What's going on when God's people suffer?
Holy Week is about suffering. It is specifically about the suffering of Jesus, but I believe it like the season of Lent is also about our own mortality. It is a time to reflect on our moral place in life and on the humanity of what we endure, waiting for the final hope of all believers. If it is also about our suffering, then our suffering needs to be brought into perspective.
A quick list of 30 ways to suffer:
injury
poverty
infertility
sickness
unemployment
bigotry
disease
ignorance
neglect
accidents
deprivation
loss
theft
death
fire
longing
oppression
hunger
fatigue
natural disaster
confinement
conflict
disability
suppression
disappointment
slavery
abuse
injustice
thirst
war
Chances are some of you hear this list and think, "He didn't even cover the way I suffer." That's because I challenged myself to make the list quickly, knowing that it would not be complete. I do not mean to disrespect anyone's suffering, these are just those that occur to me first.
However, the first thing I need to do is admit that I am not an expert on suffering. I've seen my share of it, and that which I've experienced first hand has been relatively mild. However, some of the suffering I've witnessed first hand is quite harsh.
When Dawn and I were in Africa we knew many people deprived of even some of the basics of life: enough food, clean water, basic medical care, competent education. I've known and am even related to people who have suffered some of medicine's most tenacious enemies: Cancer, AIDS, ALS, respiratory and circulatory failure. I've helped clean up a community destroyed by hurricane, people lost everything they own. I have known physically and emotionally abused women. Anyone who has never confronted homelessness has never visited a city, or even a large town. Perhaps, most pervasive of all, are the people who suffer with their own minds and emotions, unable to understand, control or even cope with the feelings they are assaulted with.
Worse than what I've witnessed, is what we see on the news. The scale of loss in natural disasters is so massive as to be paralyzing: Perhaps a quarter of a billion people have been killed by natural disasters in the past decade alone. The effects of crime on unoffending people is baffling. The nationally sanctioned, even legislated injustice in some places is nauseating. As bad as we think it gets here, some places have it so much worse as to put many Americans in permanent and unshakeable denial: forced sex-trade slavery, systematic torture and genocide, political corruption that impoverishes entire nations, whole economies dependent on drug trafficking, and some things that defy description.
Nothing more needs to be said describing the depth and horror of human suffering. You know it as well as I do. It is appalling.
There is another, even deeper problem associated with suffering. Every item on my list of 30 (nor I suspect any more comprehensive list) affects Christian and non-Christian indiscriminately. The people of God are confronted by these tragic and painful human problems as much as anyone else.
This is a problem, because our impression of how things should be is exactly the opposite. That's because we think in worldly political terms. We think friends of the king get a pass. That's what the Apostles kept thinking too. They wanted to know when Jesus would set up His kingdom and who would get the best seats at the table. Jesus reminded them it doesn't work like that.
Certainly trouble comes to the ungodly, and if we insist on being ungodly, we can expect it. But suffering is less picky than that. Jesus put it this way:
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
(Luke 13:1-5 TNIV)
In essence, Jesus is explaining that a person's relative "goodness" or "badness" is not reflected in their suffering. Sometimes suffering people are no worse than average. Death will follow the ungodly, but we should not judge a person's relative righteousness based on how much they suffer. In fact, some Psalms are complaints that bad people seem to get away with it. What's up with that?
The opposite is true too. We should not judge a person's relative righteousness based on the blessings in their life. Jesus said:
... Your Father in heaven ... causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45 TNIV)
So, according to Jesus, the good person's crops don't look better than the bad, and the person who suffers tragedy is not necessarily evil.
In fact, the biblical record is full of God's people who suffered, not necessarily because of anything they did to bring it on themselves:
• Abel was killed by his brother
• Eve suffered the first grief of a mother's loss
• Hagar was treated like a sex slave and then abused when she gave birth to the desired son
• Rachel suffered most of her life with infertility and finally died in childbirth
• Joseph was sold into slavery and then imprisoned after being wrongfully accused
• The entire nation of Israel was enslaved in Egypt
• Samson's parents raised him in the most godly, consecrated way possible and he still turned out bad, even at one point endangering their lives
• Josiah was called the best king Judah ever had ... bar none, and he was killed in battle trying to defend his country
• Ezekiel obeyed God's command to prophecy and was struck speechless for years for his trouble
• Daniel prayed and was fed to the Lions for that heinous crime.
• Jeremiah obeyed God's call to prophecy against Judah and wound up abandoned in a mud pit
• Jesus was the only sinless man to ever live and He was arrested, beaten, scourged and crucified. We know He did that for us, but that wasn't what was ran up as the official charge.
And just don't get started on Job
Far from our impression that we should be spared suffering for being on God's side, we are told:
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
(1 Peter 4:12 TNIV)
There are important biblical facts we should notice:
There is nothing strange in suffering
Everybody goes through suffering of some kind, and we should not be surprised and feel singled out when it happens to us.
It could be a test
That's kind of what happened to Job. God decided to prove something about His servant to the heavenly powers, specifically to Satan. He wanted to prove Job's faith was more than skin deep. In the process He proved something to Job and his friends. What He proved was this:
Suffering isn't about figuring out the reason behind the suffering but about our response to it.
• Job was told to repent (he hadn't done anything wrong)
• Job was told to curse God and die (He didn't want to do either)
• Job speculated that He was being treated unfairly (God maintains the right to treat His creatures anyway He sees best)
In all, Job: complained, protested his innocence, and asked for a chance to argue his case before God. He got his chance, though he backed out pretty quickly.
