Last week we spoke about the nature of moral and natural evil as we try to make sense of life. If there is a good, all-powerful, all-knowing God who created the world, why does evil also exist? In review, Augustine defined evil as:
The absence or deprivation of good…the effects of evil tend to be destruction and disorder – a twisting or scarring of nature, and of souls.
Holman’s Bible Dictionary defines evil as:
That which is opposed to God and His purposes or that which, defined from human perspectives, is harmful and non-productive.
These definitions imply that anybody and anything that harms others, opposes God, destroys, or brings disorder can be considered evil. Moral evil is reflected in the injustice, greed, corruption, cruelty, and heinous crimes perpetrated in society today. Natural evils such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis also bring destruction, diseases and disorder to the earth, resulting in the harm of human lives and nature. Augustine had rightly observed that life is not as it was originally meant to be.
Today we are going to be looking at the topic of suffering in this two-part series on Making sense of life. I’m going to talk about 3 things when it comes to suffering:
Making sense of suffering
Seasons of suffering
Hope in the midst suffering
Let’s look at point one:
1. Making sense of suffering
All of us have personally experienced or at least witnessed various levels of suffering which have come through natural or moral causes. I think we can all agree that human suffering is an unavoidable part of human existence. Yet it is one thing to understand this intellectually but when we are affected by it personally it can be harder to make sense of it on an emotional level.
Ulrich Diehl, wrote an article on the psychology of suffering called Human Suffering as a Challenge for the Meaning of Life. Diehl observed that the hardest thing to handle when it comes to human suffering “is when one is not able to experience or grasp any meaning for it.” Vicktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor said:
An essential part of the emotional, cognitive and spiritual suffering of human beings, is to find meaning in it. Finding meaning in suffering is important for people who are seeking emotional relief, a healing cure for their wounded souls or a restitution of their mental health.
Tim Keller described the word “meaning” as having two overlapping senses. The first has to do with purpose - something has meaning if there is an intention behind it. The second has to do with significance - something has meaning if it signifies, points to something beyond itself. People want to find meaning and purpose in every aspect of life, especially when it comes to suffering. I don’t believe any person in their right mind looks forward to suffering, nor do we want others to suffer so we seek ways to alleviate our own pain and suffering and the suffering of others. But as Keller pointed out, we can and will endure pain if it is pointing to some higher purpose beyond itself. If we know what it is all for. The question is: “Where do we find that meaning and purpose behind suffering?”
As we know, one’s worldview determines how we will try to make sense of life. Today we are going to focus on what the biblical or Christian worldview tells us about the purpose of suffering. The Bible sheds light on the fact that we live in a broken world and that suffering can be attributed to being in opposition to God or people making wrong choices whether intentional or in ignorance. The source of our suffering can be physical, emotional, and spiritual. The Bible gives examples of people who have suffered unjustly and those who were on display for the world and the spiritual realm to witness. However, the Bible also teaches us that God can redeem any pain and suffering in the lives of people and use it for His ultimate good purpose.
But what does this have to do with our life experience? There are times that our Christian worldview can be overrun by our emotions especially when the hurt and anguish we experience is prolonged. When C. S. Lewis lost His wife Helen Joy to cancer, it rattled his faith. He said:
I was not in danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not 'So there's no God after all,' but 'So this is what God's really like.
These feelings of grief or suffering can ravage our ability to reason through a situation, especially when that situation devastatingly affects our lives.
The question is: How do we speak to our own hearts or to someone else who has suffered greatly, and out of that suffering begins to doubt the nature of God? What do you say to a parent who has just lost their child to a drug overdose or to a family who has lost a loved one in a car accident?-We know this is not how life was supposed to be, yet in these moments when a person’s emotions are so raw no philosophical, intellectual, biblically correct answers could ever hope to alleviate or cure his or her own suffering or speed up the grieving process. What is needed is a friend who is willing to be a patient, compassionate listener, someone who is willing to walk alongside them, and who will continually lift this person up to God in prayer while they work through their pain. What they don’t need is for us to try to offer solutions, make judgments about the situation or person, or to leave them to suffer in their pain alone. We went for a hike last weekend and someone had a minor fall and I saw how everyone ran to help this person with disinfectant sprays, wipes, bandaids, etc. Then everyone continued on the hike walking around this person for a while, in a sense protecting them. It was a beautiful picture of the healing process that can take place in the body of Christ. Whether physical, emotional, or spiritual when we walk with the person who is suffering and comfort them with the comfort we have received it becomes part of the healing process.
When the storms of pain and suffering come into our lives, we tend to discover what our core beliefs are and what we have built our lives upon. If our foundational beliefs are according to the Truth they will stand the test of time. That is why it is so important to be established in what we believe about the character of God according to Scriptures. God himself is our foundation for genuine hope.
Though we can never really be one hundred percent ready for the emotional impact suffering brings into our lives, having that foundation of hope guides and directs our emotional response to the reality of pain and suffering. Instead of grieving “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess 4: 13-14), hope will always be there even if we don’t see it in the depth of our own darkness. We don’t realize Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we have. When we make sense of God, we are better able to make sense of life, evil and suffering. Which brings us to our second point:
2. Seasons of suffering
Rom 8:18-23 says:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body.
