Suffering and the Power and Presence of God
I am still reflecting on what God showed me during my recent time in Africa. Many of the thoughts I had in Africa are recorded in my posts from each day on the trip, which lasted from March 18 till April 15, 2015. But since I have returned I have wrestled with the thought that there was one ultimate idea that God wanted to raise up in my mind. As I prayed, one word kept coming to me over and over again; that word was ‘suffering’. Suffering is ‘sacred ground’. It is personal and individual. I enter into this subject with trepidation, trusting that if God wants me to walk (metaphorically, I hope) in the ‘land of the suffering’ He will show me what He wants me to say because, although I have suffered in my life, I am no expert. So, here goes.
To suffer is to undergo pain, distress, or hardship; often extreme pain and distress. To be human is to suffer. There is suffering in the world right now, for example in Iraq and Syria, that is so mind numbing, so unspeakable, our minds cannot comprehend the pain. There is suffering in Africa and America. The daily suffering I saw in Africa greatly exceeds the suffering I generally see in my own life and the lives of the people around me in America, although America has many of the same problems that I saw in Uganda. And I only saw the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
Chaotic is the word that came to mind as I drove into Kampala from Entebbe airport. The BBC reports that Africa has the highest rate of road traffic fatalities in the world, accounting for 16% of the world’s road traffic deaths despite having only 2% of the world’s vehicles. There are laws in Uganda, but I have been told that they are not generally enforced. There is corruption. Violence and abuse directed toward women and children are common. On my last night in Kampala, I met a young pastor and his wife. They told me about their ministry to Aids orphans and prostitutes who make the streets their homes. I saw slums as we drove by, but didn’t go into them on this trip. Conditions there are desperate. In Kenya, I worshiped in a church on the edge of one of Nairobi’s largest garbage dump. From a distance I saw people combing the dump for food and items to sell. I am sure there are similar dumps in Kampala. One pastor told me that in Ugandan culture, no one really talks about their emotional pain and woundedness, especially if resulting from abuse. I spoke with several Ugandan men and all told me the same thing: they never knew the love of their fathers; in many cases they never knew their fathers at all, a situation increasingly common in America. Polygamy and infidelity are typical. Parasites, like worms and amoebas, are common. HIV is widespread. Malaria is also endemic in East Africa. Malaria is a killer, especially among the young and elderly. Life in Uganda is relatively short by Western standards. Most people do not live beyond their 50s.
Judy and I saw the potential for suffering in Uganda when we visited a doctor and his family in Kampala. This Ugandan doctor and his wife have two children. The youngest is about 1-year old. While we were at their home their baby developed a fever. The doctor and his wife needed to take him to the doctor’s clinic to get the baby’s blood tested for malaria. Every time their children have a fever they need to get this test. We babysat the older child and they returned about an hour later. Fortunately, the test was negative. What about the other babies in Uganda who do not have quick access to blood tests and treatment for malaria? Sadly, many children in Africa die daily from this disease.
Of course, we suffer in America. In a Bible Study last week, even before we began to open our time with prayer, we heard about an older man whose 20-year old son unexpectedly died, a man who poured his money into a new business only to have his main customer cancel all his contracts forcing him to lay off long-time employees, a woman who has recently undergone a horrific treatment for cancer, and another man who is relearning to walk after days of brain radiation. These examples were shared in just the first few minutes of the meeting. Recently an amazing young Christian wife and mother of three daughters died from cancer. Another brother in Christ I know is watching his young daughter waste away from cancer that is, at this stage, untreatable. And like in Africa, this is just the tip of the iceberg, a very, very large iceberg. We read about of men and boys executed, women raped, and young girls sold into slavery in Syria and Iraq. The suffering that I see in America is generally not on this scale. But just under the surface of society here there are horrors just as brutal as anywhere else in the world — for example, in the lives of young girls and boys or held captive for satanic-ritual abuse or sold as sex slaves. There are degrees of suffering, but all suffering is evil, although God can use suffering to bring good into our lives and the world.
