Faith

The Mystery of Suffering

by PEGGY HARVEY
12/31/14
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When we speak of suffering as a mystery it’s not simply a matter of addressing the question “What is suffering?” or the deeper, universal question “Why do the righteous suffer?”  Suffering at its core is vastly more complex than these questions alone.  In times of suffering, the more difficult questions about God’s care for humanity are raised, when in anguished tones we ask, “Don’t you realize, God, that this hurts us?”  “Don’t You care enough to stop the pain?”  What does it mean to God when we experience pain and suffering?  Is God uninvolved and insensitive to our hurting?  Can God identify with our pain?  There is hardly a person who does not have personal acquaintance with suffering and who hasn’t wrestled with these questions. 

When we look at suffering in Scripture, the Bible character most familiar to us as one who suffered immensely is Job.  In fact, Job’s story is so proverbial that it reaches outside the realm of Christendom.  There is scarcely a person, Christian or otherwise, who is not familiar with Job’s experience of suffering. 

In the prologue of the book (1:1-2:13), Job is introduced as a righteous man with a large family of three daughters and seven sons.  The scene then turns to the divine council between God and Satan.  Satan gibes that Job’s righteousness is motivated by personal advantage and has not been tested by hardship.  He asserts that if God will touch all that Job has, he will surely curse God to His face.  In unfathomable mystery to the human mind, God gives Job into the hands of Satan and the drama unfolds as we see Job lose everything very suddenly: his livestock, his servants and his children.  But all this devastation did not break Job or shatter his faith: “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (1:22).

Unhindered in his attempt to prove the imperfection of Job’s character, Satan challenges God to touch Job’s bone and his flesh.  If the loss of everything valuable and dear to Job didn’t break him, certainly the added adversity of bodily pain will cause him to curse God to His face.  Again, God gives Job into Satan’s hands and the drama continues as Job is inflicted with painful boils all over his body.  But the final blow, and perhaps the most painful, is the loss of his wife’s support both in regard for him and in her faith: “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). In spite of all this, Job remains faithful to God (2:10).

For anyone reading Job’s story, a number of questions are raised about God’s care for humanity.  Most notably is God’s purpose in allowing Job to be tested so severely.  I will discuss two points to address this question.  First, is the fact that God, not Satan, initiates the dialogue that leads to Job’s testing.  In verses 1:8 and 2:3 it is God who says to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job?”  At first glance, it appears that God is giving Job over to Satan’s power with little regard for Job’s welfare or personhood.  But a closer look at “My servant” reveals what God is ultimately affirming about Job.  When God poses the question “Have you considered My servant Job” to Satan, God speaks about Job with affection and pride.  In the Old Testament only a favored few have been called the Lord’s servant (cf. Gen 26:24; Num 12:7; 2 Sam 3:18).  Counting Job among His favored servants, God is praising Job and repeats what has been said in verse 1.  Good and honorable men are rare, and when God perceives a righteous man, He is delighted.

This brings us to the second point, the fact that God knows the test that is going on in Job’s life, and He has even permitted it.  What possible reason is there for this man of faith to undergo such excruciating pain and suffering at the hands of Satan?  While it’s difficult to conceive of such a loving God allowing Job to be tested so severely, we need to see Job’s suffering in light of God’s sovereign purpose: to affirm His ultimate confidence in Job’s faith.

While Satan is cynical about the sincerity of Job’s righteous character, God knows Job is blameless and upright.  He is confident that a man of Job’s character cannot easily be broken and He sets out to prove it.  Through a series of devastating events and horrific circumstances that would likely break one’s faith and confidence in God, Job possesses an unbroken faith that pleases God and proves to Satan that Job is, indeed, a “man [who is] blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (1:1).

