It's a question every believer in Christ reckons with at one time or another. The death of a loved one. A series of trying circumstances or devastating events. A natural disaster on the scale of the one we're witnessing in Haiti. This issue has certainly been on my mind the past 2 days, and it's an uncomfortable question to wrestle with. In fact, the reason it's such a difficult issue is because so little is revealed to us about it - we probably know less that one percent of all there is to know about it. There simply isn't a good or complete answer for it. But we do have a significant amount of truth to fall back on, truth that we can take to heart and rest in, truth that gives us more than enough confidence in God's goodness and compassion to move forward in faith in Him in the midst of the most unspeakable evil or tragedy.
I want to point out some of those truths in this space. I need to examine them myself to bring grounding to my faith, and I hope they can give some hope to you and help solidify the foundation of your belief in Jesus in the midst of suffering and pain - whether it be while watching the horrible scenes in Haiti or while enduring suffering that's closer to your heart.
Truth #1: Suffering Produces Growth
At my church, North Way Oakland, last week, Pastor Doug Melder quoted Donald Miller's latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In it, Miller cites how in stories the characters change through conflict and hardship. Their character development is centered around the difficulties and sufferings they face. Think of your favorite movie or TV show - every one of them involves characters who face trying or devastating situations: plane crashes on strange and otherworldly islands, relational turmoil, the agonizing choice of whether to save a spouse or a child. All these events are mechanisms for character development and transformation. The writers of these stories model this from real life. The Bible unveils this process numerous times:
Romans 5:3-5
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Hebrews 12:7, 10-11
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
And so on. If we did not face hardship or suffering, we wouldn't grow or change. And God loves us so much that He's not willing to allow us not to grow or change. He wants to shape us into the people we were meant to be, the people He designed us to be.
Truth #2: Suffering is used by God for good
This is directly tied to the first truth. Romans 8:28, an oft-quoted verse, says this: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." All things - bad or good. There are tangible examples of this - both in Scripture and in our own lives as well. The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is the most often used example. Joseph is sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, where he lives for years in various trials and hardships. Yet through it all, Joseph ended up in a position of power in Egypt, and helped prepare the nation for a coming famine, saving thousands, including the brothers who sold him to slavery. At the end, Joseph says this to his brothers: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Genesis 50:20) I know a friend and former student involved with Cru who suffered a terrible accident that left him nearly totally blind and with significant physical setbacks, and he thanked God for the experience because for him, it was a wake-up call. He'd been living arrogantly and neglecting God, and said that God used the accident to draw my friend back to Himself. His faith was stronger, and his maturity much deeper, because of his suffering.
C.S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Sadly, often the only thing that will wake us up to our own sin condition or to our brokenness is pain and suffering. In those cases, God certainly means for that pain to produce much good.
Tim Keller, in The Reason for God, expands on this truth a bit more, and sums it up with this thought: "With time and perspective most of us can see good reasons for at least some of the tragedy and pain that occurs in life. Why couldn't it be possible that, from God's vantage point, there are good reasons for all of them?"
To bring this back to the situation in Haiti, I hate to speculate during a time like this, but one possible outcome of this tragedy is that Haiti is rebuilt as a nation that will be much stronger and more stable than ever. Prior to a few days ago, it was largely ignored and overlooked, the poorest nation in the Americas, and now hundreds of nations and relief agencies are pledging and sending aid in an array of forms: food, water, medicine, money for infrastructure and shelter, etc. The world's eyes are on Haiti, and hopefully will continue to be. What may happen is that the country is rebuilt with newer, better infrastructure and a renewed government, and the aid and support of the world will lead to a stronger Haiti. We can only hope.
Truth #3 Our Vision is Limited by Time
To go back to the quote I just cited from Tim Keller, God's vantage point is vastly different from ours. God is eternal and sees beginning and end. We don't have that luxury, our sight is limited and even over the course of a lifetime, we only see a small sliver of all there is to see. Therefore, we can trust Scripture and our experience that bear out the truth that God is infinitely good and wise, and trust in His plans and purposes. It's arrogant of us to think we can judge whether God is justified in allowing certain sufferings when our sight is so limited.
Truth #4 The Suffering of Jesus
In The Reason for God, Tim Keller brings forward a truth that I'd never considered before - explaining why the suffering undergone by Jesus was far greater, infinitely greater in fact, than any suffering we could undergo. The reason lies not in the physical agony Jesus went through at the cross (which was undeniably great), but in the spiritual agony He bore. Keller says that to understand just how deep Jesus' suffering was in His passion and death, we need first to look at the beginning of the Gospels, where Jesus relationship with the Father is described. John 1:1-18 describes Jesus as eternally with the Father, in perfect relationship, acting in Creation, at the Father's side. With no sin or imperfection, this was an infinitely perfect relationship. Then, when Jesus died, one of the last phrases He uttered was "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). He is crying out in pain, experiencing the depths of separation from the Father. The infinitely perfect relationship is severed. Imagine the depth of pain and anguish Jesus felt. You've perhaps felt the deep agony of a close relationship severed; how much greater the agony of Jesus, whose relationship with the Father is eternal and full of infinite love. Keller says, "Jesus's sufferings would have been eternally unbearable." Yet Jesus willingly faced this suffering on our behalf, voluntarily experiencing the separation from God that we rightly deserved. This is the great substitution in the Gospel, Jesus taking our place, trading our pain and deserved eternal death and crediting us with His perfect and infinite righteousness. It's breathtaking and true.
And because Jesus went through such suffering, and came through on the other side with the resurrection, the defeating of death, He's therefore fully capable of understanding our suffering and carrying us through it. He experienced all that we could ever experience, and more. To sound like a broken record and quote Tim Keller again, he puts it this way: "If we again ask the question: 'Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?' and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we now know what the answer isn't. It can't be that he doesn't love us. It can't be that he is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself."
Then Keller takes the point one step further and brings up the fact that in the resurrection we don't just have a consolation for all our losses and pains, but a "restoration of the life you always wanted". Somehow, when the heavens and earth are renewed, what we experience will be greater because of our suffering, as though our pain and suffering serve to magnify and amplify the greatness of our renewed, reborn, eternal life. Keller quotes C.S. Lewis: "They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it', not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory."
I have no idea how much of those truths speak specifically to the situation in Haiti, or to any particular instance of suffering. But they are truths we can hold to that provide hope and truth when we are despairing and doubting.
I encourage you to check out The Reason for God, chapter 2, by Tim Keller, as it's obviously been my primary source for this post. Another good resource for insight into this topic is C.S. Lewis's book The Problem of Pain, which I've yet to do more than skim but is on my list of things to read soon.
And, as the church is called to offer hope and help in these times of crisis, I encourage you to consider giving to help the Haitian people. Certainly pray, we can all do that, but consider making a donation to help those still struggling to find food, water, and shelter. Campus Crusade has a ministry called the Global Aid Network that provides humanitarian aid paired with the message of the Gospel. Click the link, and information about giving to help Haiti is front and center. And if you haven't joined yet, check out the Help Haiti facebook event for more info on ways to give.
--Jason
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