The Church has wrestled with the reality of suffering and evil for thousands of years. If God is sovereign, all good, and all powerful why does He allow suffering and evil to exist? The short answer is that although God is all powerful, good and sovereign, He gives men and women freedom to choose to worship God or something else. It is the worship of ‘something else’ that releases evil into the world, or at least much of it. God does not override our choices and their consequences. God desires His children to love Him and to love one another. Love requires the freedom to choose. Freedom to choose God means that we also have freedom to choose to worship another god, which boils down to choosing to worship ourselves under the authority and control of satan. It is this choice that has the potential to release unmitigated evil and suffering into the world.
Much of the really intense suffering in the 20th and 21st Centuries has been done by men in secular states. The 20th Century was the bloodiest in human history: Armenian genocide, World Wars 1 and 2, state-induced starvation in the Ukraine during the reign of Stalin, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Uganda during Ida Amin and his successors, Rwanda, the Balkans, to name some, all perpetrated by secular states. The 21st century is not starting off on a better foot. The horrific annihilation of non-ISlS people in parts of Syria and Iraq is an unspeakable tragedy. Then there is suffering or evil that defies explanation, like earthquakes and other natural disasters, and many types of diseases and illnesses. Christians are not immune. We suffer along with the rest of the world. In some parts of the world Christians are being exterminated.
I remember the title of a book “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” Bad things happen to everyone, not just good people. And, really, there are no good people. We all fall short of the glory of God. In our fallen state we are all capable of doing evil. We say “surely not”. But Jesus reminds that to gossip about or malign another is the same, in God’s eyes, of murder. Who by this definition is not a murderer?
So why does God allow suffering? There is mystery in our walk with Christ; this is perhaps the most fundamental mystery of all. I do know this (by faith and experience) – God is all good and all powerful. God does not condone or enjoy our suffering; in general He is not the source of our suffering. Sometimes He inflicts or causes suffering to accomplish His specific purposes (e.g. the death of His own Son on the cross), but that is not His normal way. We are His children – what father will give his child a snake when he asks for a fish or a stone when he asks for bread? I call evil, evil. God is not evil. He is good. If we persist in finding our value in other gods, like Israel did during the time of King Asa or Ezekiel describes in Ezekiel 8 — 10, we will reap the same bitter harvest. In 2 Chronicles 15: 2 “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” Sometimes God lets us have what we want.
As I read over this previous paragraph again I am struck by the sentence “why does God allow suffering”? It is not so much that God allows suffering, it is that God allows His children freedom to choose. He warns us to worship Him alone, because He knows that when we worship other gods, including the standard triumvirate of gods – sex, money, and power – we will suffer and we will release evil into the world. Of course, that answer does not address the other types of unavoidable suffering mentioned above. The Bible tells us that when Adam rejected God, the world was plunged into chaos and darkness. Our suffering is a consequence of this fateful decision; what Christians call ‘the fall’. So in this sense, all suffering can be traced back to God’s gracious gift of freedom. It is Jesus who rescues us. “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1: 13). The Kingdom of the Son = the Kingdom of light.
These are not philosophical questions. Many people refuse to believe in or follow a God who they think allows an 8-year old child to die from leukemia. I would not follow that God either. But our God is not the one who took the life of this child. Our God is the One who gave the life of His son so that suffering and the evil that causes it would ultimately be vanquished from the earth. In the meantime, God weeps over the death of every child.
I don’t know why evil exists, but I do know where God is in the midst of suffering – He is with His suffering children. God Himself is not immune to suffering. His only Son died a premature , horrific death on the cross. He endured the same type of suffering that every parent who loses a child knows. We call Jesus “The Suffering Servant".
The questions for me are not ‘why does God allow suffering?’ or even ‘where is God in the suffering?’ but how do I, or anyone else, respond to suffering; how can we stand in the face of suffering? Nietzsche wrote “to live is to suffer. To survive is to find some meaning in the suffering”. Victor Frankl, Nazi concentration camp survivor and author of ‘The Meaning of Life’ gave this perspective on suffering (and I paraphrase): “I can not control suffering, I can only control how I respond to suffering”. And even here we humans are incapable of little – for the most part I have no control over how I respond to my suffering. It can be bigger than me.
