These are the opening lyrics to my friend Aaron's new album
Dreaming of Eternity by Rend the Heavens. Here's my thought: if God knows my heart, then he knows I don't understand suffering.
Dreaming of Eternity by Rend the Heavens. Here's my thought: if God knows my heart, then he knows I don't understand suffering.
C.S. Lewis calls this the impossibility. As humans we find it impossible to understand how a good God could allow suffering. "If God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished." The Problem of Pain
Suffering is one of the greatest painful elements of life, and hence one of the greatest tests we will go through as human beings. It's within these moments we often decide whether to stay as a people of God, or move to create our own identity.
Suffering comes in many forms: personal pain, gossip from a friend, physical discomfort, relational brokenness, loss of a loved one, financial disaster, incurable sickness, lack of something we need, painful self-inflicted choices, and ultimately death. There are many more. These are just a few. I want to explore suffering as an act of obedience in three categories:
1. Suffering Under a Fallen Sinful World.
As I write this my hands quiver, my eyes water. Suffering comes to me in the loss of my daughter, Sabrina. She died a week before she was born, a small still baby, never seeing the light of the dawn, the smiles of her family, or the silence of the christmas eve night in the hospital where we found out that we'd lost her. There are many ways we suffer at the behest of a fallen world. Job's friend's sat around and noticed his suffering was very great (2:13). Mankind was told that all work would be tinted by a touch of suffering (Genesis 3:17-19). The world bends almost to the point of breaking under the weight of suffering.
As a missions pastor, I see this constantly. When I work downtown with low income apartment buildings in downtown Portland there are many who've lost themselves to mental illness, age, or an inability to get themselves clean. Who brought this on them? When we search for our overseas trips we find orphans suffering under the plight of dead or drifting parents. In south america the economy struggles to keep families afloat. Even the land refuses to cooperate when it's told. When we suffering under this fallen world we experience pain unasked for and oftentimes relentless.
2. Suffering at the Hands of Another.
Suffering can also be brought on, not by just a sinful world, but a purposeful action of another. Watching people inflict suffering on another human being is probably one of the greatest tragedies of the human existence. I see this as well as a pastor. As we fight against child prostitution and sex trafficking in the city, we hear stories of incredible suffering. We are told of unthinkable pain passed down since child birth. When we look overseas we see boy soldiers coerced into mutilating family and friends as a sign of their commitment to an unjust cause.
These are tragedies. They are real, just as your life is real. You may have experienced such pain? In the Old Testament we see the people of God suffering at the hands of another. They were taken into captivity time and time again, to lose themselves as they suffer at the pain brought on by another (Lamentations 1:18). Some of the most egregious suffering happens at the hands of others. This can also happen as we suffer for the sake of our beliefs.
3. Suffering for the Sake of the Gospel.
The last category of suffering is suffering for the sake of the gospel. Throughout history many people have suffered for their believe in Jesus. The New Testament records just a few (Romans 5:3; Ephesians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:8, 2:3, 2:9, 4:5; Hebrews 2:9; James 5:10; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 2:13). People give their stature, places in society, even their very lives for the sake of serving Jesus Christ.
We experience this quietly, passive aggressively, here in Portland. The assumption is that belief is cool as long as it's private. Public belief (unless it involves a bike path or green space) is viewed as a dangerous thing, often the enemy to a certain way of life. If you are going to follow Jesus, read your Bible, or pray as the people of God suffering is not optional; it's assumed.
The Impossibility of Suffering
The problem with suffering is that it's all but impossible, in the sense that it can overwhelm. By overwhelm I mean divert us from one way of life to another. We break from our identity as a people of God and sink into something altogether different.
C.S. Lewis uses the following example. "In ordinary usage the word impossible generally implies a suppressed clause beginning with the word unless. Thus it is impossible for me to see the street from where I sit writing at this moment; that is, it is impossible to see the street unless I go up to the top floor where I shall be high enough to overlook the intervening building. If I had broken my leg I should say 'But it is impossible to go up to the top floor' - meaning, however, that it is impossible unless some friends turn up who will carry me. Now let us advance to a different plan of impossibility, by saying 'It is, at any rate, impossible to see the street so long as I remain where I am and the intervening building remains where it is."
May I suggest, we get up from where we are at to see God, life, and suffering for what they all are. God: almighty. Life: necessary. Suffering: inevitable.
Suffering May be Great but God is Greater
"Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire (Deuteronomy 5:24)." Suffering is not reduced when God is great. We still experience the realness of pain and we should not pretend otherwise. And yet, the impossibility of seeing the street should not hinder us from rising up and finding our place with God.
All of life at some point hits a wall of suffering. How will you fair? What will you do? Will you make it? Will you sink into impossibility? Will you lose your place? Will you identify with God?
"His love never ends….You, oh God, are always the same." Dreaming of Eternity, Rend the Heavens