Many of the believers I know are suffering from something. It seems there is more cancer in the world today than ever before, but that is probably just my perception. People
• lose jobs
• have family conflicts
• have physical and mental conditions that give them intolerable pain
• incur disabilities that trap them inside bodies that don't work right
Peter says, don't feel singled out. Don't be surprised. This stuff happens to many people, even believers.
With God, testing begins at home
Sometimes in suffering there is an element of judgement. It would be unscriptural to deny it.
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" (1 Peter 4:16-18 TNIV)
This is a hard scripture. It sound like Jesus' work on the cross is not enough. But that is not the case. Instead, our suffering may be a refining. It is God's way of bringing troublesome sinful areas in our lives to the surface and scraping them away, as a refiner removes impurity from molten metal.
When this happens to gold, the gold is purified, but when it happens to straw, the whole thing turns to ash. If a believer must suffer, rejoice that ultimately, your suffering is not the same as those who are outside the kingdom of Christ. We suffer here and now, but that suffering is eternal. Our fiery test is immediate, the fires of Hell are eternal.
I am encouraged that God does not punish without specific warning. Certainly the Bible is full of the record of God judging His people, but it is just as full of prophets warning of judgement, with opportunities for repentance and restoration. God does not stand back and say: "You have the Bible, you knew better, and now you're paying the price." Instead, most of the First Testament is taken up with prophets patiently reminding God's people of His word.
This kind of suffering is more like the loving discipline of a father
loving is not the same as gentle, the way we like to think of Jesus, but a father's discipline must be harsh enough to change us:
And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? (Hebrews 12:5-7 TNIV)
I never was disciplined as a child when I felt dad was being gentle. Quite the opposite. It never felt, at the time, like dad loved me. It felt as if he were angry and sometimes I was convinced he hated me. His words might say, "I love you," but the pain said something else. The discipline he applied was not meant to hurt me in the bigger sense, but to steer me in an appropriate direction.
God imposes limits
Another thing we know from Job, that he didn't know, was that in the heavenly conversation between God and Satan, God did not allow Satan unfettered access to Job. He imposed limits that would leave room for God's restoration and Job's tolerance levels. That is not to say that a Christian cannot break under the pressure of suffering. Not at all, a Christian can. God does not want us to rely on our own strength to persevere, but on His. But the level of temptation is kept at a tolerable level. There will always be a righteous response option, even if it is a painful one.
Sometimes people suffer because they are believers
For the most part we think of extremes in this regard. There are Christians in the Sudan and in Iran who are suffering for their faith, no doubt about it. They are enslaved, imprisoned, even sometimes tortured and killed for believing in Jesus. We must pray for our fellow citizens of God's kingdom.
Sometimes, though, the suffering is more subtle.
• People are harassed at work. They may even lose their jobs.
• At school students are discriminated against because their teachers are atheists or because their classmates think they are socially backward.
• As Mennonites we know pacifists are usually billed as cowards, traitors, or moral freeloaders in a society that values military strength more than anything else in the national budget.
Whether a person's suffering is brought on by their faith or not, we can be sure of this:
Jesus suffered too
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
(1 Peter 4:13-14 TNIV)
We suffer, sometimes for His name, because He suffered. We like to think His suffering eliminated our suffering but He warned against that kind of thinking. Whether we suffer as a matter of the natural course of life in a fallen world where pain and struggle are normal, or whether we suffer as a result of our place in Christ, our suffering is a cause for joy.
That makes no sense.
But Peter says, "look at it like this, You and Jesus have something in common."
God is there
But not all suffering is about discipline. Another truth about the suffering of God's people is that it does not go unnoticed by God. Look at Jesus' words:
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:28-31 TNIV)
This passage is, of course, about religious persecution, but the principle that makes it work applies to all kinds of suffering:
even the very hairs of your head are all numbered
That counts whether your hair is being jerked out by a person who hates Christians or whether it is one of the minor symptoms of growing old or whether it is falling out, burned by chemotherapy. God is watching you and caring for you, even when it seems He is far away.
Some odd words
are associated with these scriptures:
encouragement
rejoice
don't be afraid
praise God
you are blessed
do not be surprised
We are asked in the Bible not to react negatively to suffering. This is a hard thing, but we are encouraged to embrace it, to think of it as an opportunity. We are tempted to lose faith and to look for reasons for our suffering, but Peter says this:
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:19 TNIV)
God loves you. This is one unchangeable fact. "God so loved the world ..." Even if you have a hard time believing God loves you personally, the Bible is clear that He loves everyone. Even if you reduce yourself to a faceless cog in the sinful masses, God loves you and wants to save you. He wants you to be with Him for eternity.
In that regard, suffering we experience is not the ultimate expression of God's thoughts toward you. At best it is part of living in a fallen world. At worst it is a shaping means to an end.
• It is never an expression of hatred
• It is never without limit
• It is never without purpose
Truly, in this life, we may never fully understand our suffering or the suffering of those we love, or even the suffering of those we hate. This message only scratches the surface of the many spiritual dimensions of suffering.
Our suffering is less about its cause and more about our response to it. We must still look to the right thing to do in every situation, to be a holy representative of God in this endangered world. Continue doing good.
We must take suffering as an opportunity to learn new depths of trust in God. We must not give in to the temptation to rail against Him, but we must commit ourselves to Him. We may ultimately fail, but if we are exercising our faith, next time we need it, it will be that much stronger.