So how does Job’s story most powerfully speak to Christians when we encounter suffering?  This question is best answered by addressing a deeper, more profound question.  We are well aware of the challenge to humans of believing in and trusting God, especially during times of suffering.  But rarely do we consider the issue from God’s perspective: “Does God believe in us?”  “Can God believe in me?”  As was the case with Job, God also seeks to affirm His ultimate confidence in our faith.  God knew the depth of Job’s character and was confident He could trust him to remain faithful despite all odds against him.  Likewise, God knows us intimately and the faith we possess as a gift from Him (cf. Eph 2:8-9).  Hence, God is certain of the ability we possess through Christ to remain faithful in the midst of all circumstances.  So we do not despair. Rather, we rejoice that the proof of our faith, though tested by trials and suffering, will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Pet 1:6-7).  

No doubt, Job’s story speaks powerfully to anyone who has personal acquaintance with suffering.  But Job is not alone in Scripture as one who speaks to human suffering at its worst.  The prophets also give voice to some of the most agonizing suffering in all of the world’s religious literature.  Jeremiah is one such prophet who suffered greatly.  His story is prevailing yet addresses an element of suffering whose relevance to our own lives is often overlooked.  

Jeremiah’s suffering is most vividly portrayed in verses 8:18-9:1.  Here, we see Jeremiah’s passionate grief over Judah.  As prophet, Jeremiah was called by God to preach a message of unavoidable ruin for the kingdom of Judah – divine judgment for violating their covenant agreement they had made at the time of Moses when they came out of Egypt.  Because Jeremiah was called to bear this message of judgment upon his own people, he was never a dispassionate observer of his nation’s suffering.  His steadfast allegiance to God and His commands, united with deep love for his own people and his own land, tore his heart apart so that he cried out, “My heart is faint within me!” (8:18).  Since God’s people (the daughter of my people) are broken (8:21), Jeremiah too is broken.  Jeremiah is overcome with mourning and dismay (9:1), for Judah could not be restored while she remained rebellious and unrepentant (8:22).  

Jeremiah suffered deeply.  But unlike his fellow countrymen, Jeremiah suffered not because of a lack of relationship with God, but because of his relationship to God.  Jeremiah is broken over Judah because God too is broken.  Just as Jeremiah is overcome with mourning so too is God.  Jeremiah is so bound into the existence of God that he feels overwhelmingly the sense of God’s passionate caring.  Jeremiah is suffering because he is experiencing in the depth of his being the pain and grief of God. 

Jeremiah’s words and experience give voice to the truth that God is intimately involved with human life to an extent that far exceeds anything like ours.  We are sensitive, but God is vastly more sensitive.  This means that, when one of us hurts, God suffers pain to a degree that we cannot begin to fathom.  When we do something improper in the way of even a “slight misdemeanor,” God feels intensely beyond description.  He grieves, gets angry, struggles, and also feels great mercy, gentleness, and compassion more than we can possibly comprehend or imagine.

The fact that God allows suffering is a mystery.  But we must keep in mind that God is not the cause of evil or the source of all suffering.  Sometimes He allows suffering because we need it – a means of spiritual discipline (cf. Heb 12:4-11).  And sometimes suffering is merely the result of the fact that we live in a fallen world, and thus originates from Satan (cf. Gen 3:4-5; Jn 8:44).  In either case, it is crucial to remember that God is affected by what we do and cares about what happens to us to degrees we cannot begin to comprehend.  When we hurt, God hurts to an extent that we cannot begin to fathom.  When we weep, God weeps with an intensity beyond our human comprehension.  God cares deeply and passionately about humanity, and He cares about our suffering.

So how should we respond?  What God wants is surrender.  For us to relinquish our desire to make sense of suffering and submit ourselves to the fact that the many facets of suffering which humans experience is something that can never be fully comprehended this side of heaven.  In our finite understanding of life and the events around us, why people suffer will always remain a mystery to humankind.  So while we live out our lives here on earth we faithfully persevere and trust our lives to God, confident that in His sovereignty He can bring good out of the worst evil and suffering.