Christians often chose one of two different ways to respond to suffering: they get angry at God or they praise Him. I understand the anger. That seems to me to be a normal human reaction. But to praise God in my suffering? How does that work? I do not praise God for causing my suffering; He is not the source of my suffering. He is not the cause of disease, addiction, depression, the death of a spouse, or any of the other sources of suffering. But He is always, in all circumstances, worthy of praise. He is God – all knowing, all powerful, beautiful, gracious, good, and present. I was made to worship Him. He alone is worthy of worship, and what better time to worship Him than when I am suffering. Was God worthy of praise when my life was good? Then this God, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, is worthy of praise when my life is difficult. When I worship I can be set free. Maybe not physically, but emotionally and spiritually. I look beyond myself when I focus on Jesus. Worshiping God is independent of how I am feeing on any given day. I can always worship Him. And when I worship I draw close to Him and He draws close to me. There is always comfort in that.
In America we have options to help alleviate or eliminate much of our suffering; in a sense to bring it back under our control, to lessen it’s effects. We have law enforcement to call on if we are abused, counseling, doctors and hospitals, 12-step programs, medicines and other venues through which we can pursue healing and wholeness. Of course, we have one another, which can be a great comfort (or a great source of pain when the ones we depended upon disappear). We have a safety net that catches most, although not all, Americans. In general, these are the places we turn to when we suffer. They are all good options. We are blessed to have so many people and places to turn to heal and protect us. But they also allow us to forget about God.
In East Africa, where suffering is commonplace, they have no infrastructure to which they can turn, no safety net. When women and children are abused, they accept it and generally do not talk about their pain. When East Africans get sick there is no medical care for most of them, at least none that they can afford. When Christians in East Africa suffer they turn to their only hope – Jesus Christ.
In Africa, Jesus is essential. In Western Christianity, because of our vast resources, Jesus is nonessential. He is not generally at the top of our list to meet us in our suffering until all, or at least most, of the other options are exhausted. Sadly for many other people in America, Jesus isn’t on the list at all. The resources available to Americans are true blessings from God. But these blessings have not drawn us closer to God, even though they are His gifts to us; they have driven us farther from Him. We have become more confident in our own resources and these gifts cause us to diminish our reliance on God. Or, as Tim Keller says in his book ‘Judges For You’ “We can now see how sin and grace function on two completely opposed bases. In grace, God takes even our weaknesses and failures (and I would say sufferings) and uses them for us, but in sin, we take even His gifts and strengths and use them against Him.”
In the midst of ineffable suffering, African Christians are experiencing the outpouring of God’s Power and His Presence. In their suffering, God makes them stronger. As they depend upon and cry out to God “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me” He meets them in the depth of their suffering. He commonly brings healing, other types of miracles that only God can do, and makes them whole. He is their source of peace and joy in the darkest circumstances, even if He does not heal them physically. He is moving in the churches, among the pastors, growing congregations. Worship is exuberant and joyful because they are celebrating a God who is manifestly moving and working among them and is, as I said above, worthy of worship. He is real every day to the average African Christian. When people are called forward for prayer the entire church surges to the front. They covet prayer because prayer is efficacious. God is essential. The Kingdom of God is evident and light is overcoming the darkness. In the face of suffering, many of the Christians we met in Africa are joyful and hopeful, a testimony to the words of Paul:
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you my have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light” (Colossians 1: 10 – 12).
In the West, where we have many options to mitigate suffering, we are generally more anxious and fearful, less joyful and less peaceful. The Church is struggling to survive. Sure, there are dynamic churches, but churches are closing in much of Europe and North America. Thousands of churches in the U.S. Northeast have closed over the last 20 years and are now either shuttered or turned into community centers. The culture in the West is turning against the Christian Church. Some are even equating Christianity with hate crimes and marriage has been redefined. God is ridiculed or totally ignored as a throw-back to a time before ‘science’, which will (in many peoples minds) be our ‘salvation’. Paradoxically, in the part of the world most endowed with material blessings provided by God, God is the most forgotten. I am not advocating suffering as a means of building faith, but in this life, where suffering will occur, Africa and the Middle East help us see how God uses the suffering of His children to build His Kingdom and rescue His people for His glory.
