On Suffering

There comes a time in everyone’s lives when they are faced with one of the most difficult questions: why does a good God allow bad things to happen? This question plagues believers
and unbelievers, young and old, faith-filled or doubting. It is a universal question because all of us, in one way or another, will be faced with suffering in this life. Suffering is an inevitable side-effect of humanity.

You can answer this question one of three ways. One person, when faced with a trial may conclude that God is not real. Another, that He is not good. And yet another, that God is good, in spite of suffering, and in fact, changes the suffering to good in the end. The first two responses are characterized by a similar worldview: one where God is supposed to take suffering away. Failure to do so can only mean He is negligent, sadistic, or even nonexistant. The third response stems from a worldview in which God’s first priority is not to allay suffering, but to achieve some greater purpose, a purpose in which suffering can be used for good. Now, there is truly no easy answer to this question, and in the end, one must be content in leaving it with some measure of faith. However, I think it is important to wrestle with this question and come to terms with God’s response. James 1:5-6 says “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” God is not afraid of our questions - His character and His word can hold up under any scrutiny. But this question must be approached with faith - which means that even if the answer is not to our liking, it does not cause us to doubt God’s goodness but drives us ever closer to Him. In Scripture, God addresses this problem three ways - through the life of Jesus, the purpose of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. All of these have an important message for suffering humanity.

In studying the life of Jesus, one can make a curious observation: Jesus, who walked closely with God, was God, and lived a perfect life according to God’s standards, suffered. He was hungry as he wandered forty days in the wilderness without food. He experienced emotional pain as his nearest and dearest betrayed and rejected him. He grew weary and tired. He experienced the crux of physical pain on the cross. He even experienced spiritual pain as God turned away from Him as He died for our sins. Now, if God told us to endure pain without enduring it himself, we could call Him a hypocrite. If He told us that we would never experience pain as long as we did right by Him and others, we could call him a liar. But God makes no secret of what we are to expect out of life. Jesus is our example in all ways - he suffered (Hebrews 14:50). Jesus not only tells the truth - he is the truth - and he bluntly informs us that we will suffer (John 16:33). Two observations can be drawn from this - that suffering is not a punishment, and the lack of it is not a right. Jesus, as the perfect Son of God, had no need of punishment and every right to avoid pain. However, suffer He did. He suffered every possible pain there is to suffer. While He does not promise us that we will not hurt, He promises to hurt with us. He walks with us in our pain, the best and most understanding of companions because he understands our pain as only a fellow sufferer could. So though we must understand that we must suffer as He did, we can take comfort in the fact that He does not leave us to suffer alone. Two more lessons that can be learned through Christ’s suffering - through it all, he never doubted, blasphemed, or hated God. We are not perfect, and such are the responses of a fallen human being. However, we must remember to emulate Christ in suffering, which means trust and dependence on God, even in the darkest valleys. However, this does not mean we need to grit our teeth and smile and hurt only on the inside. Jesus cried. He prayed for his suffering to be taken away. He so desperately wanted to avoid pain that He sweat blood. Yet through it all, He followed God to the bitter end. In this, He is our example.

We’ve addressed how Jesus suffered and what He suffered - but not why He suffered. Jesus came because all humanity is desperately sick with a disease called sin - and the symptoms of sin are pain, and sadness, and brokeness. However, Jesus did not come to give a quick, easy relief of symtpoms, but to do away with the sickness itself. About a year ago, I began to notice a strange, phantom pain in my wrist. It came and went, and seemed to have no direct cause - it was just there. Throughout the summer I went to several appointments and physical therapy sessions. I had several exams and x-rays performed - none of which gave any hint as to the cause of my pain. Meanwhile, it continued to increase in frequency and intensity, spreading up my arm and down to my hip. Finally, a CT scan was done, which revealed a condition called a Chiari malformation, in which the brain tonsils extend into the spinal cavity. For some, this is present with no symptoms and doesn’t affect quality of life. Others experience headaches and dizziness. Others suffer from a build-up of spinal fluid that presses on the nerves, causing a number of neuropathic symptoms. I was in the third category, and was faced with the troubling solution - surgery. Fast-foward a couple of months, and I had the necesarry operation. At first, it seemed only to make things worse. Now, not only did my arm hurt, but my head and neck as well - not to mention the vomiting brought on by heavy medicine and anesthesia. But the surgery was a success and the post-operative aches and pains went away. However, the arm pain is still there. The surgery was not a guaranteed fix to the symptoms - it was soley to prevent the spinal fluid from continuing to build up. This was discouraging. Not only did I go through a painful surgery and exhausting recovery - but it didn’t seem to make any difference. I was looking at it the wrong way, however. I was never told to expect relief of symptoms, but a cure for my Chiari. The arm pain is still there, but now I do not have the deeper, underlying problem that caused it - and I can live with the hope that someday, the pain will go away. Jesus came to die on the cross to rid us of the bone-deep problem of sin - not its symptoms. And this ridding of sin can be slow and painful - just as some of my pain was a symptom of my Chiari and some of it was a symptom of my healing. Pain is necesarry to rid us of sin, just as ridding us of sin is necesarry to cure our pain. When one accepts Jesus into their heart, life will not magically become wonderful. Believers and unbelievers alike lose loved ones, get sick, experience broken relationships. However, believers have the hope that pain is never pointless, and that one day their symptoms will be relieved. Their sickness has been cured and is still being cured with the bittersweet medicine of Jesus’s death.

Now, Jesus suffered and died, just as we will. But that is not the end of the story. Three days later, the grave was found empty, for Jesus had risen. Risen above pain, risen above death. Now He is seated at the right hand of God in all His glory, and He is coming again. Just as Jesus is our example in suffering, Jesus is our example in outcome. For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus, we have the future hope of the elimination of all our pain. We will live forever in perfect peace, perfect joy. It is essential that even as we suffer, we remember that pain, while inevitable and in many cases, necesarry, is temporary. We have hope in hurting, peace in pain, joy in trial for one reason: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4.

I do not know what you have gone through, are going through, or will go through. But if you are a believer, I would remind you of the hope that you have. Allow yourself to cry, but remember you do not suffer without reason nor without the hope of healing. For the unbeliever, I offer you the cure to all pain and suffering - but most importantly, to the sickness of sin. In Jesus’s blood there is healing and there is hope. All that is necesarry to receive it is to confess that He is Lord, believe that He died and rose again for your sin, and accept His free gift of salvation. To both believers and unbelievers, consider your response to the universal question of pain: do you find God not good or nonexistant? Or do you accept, with faith, that God in His goodness works all pain to your good and His glory?

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.