“Why did God allow this to happen?” “Why didn’t God protect us?” “Why doesn’t a good God stop this evil?” These are all variations of the question that recurs — that never goes away — in the aftermath of any great and not-so-great tragedy. “Where is God when it hurts?”
While exploring the question, Philip takes us on trips to some of the saddest places on earth, including Japan following the tsunami, Sarajevo and the ‘ethnic cleansing,’ the child killings at Newtown and Sandy Hook. The question has only slight variations in these places; in asking, the questioner instinctively assumes that God is a good God.
Philip’s hardest task comes when trying to find words to answer the question in a way that would comfort the hearers who have suffered loss. Going from place to place to give talks on this subject, he advances several perspectives. One I remember most is when he asked the parents who lost a child in Newtown (my paraphrase), “Now experiencing the worst pain a parent could feel, where everything seems so empty and lost, and your spirit crushed, how many of you would rather never have experienced the joy of having your child at all?” None of the people raised their hands; though their pain is most unbearable, the joy beforehand was still worth it.
The question, the author notes, is not foreign to the Bible. The voices raised against unjust suffering occur again and again from its major characters:
Job: “Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?” (Job 13:24).
King David: “I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed” (Psalm 77:3).
Jesus: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
And God does not answer the question of why. Of course, there are all the pat answers where God using suffering to train us, Satan is at war with God’s people, and suffering is the fault of sin and of evil men. Of course there is the perspective that this suffering is short and the glory to come will be worth it all. But Philip is more concerned with the pastoral response to a hurting people. Hurting people aren’t satisfied with intellectual answers, but desire something that would relieve the gnawing in their guts.
Rather than answering the why of suffering, the Bible seems to have more to say about the response to suffering. Rather than answer why the blind man was born blind, Jesus helps him. And many Christians have risen up to follow this path, to give aid to those who are suffering around the globe, taking time off from work to rebuild houses, supply food and clothing, meet the suffering head-on with genuine acts of compassion. This is one of the gems of the book that has the potential to change the lives of its readers: don’t complain about it; do something about it! And in responding to the pain in the world, we find God moving through us to deal with the pain.
As a woman said, whose home was ruined through flooding and cleaned up by Christians, “I thought God had abandoned me. But you have shown that He still cares for me!”
Jesus came into a world of pain, a nation still reeling from the takeover of the nation by pagans, their authority removed, their national status demeaned – not much different from that known by Sarajevo and others who have experienced the horrors of ethnic cleansing. Jesus brought relief to the suffering, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Yes, God cares when we suffer. Sending Jesus to earth in the form of a man, God entered the world of suffering. “He was acquainted with grief,” the Bible says, and He went alongside those who suffered, sharing in their pain, weeping when the others wept. In doing so, the people observed, “Look how He loved him.”
This ebook taught me a few lessons. First, suffering often brings with it reflection on our parts of what is really important to us. Why can we not ask that question now, before the suffering begins? Knowing that suffering will occur, and could bring mental distress with it, shall we not stock up on the Bible’s promises now, and seek the Lord’s presence while He may still be found?
I feel heartbreak for my pen pal prisoners who have neglected their Bibles and are undergoing gut-wrenching fears. They are in great contrast to the other pen pals who are using their time wisely to learn to pursue Christ, which they admitted they would never have done while outside prison. “God is a very present help in trouble” is said by those who entered trouble already having prior experience of His presence, not by those who have pursued the American Dream in place of Him.
Second, I have been getting a good deal out of my personal Bible study times, sharing a few of these gems on this site, in my Twitter feed, and weekly devotionals to my Yahoo Group subscribers, as well as through several iPhone and Android apps. However, this book, and a few other Christian books I’ve recently read, remind me that there are other perspectives of life that God has shown to authors that He hasn’t shared with me, and I need to read their books to enrich my own understanding. I am the better for having read this book. I hope that my writings show more compassion when dealing with issues of suffering (and I regret any articles I’ve written that may have come across as too cold to sufferers.)
