More about suffering

What do you think your reaction would be if you experienced suffering on a grand scale?  I would love to say that I would experience a period of anger like anyone would and then come through it closer to God, but I do not know if that would be the case.

Why do I say this?  It is easy to figure out if you think about it.  Think about suddenly going blind, deaf, crippled and then about how much your life would change.  Yes I would know that God has a plan in it all, but while waiting to see what that plan is I can see myself growing increasingly frustrated with not knowing what it is.  I assume this comes from pride that I should have some kind of authority over my life and my body.  However, scripture is clear that we died to ourselves when we became Christians. 

Which leads me to my next thought: for Christians, does God ordain suffering to happen for those that can handle it better?  More importantly does suffering always work out something good in the long run?  I do not know the answer to the first question and for a while I struggled with the issue of freedom of choice and personal responsbility that we have in the second one. But I would still have to answer: yes.

An article by Bart Ehrman caught my attention.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/2008/04/why-suffering-is-gods-problem.html

If you do not feel like reading it the summary of it is that Ehrman says he is “no longer a Christian” which is a whole other discussion.  One of the reasons he says this is because he notices that in the Bible many Christians wonder why there is suffering in the world and call out to God, and Ehrman says that God never provides an answer. 

In a way he is right.  God does not fully explain His plan in suffering.  Sometimes that is frustrating, especially when you watch the news and see all the horrors that are facing this world.  Should we be okay we that?  Yes we should.  Even though it sometimes comes off as cold, we should trust in God because we know His character.  We need the faith of a child especially in suffering because we know that God works all things for the good of His children (Romans 8:28).  We must also trust God because we know that if God were to reveal His plan to us it would be way over our heads!

What about those that are not His children?  Is the suffering that they go through simply suffering?  I think we are all inclined to say no, but I could not pinpoint why until I stumbled across a sermon by Andy Naselli from Crossway Church in Kenosha.  Naselli says that the suffering we see on the news in the form of war, tornadoes, hurricanes etc. should lead us to repentance.  I think this rings true for both the Christian and the non-Christian. 

This also applies with the personal suffering that a non-Christian may go through.  I think that one of the main goals God may have in this is to reveal sin in one way, shape, or form.  One of the first steps to salvation is to realize that we are sinful and need a savior.  God uses suffering to lead us to Him!  I’m not just speaking of non-Christians in the last statement.  There is no better way to understand that we are dependant on God except to be in an utter state of helplessness. 

So what is the application?  Be prepared for times of suffering and evil.  Christians are not immune to it.  Build up faith for those times and when the come reflect on the truths that the Bible provides about God’s character.  This is an especially good truth from John Piper in an interview he did on evil.  He uses Hebrews 12:6 as his scripture reference:

“Never doubt that God is totally for you in Christ. If you trust him with your life, you are in Christ. Never doubt that all the evil that befalls you—even if it takes your life—is God’s loving, purifying, saving, fatherly discipline. It is not an expression of his punishment in wrath. That wrath fell on Jesus Christ our substitute. Only mercy comes to us from God, not wrath, if we are his children through faith in Jesus. ‘The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’”