As I was waiting for my appointment in a doctor’s office I thumbed through the pages of a book I found on a coffee table. Each page was the story, in her words, of a breast cancer survivor. I was surprised to see how many of these women said that breast cancer was one of the best things that had happened in their lives. Many wrote that is was in the midst of that suffering that they felt the presence of God most intimately; that they realized how powerful God was, and how deeply He loved them. They were transformed by their suffering as they met and walked with Jesus. Many wrote that they cherished that time and would not trade it for anything.
God says “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit” (Isaiah 57: 15). It is when the Christian is suffering, weak, and broken that God can be most present and powerful in their life; it is then that we often turn completely to God, surrendering our will to Him. When I am blessed, strong, and whole I tend to be the most distant from God. Paul talks about this paradox in 2 Corinthians 12: 8 -10. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power (Jesus says) is made perfect in weakness. Therefore (Paul says), I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul suffered. But he rejoiced in his suffering, because when he suffered, God’s power was strong in him. It was this power that allowed Paul to accomplish his mission for Christ: to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world. As Paul said, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power” (1 Corinthians 4: 20).
To be human is to suffer. To be human is also to act to prevent and minimize suffering. No rational man or woman enjoys or invites suffering. We hate suffering; God hates suffering also. In my culture and to some extent in my life the avoidance of suffering has become the ultimate concern. In one sense, the avoidance of suffering is the same as the fear of rejection. We will turn away, we will back down, we will not risk, we will hide, we will isolate ourselves, we will deny, we will lie, cheat, and steal to avoid any type of suffering. We might even kill if that will prevent suffering for ourselves or those we love.
God is asking me a question. What is more important? Living in intimacy with Me, glorifying Me, working with Me to accomplish My eternal purpose, enjoying Me forever, or avoiding suffering at all costs? Our Western culture has chosen the latter. Our culture is replete with activities designed to make us happy and content – the opposite of suffering. Illicit drugs, entertainment, money, sex, power, accomplishments, and possessions. We have many ways to medicate our suffering, broken hearts and minds. These and the worship of many other types of gods all promise the same thing to us. “I will totally fulfill you, if you will totally surrender to me”. In other words, “if you surrender to me, you will not suffer” or “I will minimize your suffering and heal you”. And in our culture in the West we have bought into that lie. The truth? You will suffer, no matter what. If you chose to believe the lie, you will just suffer without God and too often, alone. Remember Ebenezer Scrooge? Suffering, alone.
Suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to us; suffering without God is. And we have the choice. It is possible to find peace, joy, and power is our suffering. I saw that in Africa. As the breast cancer patients testified – they never felt more alive than when they were battling cancer. I will seek medical attention if I get sick. Our doctors are one of God’s blessings to us. But first I will turn to God, seek, and cry out to Him – “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”. I will see (I hope) my suffering as an opportunity. And I will go on seeking and crying out. Not that I would chose suffering. No! I would not. But when it comes, my suffering is too important to waste. In my suffering I believe I will meet Jesus; He will walk with me. He will be my strength, hope, and, I hope, my healing. But no matter what, He will deliver me in my distress from the desert of suffering into a well-watered garden, the Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden where I can live intimately with Him for eternity. And if my suffering accomplishes that for me, then it will not have been purposeless. As Nietzsche says: I will have survived – I will have found the meaning in my suffering.”
I have suffered in my life. At the time that suffering seemed more than I could bear. In hindsight, I have not really experienced deep suffering. So, these bold words challenge me. I can write them, because I believe them to be true; but when the time comes, can I really live them? I hope so. But if I cannot, God’s grace will still sustain me in my weakness and somehow I will experience His power and His presence. And in His presence that power will give me life. I believe that by faith.