This book showed me that I often take too intellectual an approach at times. I need to look at the human aspect of suffering and show practical compassion. We are all in this together; we all suffering in similar ways. Rather than pointing out the speck in their eyes, I should see how God has gotten the beam out of my eye and humbly share that with them.
Third, here’s an ominous thought: there is no guarantee that God or your guardian angel will save you from the many potential physical dangers. Hospitals are full of believers and unbelievers alike. The tornado takes one as well as another. The flood drowns the godly and ungodly alike. Neither bullet nor nature makes distinctions between the holy and the profane.
Therefore, if you are reckless in your driving, you should be more careful – you have merely been lucky, not ‘protected’ from being in a collision. When the Devil tempted Jesus to jump from the temple, Jesus refused; yet many of God’s people are attending to their bodily temples with junk food, abusive substances, and risky behaviors with no thought to the consequences. And if we are parents who are faithful to our duties to know and shepherd our children, we may prevent a future horror from rising up from our homes.
Fourth, we can’t stop the full brunt of nature’s fury, but if we survive it, we could at least be prepared for the aftermath. For instance, if you are in earthquake or tornado country, are your supplies ready and adequate? Are you ready to share them with others?
Death can come at any time. Are you ready to die and face the judgment seat of Christ? The answer of “I’ve been a pretty good person” doesn’t cut it. Are you a lover of Jesus? Do you long to know Him more in your life? Do you seek to be more like Him, or are you satisfied to stay the same?
I’m grateful to the publishers of this ebook for releasing it as a free version in advance of its scheduled print release. Amazon.com purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Question-That-Never-Goes-ebook/dp/B00EDP2YE8
Steve, really good post. I won’t waffle on in reply here as you’ve pretty much covered it all, but would add that it’s only when we suffer personally, something even inexplicable and tragic, something that sucks the life from us, it is perhaps then for the very first time that we can truly empathise with others who may have been going through terrible ordeals all their lives. Many of us in the West, US, UK, France, Western Europe and the modern industrialised world in general take many things for granted like an abundance of food, clean running water, cheap medicines, access to employment law and many chances to get education and find work. Many parts of the world view those things as unattainable luxuries and even in many developing countries that are not dirt poor like Argentina and some East European countries like Poland, Ukraine etc, you have to work very hard to pull yourself into the Middle class. My friend is a lawyer from such a country; she speaks 5 languages and is incredibly accomplished. In the US or UK she would be considered a great success and probably have her own law firm. As it is she struggles and had to work very hard to get on.
Perhaps we suffer because the world is a fallen place. We all suffer at some time. Some suffer because they are poor and have big dreams. Others suffer because their parents are bad or negligent. Others because they are bullied or don’t fit in. Others because they are perceived as ugly. The list is endless. It’s a hurting world.
By the way Steve, I have your blog on my blogroll; each time I try to log on it takes ages. I haven’t upset you have I by any comments I left? I can’t see how, I just got the feeling I was being blocked. If not, other people may be also having trouble getting on to your blog for some unknown reason. I went through my link, and then Googled your blog; still the same problem.
I notice that my blog is slow to open as well. Tech support here at Bluehost were not helpful on this point.
Yes, there are all kinds of suffering, but the book seeks to address suffering in a way that ministers to people who have suffered a tragedy beyond their ability to control, and wonder how God could allow it. So the author is not talking about bullying and society’s injustices against man.
I see Steve. It’s kind of the first question that many people ask when tragedy strikes though isn’t it: ‘why me?’ Should be asking another question altogether?
I think God allows suffering because He allows us to choose what we want to do, and sometimes our choices, even choices that are not selfish in intent, help cause suffering even if only to ourselves, let alone when what we do impacts unfairly on other people.
Techies are not known anywhere for being the most helpful of people are they?!
“He allows us to choose what we want to do…” Yes, but that’s not the suffering talked about in this book. It’s dealing with the tsunami and other disasters beyond our control and that have nothing to do with our actions. You may be confusing this with another book :)
Either that, or I did not make the book review clear enough! :)
I see Steve! You’re right, it is different. The insurance companies call those things ‘Acts of God’. Perhaps we are being too hasty in assuming that.