I know that your first response when you see the title is—How does he propose to deal with this issue in a short space, or maybe you roll your eyes and think—there he goes again with one of his long rants. But here goes, and I promise to be brief.
One of the major shifts historically after the Second Great Awakening was away from a focus on the sovereign God and his goodness and glory, and onto man. A friend from the University of Georgia has a new book that bears reading entitled Serving God and Wal-Mart about how the corporation took evangelical principles of man first and meeting man’s needs and turned them into the marketing idea of the century. That pretty accurately defines the church today. Church is a buffet line where you walk through with a tray and pick and choose what you want to take and leave the rest. It is about our happiness, wellness, wealth, and wellbeing and we have molded God into our best friend, our buddy, who spends all his time making me happy, raining down money on me, and making me feel good. Therein is the conflict not only with the old Puritan ideas of God, but the Bible as well. So then, what are we missing about suffering?
Suffering Shows God’s Sovereignty
Suffering has to have meaning. For us, who are so adept at playing the blame game, someone has to be responsible for why we suffer. That is so human. Adam started it in the Garden when God asked, “Who told you that you should eat this fruit?” Adam being a typical man did what men have always done—He blamed his wife. “This woman that you gave me—she made me eat it!” It was God’s fault. It was Eve’s fault. And she said it was the serpent’s fault. It is always someone else’s fault. We like cause and effect. We think that if we can figure out the cause we might be able to mitigate the future effect on our lives and lessen suffering. But we do not like Scriptures like John 9. “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?” They fell into the human trap. Jesus’ answer destroys so much of the shallow theology of the prosperity gospel when he says—“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him…..I am the light of the world.” In effect, Jesus said, this man has sat here by the side of the road all these years waiting for me to walk by to demonstrate that I am the light of the world. We do not understand that fact. What about Job, the good man, the godly man, the great man, until one day calamity after calamity befell him, and he gets up in the morning the wealthiest man in the land, and he goes the bed a pauper. He awakes with children and a wife, and he goes to bed aggrieved that his children are gone, and the wife is left to test him even further. His friends immediately take the line that he has sinned and is reaping the result of his transgressions. But notice Job 38-42 carefully. God does not explain to Job why he was doing this—and in this as readers we have an unfair advantage. We know the whole story. We know how it ends, and Job does not know how it will end—or even if it ever will end. But God deals with Job’s suffering by talking about His sovereignty, His power, and His wisdom. A huge lesson here is that suffering is not about us—our comfort, our material blessing—it is about God. He is sovereign in the affairs of our life and while we hold to the fact that “He is working all things to our good,” we realize that His glory is more important than our comfort. Ephesians 1:11 reminds us that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
Suffering Gives God Glory
One of my favorite texts is John 11 and the account of the raising of Lazarus. The thing we have such a hard time with is the delay of Jesus when word comes that Lazarus is sick unto death. Jesus tarries three days. And what is more confusing, the text tells us that Jesus allowed Lazarus to die because He loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. How is that considered to be love? In the Greek there are at least three words for love. “Eros” is the word for sexual love. “Phileo” is the word for brotherly love. “Agape” is the word for the kind of love that always does the right thing by those who are being loved. (The weakness of English translations of the Bible is seen in the dialogue between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection, when Jesus asked Peter the question: “Lovest (Agape) me more than these?” Peter replies, “Lord, thou knowest that I love (brotherly love—phileo) thee.” Peter finally gets to the right word after being asked three times). Jesus’ delay to the tomb was because he loved (agape) them. And the Holy Spirit adds that to the text in verse 5 lest we misinterpret His lack of concern for a lack of love. Just because Jesus’ feet did not rush to the side of his beloved friend in the midst of his suffering and death did not mean that His heart was not there monitoring the situation. The suffering and death of Lazarus was for a greater good—the glory of Christ. Had He been there, Lazarus could not have died and been raised.
Suffering Comes Because of Sin and the Fall
In this modern age of man and his centrality, the idea of the Fall of Adam and Eve is outdated and no longer accepted. It is hard to preach the humanist message or even the feel good message of modern churches with the outmoded, outdated belief that somehow Adam’s fall blighted the whole race. This idea does not mesh with the American Exceptionalism of today’s Christianity. But the rule is that we change to come in line with the Word of God—we do not change the Word to come into line with our own ideas. Romans 8: 18-25 explains the reason for suffering in the world. This world is broken, fractured, and spiraling downward. It is headed in exactly the opposite direction as that proposed by the Humanist. What rose-colored glasses must one wear to appraise our present world as getting better? What one factor can we point to and say—See man is on the upward road. He will one day arrive at a perfect state? It is not there, but in the words of Romans—“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain even until now.”
Suffering Conforms Us to the Image of Christ
Romans goes on to remind of the purpose of suffering—that of conforming us into the image of Christ. Romans 8: 28-30 tells us that “all things work together for good to them that are the called according to his purpose.” His purpose is to make you look more like Christ, and nothing accomplishes that goal like suffering. I have stood at the bedside of many a dying saint who suffered long and were very tired. I remember Granny Cash, a dear old saint, and sometimes our church would go to her little house and sing for her. Her favorite song was “I’ve Been Waitin Lord to Go.” While we sang she would point her old, boney finger towards that world which was to come. Her face would glow with the glory of God. Her life of struggles had confirmed her in the image of her Savior. The Bible teaches that when we come to Christ, the soul is regenerated. It creates a state in which the flesh is still fallen and depraved. We gain a new standing of being “in Christ” and yet it is possible that our state can still be quite deplorable. So the Holy Spirit undertakes to work on every son whom God receives. He chips away, sands, miters, and works on those areas of our live in which we need work. And the Holy Spirit has a pattern to work by. He looks at the image of Christ and then looks at me, and he works to bring me in line with the image of Christ. Suffering is the saw, it is the drill, and it is the sandpaper by which God the Holy Spirit seeks to conform me to the image of Christ. This is a major part of the Spirit’s work and He is not concerned with anything else in your life other than your being conformed to the image of Christ. Of course, you have a role to play as well. You can get with the program and allow the Holy Spirit to shape you and mold you and that is the least painful way. Or, you can resist the hand of God—yes even in our life as a Christian you can resist, and the Holy Spirit will continue to work, but each resistance changes the greatest of the vessel being made. Of course, the clay in the potter’s hands is another sermon, but the lesson is to surrender to the hand of the Holy Spirit and allow him to have his way in your heart. Accept suffering as from the hand of God knowing that through the suffering you are being conformed into the image of Christ.
Finally, soon there will come a day free of suffering and pain for those who trust and rejoice in the Lord. Believe it…hope in it…trust in it. Revelation 21:3-4:” And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more…”
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