We know that when Paul was writing this he had already experienced incredible suffering from unjust imprisonments, shipwrecks, multiple beatings, deprivations and a chronic debilitating physical condition. He was writing this letter from his personal experience, yet his beliefs were not destroyed by his suffering rather what he believed helped him make sense of it. Paul was willing to go through suffering because he understood what it was all for, to bring the truth of the hope of the gospel to a lost world. His belief didn’t minimize his suffering, it just maximized his hope beyond his present situation.
In verse 20,21 Paul is saying that the world as we know it was not always this way. According to Genesis, God created a world that was good that didn’t have the types of difficulties we faced throughout history. God also created mankind to enjoy this world, to enjoy their relationship with Him and with each other. With creation God also gave Adam and Eve the freedom to choose either to live in the world His way or their own way. We know their choice and its consequences. If history has shown us anything it is that when it comes to choices, we, like Adam and Eve, usually chose the latter. Those poor choices as Augustine said have negatively affected all of nature and every person on this planet. Paul said “all of creation has been groaning up to the present time as in the pains of childbirth - He is explaining a concept of our present suffering to the suffering of a mother giving birth, the pain is quite intense but the pain of childbirth is directly linked to the outcome - that is one of hope and new life. But what do we do with suffering that doesn't go away? Some in Christian circles would say that God doesn't want us to suffer, that we need to believe, claim promises, expect things to change, and do everything we can to make it happen. The problem is, when we do all those things and the suffering doesn't end, what then? This brings us to the last point:
3. Hope in the midst suffering
Hebr 4:15 says,
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
Hebr 2:18 says,
Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering (Hebr 2:18).
The God of the Bible is not immune to suffering, He is not sitting in heaven isolated from our pain, when He was on the earth, he experienced the full range of pain. At an early age, he escaped a genocide, lived as a foreigner in Egypt. When he began His ministry, he experienced rejection, misunderstanding, betrayal, injustice, and torture and died a horrific death on the cross. He was God with us, He suffered as us and for us on the cross. Why? Because He knew what his suffering would accomplish for the whole world. The cross was a world-altering event where the love, compassion and Justice of God met and dealt efficiently with the immensity and penalty of human sin. His death and resurrection showed that evil is defeated, and death has been slain. That there is a future hope for anyone who calls upon the name of Lord. For anyone who places their faith in Christ there is a promise that we will live with Him forever in a place where there is no more suffering, sorrow, separation, pain or death.
In Romans 8 Paul is expressing the same hope. This world with its unimaginable evil and injustice, will not always be this way Vrs 21 says that one day creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. When Christ returns, He will come back to deliver perfect justice as evil will be dealt with forever. God will transform this hurting world and our broken lives into something new. This is the core of our faith in the middle of pain and suffering. This is why Paul said that our seasons of suffering are not worth comparing with what God has in store for us. That gives us hope about the future and that hope gives us joy, even in our present suffering. Paul is not denying that there is anguish and heartache in human suffering but is letting us know that Jesus offers us His hope in the midst of it.
Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon with 3 points which were: Our bad things will turn out for good (Rom 8:28), Our good things can never be taken away from us (Ps 4:6–7), and the best things are yet to come (1 Cor 2:9).
How many times have we quoted Romans 8 when things get bad? “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). Many cut this verse short and say all things work together for good, but is that true? Or they say everything will only work for good if you are loving God - but what if you love God and things continually get worse? Does that mean you were not loving God enough? What about those who are genuinely suffering on account of their faith? A better way to understand this verse:
In all things God works together with those who love Him to bring about what is good
This verse is not saying that all things that happen are good if we only see it from God’s perspective. No, some things that happen bring emotional and physical anguish, beyond human explanation that leave people inconsolable. When bad things happen and they will, will we blame God and be in danger of saying, “so this is what God is really like?” Or will we respond to God in our suffering and pain, pour out our hurts, our questions, allowing Him to heal our hearts, and receive His comfort. There are countless stories of people who have brought good to others because their lives were transformed by God’s grace.
How can our suffering work for good?
Suffering produces intimacy with God (Job 42:5).
Job, who endured unspeakable suffering, said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Job experienced God at a deep, profound level.
Suffering produces growth, maturity, perseverance; character, and hope (Rom 5:3-4)
If we turn toward God in our pain, if we work through it with Him, understanding He is walking with us in every step, He can use our suffering to mature our faith.
Suffering refines us:
Isaiah 48:10 says, “I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”
Suffering has a way of bringing things to the surface. When the heat is turned up and the dross in our life floats to the surface, God skims off that dross so that His reflection can be seen in our lives. It’s the Refiner’s fire.
Suffering allows us to comfort others (2 Cor 1:3-5).
Someone said it this way:
People who suffer want people who have suffered to tell them there is hope…Those who have suffered make the most effective comforters.
Maybe you haven’t suffered so much in life, does that mean God can’t use you to comfort others? I believe when we ask God, He gives us His heart for people who are suffering. We do not know how long the Lord has us here on this earth but we want the Lord to use this life to be a blessing a comfort and encouragement to others to bring others into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
