Do you want to make someone really uncomfortable? Do you want to watch them question your intentions and even get a little mad at you? Do you want to crush a spiritual lie that has dominated for little too long: that nothing can hurt you if you just believe in the wisdom of God?
But maybe the truth is, everything is not all going to just turn out ok. Will that shatter the foundation of faith? It shouldn’t. Will that steal away the pain relieving pills and expose an addiction to comfort? Maybe it should.
What if you exposed the uncomfortable wisdom of God?
If you want to make some good, old-fashioned waves in the Christian fish pool, tell someone that pain and suffering is a blessing from God. That usually sends minds and hearts reeling. Many get into this Jesus gig for the promise that our problems would be solved, our pain would subside, our world would make sense. You know, God opens windows and walks with you across sandy seashores when things get tough, right? Sure, a few of us experience these kinds of perks from time to time. But these moments ironically point away from God’s wisdom.
If you want to challenge someone’s understanding of God’s good wisdom, you must introduce to them our good friend, Job.
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” (Job 3:20, 25,26)
Why can I see the depths of trouble? What does this miserable kind of life mean for me? Especially for one who trusts and loves the Lord? See, Job was no stranger to trusting in God, the Almighty One who could make all of his trouble go away. Yet God did not make Job’s pain go away. In fact, according to this account, God caused it.
If you want to make the point even clearer, tell a Christian that Job wasn’t the only one. Prayers in the Bible say over and over again, Why me? How Long, Oh Lord? Do you see my pain? Do you remember me? Even Jesus, the Son of God, cries out to his Father from a cross of shame, “Why have you forsaken me?” People across time and space have been connected by this thread of suffering. We all have experienced it.
And, like Job said above, it is enlightening.
Suffering is not the path that a Christian wants to take, nor anybody for that matter. And so, whole understandings of God and this world have been constructed to avoid the ways of suffering. Don’t do that because it hurts. Stay away from that because I don’t like the way that feels. It must be wrong because I can’t find legitimate reasons for this pain experienced. But our suspicions about suffering are not from the same perspective as the wisdom of God. And so, we may need to examine our theology of suffering. And why we can’t (and shouldn’t) try to escape it.
One thing we will learn from experience is that all of us will suffer something. It could be the physical pain from an injury or disease. It may be emotional distress or depression. Suffering can come from the inside and from the outside, from consequences earned or undeserved persecution. It is true enough, each of us can feel that something is not right. So just as Job sat in the ashes, destroyed and undone by his suffering, close friends also sat there with him because of their own experience in pain.
It is here in the dirt, unraveled in pain, this is where important questions are naturally asked. Who is to blame? Why me? What now? Suffering strips away the imaginary bliss of our unexamined condition. The questions are good, because the answer really matters. The answer may not be what you think, but it reveals where you have placed your hope, your trust, and ultimately your meaning for enduring this present pain.
Be aware, then, of those who surround us in the midst of our pain try to help answer our questions of suffering. Here is where things quickly go off the rails. Job had several people to offer him a pathway through. Curse God and die, said his wife. (Job 2:9) Give up and give in. There is nothing you can do. Of course that would solve Job’s present pain, because it would all be over. Eliminating the life that must suffer is certainly one answer. Kill the baby, save the mother, preserve his dignity, I’m glad they are not suffering anymore. This avoidant answer to suffering disguises death as compassion. But no, that is the easy escape. Solving suffering with death is a cop-out. Job knew. He struggled for relief, but that was not the answer to his suffering.
Job’s friends also attempted to answer. They took a step back, drew a deep breath, and offered more solutions to solve the pain. They combed through his life, looking for points of improvement. Who is to blame? Job, you must take ownership. Why you? You could have done better. What now? Get to work! Repent! Free yourself from your past. Don’t wait around in these ashes, no one is coming to get you. Wipe your tears and get back up. Solving your own suffering, by whatever means possible, seems to be the empowering choice: liberation, prosperity, harnessing your own power.
But Job couldn’t stop all the suffering. In his case, he didn’t even do anything to deserve it in the first place. Even if he did, Job himself as a savior was a losing battle. God agreed. The Lord angrily expressed to Job’s empowered friends, “My anger burns against you, for you have not spoken of me what is right.” (Job 42:7)
Still, Job encounters one more voice. Elihu says something completely different about suffering. This is God’s fault. And there is nothing Job can do to fix it. It is not up to any human to stop suffering or solve suffering. Rather it is a great and wonderful act of God. “Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.” (Job 37:13-14)
Nailed it! But this doesn’t solve Job’s problems.
And suffering remains.
So this is where the Christian squirms. He asks himself, suffering??? What did I sign up for? My abundant faith should be solving problems, not revealing them!!
Congratulations, my dear Christian. Finally you have caught sight of the wisdom of God.
Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason to suffering. Every time, we have no solution and no control.
“What shall I answer? I lay my hand on my mouth.” (Job 40:4)
THIS is the answer to every impossible question.
Cover your mouth.
Do you remember what He said? Shut out the chattering voices. Unplug from the complicated, vain, self-help philosophies. Just shut up! Alongside the ancient prophets and the heroes of our Faith. Simply listen. You will suffer, but you will not be destroyed.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
You will not perish. Eventually all suffering will end. That is the promise that God gives to you by Christ. However, this means you will suffer, now, for a time. But, NOW is short. Suffering is your gift of focused time to listen. There’s nothing else to do. Learn now, when you are most vulnerable: the wisdom of God gives you the only honest answer.
When our inadequacies to fix suffering are exposed, we are left with only Christ. When we can finally admit the pain is too overwhelming to solve, one answer remains. Christ. A true theology of suffering allows God speak His promise to you. This is the beginning of wisdom: suffering is good.
Cover your mouth.
And listen.
