Mystery of Suffering

Joyce Gould said...
I know we read JOB a while ago, but I continue to struggle for perspective on all that he was subjected to. Because he lived an obedient life, he became the subject of a wager; and then an object of persecution, and consequently his family all became victims. It seems arbitrary.I don't understand innocent suffering - and I guess this is just one example that I keep stumbling over.Help me find some perspective or context for understanding this.Thank You!

Response....
Thank you, for asking a very sincere and important question; one that many theologians and philosophers have wrestled with down through the ages.

When it comes to the topic of suffering those most qualified to answer it are those who have suffered and having suffered found their comfort by turning to God. Suffering is a universal experience of all humanity. There is no one who is spared but some may be far more qualified than others to tackle this question. I certainly am not among the most qualified to answer this but with the help of other resources I will endeavor to address the topic at hand. With this in mind there are often 2 questions asked about suffering 1) the cause of it and 2) the reason for it. As one commentator points out in the case of Job, his testimony doesn’t answer either of these questions but rather addresses the question “How can I suffer? What am I to do when I am suffering? In what spirit can I go on suffering?” [1]

You commented that Job’s suffering was in response to a wager and seemed so arbitrary. It is worth noting that the wager that was made between God and Satan involving the righteous man Job is no small point. Job was never made privy to this wager but we are. It is important to understand that God’s purposes are constantly under attack. There is an adversary called by name in the Bible “the prince of this world” and “the father of lies.” Many times when God’s cause is being advanced through the life of righteous followers Satan seeks to destroy the testimony of the believer. Job was one such follower. What better way to destroy a believer’s testimony than to cause such great suffering that in the end that believer denies God or worse “curses God and die[s].” (Job 2:9)

It is by the grace of God that Job and many others throughout history who have suffered for the cause of truth, justice and righteousness have done so not by forsaking God but by depending on Him. The presence of evil in our world is one of the greatest causes of innocents suffering unjustly. In the ancient book of Confucian wisdom, it is written: “The way of Heaven is to bless the good and make the bad miserable;” “Good and evil do not wrongly befall people, but Heaven sends down misery or happiness according to their conduct.”[2] This of course is not what the Bible tells us. Rather the Scriptures tell us that “the rain falls on the just and the unjust;” “many are the afflictions of the righteous;” and that “in this world we will have trials and tribulations.” The book of Job seeks to reveal that “suffering happens to good people who do not deserve it as well as to people who deserve all that happens to them.” [3]

The work of Philip Hallie, one researcher, of the Holocaust atrocities led him to become numb through his years of study of the evils perpetrated against so many innocent persons. After years of research he attests to his inability to be moved by what he studied saying he became imprisoned by bars of “bitterness toward the violent” and walls of “indifference to slow murder.”[4] It was not until he read about the outreach of 300 Christians in the small French city of Le Chambon, who provided refuge for the Jews, that he was set free from his prison. He said, “The Holocaust was the storm, lightning, thunder, wind, rain, yes. And Le Chambon was the rainbow.” The goal of the enemy is to obliterate the rainbow but the power of God overcomes the flaming arrows of imposed suffering. We see that two of the premier reasons for innocents suffering is the fact that “we live in a fallen world whose order is disrupted by evil” and “we live in a persecuting world which opposes God’s people.”[5]

A third cause for innocents suffering as is revealed in the book of Job is “that we live in a mysterious world and don’t see the whole picture.”[6] Job was never given an explanation for his suffering by God nor was he made aware of the wager between God and Satan. Rather Job’s only solace in the end was knowing that what he endured was seen and known by God, the maker and creator of all heaven and earth. God allowed for and responded to Job’s heart-wrenching and embittered cries for justice and mercy but He did not explain to him the cause of or the reason for his suffering. In the end Job had to accept that sometimes we only see in part and know in part (1 Cor. 13:12). It is in the place of not understanding, not knowing that faith is refined and proven as true. Faith is not our response to what God does but to who God is. Job concluded God is God whether he giveth or taketh away. Little did Job know that his life experience would one day be recorded in Scripture and used to minister to the multitudes who have innocently suffered throughout the ages. He never knew what had transpired before his suffering began nor subsequently to it, but despite that he proved the deceiver impotent in his effort to destroy the testimony of God’s faithful servant. Satan was powerless when pitted against the matchless wonder and power of an all loving God.

In the NT the enemy is at it again trying to defeat another innocent, Jesus, who unlike Job knew the reason for his suffering and willingly gave his life for us so that all suffering would ultimately be given meaning. While the goal of suffering is on many occasions intended to crush us or destroy us Christ promises to sustain us and give our suffering meaning. What of the greatest outcomes of our suffering is our ability to comfort others as we have been comforted (2 Cor. 1:4). No matter the reason for the suffering God is always able to work all things together for the good of those who love him. He did it for Job way beyond what Job could ever have imagined. Countless believers have been comforted by reading Job when in the very midst of their suffering.

One other reason for suffering that is addressed in Job but does not apply to him is that of personal sin. In Job’s case he was not guilty of any particular sin which led to his string of tragedies but sadly much of humanity’s suffering is self inflicted. The painful results are the consequence from our sinful choices. Even in these cases if we repent of our sin Christ promises to redeem that which was intended for evil and to use it for good. There are countless testimonies of sinners turned righteous through a belief in Jesus Christ who have then gone on to minister in areas specific to their transgression. Thus even self imposed suffering can be given meaning. Suffering as seen through the eyes of man is hard to understand and to reconcile but when seen through the eyes of the Eternal God it is has meaning even when we are not allowed to see it this side of heaven.

Paul speaks well to our vulnerability of living in a world of evil and suffering in his epistle to the Corinthians.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:7-18

There are other more in depth resources available to address this matter of suffering. A few are listed below:

Our Ultimate with Refuge: Job and the Problem of Suffering, Oswald Chambers
Where is God When It Hurts, Philip Yancey
When God Doesn’t Make Sense, James Dobson
Two links of interest provided by Dana: http://www.desiringgod.org/Store/Books/670_Suffering_and_the_Sovereignty_of_God/ - -free online book http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TopicIndex/32_Suffering/ --series of Piper's articles. He is usually to the point and thoroughly biblical, with a high view of Christ in all things.
[1] David J.A. Clines, “New Bible Commentary-Job” Downer’s Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1994) p. 459.
[2] William Spencer, TH.D. and Aida Spencer, PH.D., “Why Do We Suffer?” Contact Gordon Conwell
Ministry Magazine, Fall 2007) p. 14.
[3] Clines, “Job” p. 460.
[4] Os Guiness, “The Call” London: Word Publishing, 1998) pp. 96-97.
[5] Spencer and Spencer, “Why Do We Suffer?” p. 14.
[6] Ibid. p. 14.