on an epic journey. The journey has a purpose (destroy the ring) and destination, to take the ring to Mount Doom in Mordor where the ring can be destroyed. The journey is perilous. Frodo endures many hardships, but also experiences laughter, he sees much bloodshed, but also great courage and nobility, he sees much evil, but much good too, watches loved ones slain in the battle and experiences many sorrows, but the sorrows are because of the of loved ones lost, the pain is at the loss of loyal friends. Isn't this like life?
JRR Tolkien was a devout Christian and it is easy to see the influence of his faith in the Lord of the Rings. Frodo is not spared the hurt and pain of the journey, neither are we, but the journey is made more bearable by Samwise Gamgee. Frodo is not alone on the Journey. Samwise is his devoted friend who shares in all Frodo's trials. Frodo knows that Samwise, his devoted friend knows. What tremendous comfort, to have someone we can talk with at any time, who knows exactly what we are experiencing. However, there is a point where Samwise must leave Frodo and Frodo is alone.
This is why Samwise is just a shadow of what God does. God does not spare us the pain of the journey. We cannot avoid it. But the pain is so much harder to bear when we feel our aloneness in it. The promise of Jesus is that, unlike Samwise, Jesus walks with us through it all, he shares in our pain and suffering, experiencing it with us. He is an ever-present comfort in times of trouble so that we need not be alone.
Jesus promises His friends in John 14 ...
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
In this way, by His Spirit, Jesus Himself promises to comfort and strengthens us, He gives us real hope - but the promise is for those who love and obey Him. That is not to say that He doesn't care about those who do not love and obey Him, but of course he will not force Himself on those that don't love Him, that don't want Him. If you don't want Him in your life, He respects that.
Of course what we want though, is for God to be our servant. A kind of divine waiter. We want Him to stay out of our way while we enjoy our lives, but when we want something we click our fingers and God the waiter to dutifully come at our beck and call. When He doesn't we get angry with Him. But God is not merely our 'Waiter' who runs to our beck and call, He is not there just to be used by us, He is God, and if we shut Him out of our lives, it seems ironic that we then blame Him for not being there.
And the condition of obedience is simply because, if we don't trust and obey Him, He cannot help us - remember, He doesn't force us to trust and obey Him, but He wants us to. Like a small child standing on the kerb of a busy road with cars rushing by, the child is wise to take the hand of a loving parent who can get hm to the other side, but the child must trust and obey that parent to get safely to the other side. But if we are like the child that refuses to trust and obey, that thinks he knows best and insists on going his own way, the Lord allows us to do so, sadly with tragic consequences. Jesus does not want that, He wants us to trust and obey Him.
A Worthy Reward
The second thing God does is to show us what His overall purpose is. It is easier to endure hardship and pain when we know it is worth while. In a superficial way we see this in everyday life. Think about how dull and dreary work is for many people. BUT ... it does become easier if there is purpose in our work. Perhaps we are saving for a holiday in the sun. At lunch time we might look at brochures or go online to explore the hotel, the beeches or nightlife we are looking forward to. The work we're doing, as dull as it is, is what makes the holiday possible. The harder we work, the longer and more enjoyable the holiday - it is worth it!
Of course there are many people who squander all their money on cigarettes and other lesser things so have nothing to show for their work - and never get that holiday because they spent their money on sweeties! We cannot avoid suffering, but it need not be in vain. There is purpose in it all. Even in the helplessness of watching a loved one suffer - we will see How God specifically knows that pain, and how there can be purpose even in that if we will trust, obey and love Jesus.
The Apostle Paul knew about God's purposes and so invested His life in them. As a direct result he suffered intensely, but was able to write ...
1 Corinthians 4
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
It's not that Paul didn't truly suffer, he did, read the scriptures and you will be left in no doubt about that, but compared with the 'eternal glory' to come, his intense sufferings were light and momentary. Paul understood that when we trust In Jesus, all suffering passes along with this brief life, and God will give an eternal reward that "far outweighs them all".
As the old Hymn goes ...
"Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.
Great is Thy faithfulness!"
In my next blog I will explain what God has actually revealed, that we need to know if we are to make sense of suffering.
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