I am daunted by the question of suffering.
When someone confronts me with this question, my heart races and my
muscles tense. My mind is nothing like an orderly collection of reasoned and
sensitive Biblical reflections. It is empty and bursting at the seams, all at
once. I scramble for an idea, a thought, a concept…
But instead I need to look at a person.
In my last post I talked about how God reveals himself to us in
Scripture. It is only as we come to know God that we can have any knowledge
about suffering. The answer to our suffering is not philosophical, it is
personal - it is found in knowing God.
This week's reflections on chapters four to six are about getting to
know this God.
God is Just
The Bible portrays suffering and death as God’s judgment on sinful
humanity. The author helpfully explains that God’s judgment is always in
response to wickedness. This is what makes God a good judge.
In God’s mercy, he satisfies His justice at the cross. In Mallard's own
words, “It is in the cross of Christ that the fullest displeasure of God
against human sin was most clearly demonstrated.”
Our suffering, and Christ’s suffering, are in response to wickedness.
God is just.
God Knows
Does this judging God take any notice of our suffering? He does! He
knows every detail of our lives. I was overwhelmed by Mallard’s analysis of
God’s unfathomable knowledge:
“He knows what you are thinking long before you think it. What will be
in your mind in exactly one week from today or one year from today or ten years
from today? No, you have no idea - but God does!”
I am comforted by this knowledge, because God knows me as a
friend. Our God does not stand far above us and peer down from a
great height. He sits beside us in our suffering. He knows us personally.
God Has a Plan
Not only does God know the details of our lives, but he planned each of
them.
The author draws on his own experience of God using his wife's suffering
for good. He explains that her counsel now 'carries credibility because
it is not bland cheerfulness, but truth purchased through the agony of personal
experience'. In his mercy, God can use suffering to equip us to care
for others.
Personally, I can't help but feel hard done by to think that God might
put me through suffering so that someone else could benefit. But this is
exactly what Christ has done!
And so, Jesus is the model for us to follow. As Jesus suffered, we will
suffer. And as Jesus comforts us in our suffering, we can comfort others in
their suffering.
The very fact that I hold this book in my hands is a testament to God’s
good purposes for our suffering.
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