Dealing With Suffering

"Picture this:

"You and I all of us are tenants in a large, ramshackle apartment building. Walls are crumbling. The elevators don't work. The heating is on in summer and off in winter. Several children have been attacked by rats. Some of the tenants are muggers, rapists or drug dealers who prey upon their innocent neighbors.

"What is worse, the landlord, whom none of us has ever seen, does nothing to help. Don't we have a right to conclude that he is either incompetent or indifferent to our plight?

"That scenario, adapted from the late Canadian philosopher Roland Puccetti, parallels the theological problem of evil.' Given the variety, extent and magnitude of evil in the world, what we conclude about the earthly landlord surely applies all the more to the heavenly one" ("Atheist View of God on Trial," Dallas Morning News, Keith M. Parsons, June 13, 1998).

Is that an accurate view of God? How does the Christian, the believer in God, balance his belief with the notion of evil, in particular God's allowance of evil?

It is a question which has troubled men for centuries, and it is one which will trouble man until the world ends, because only then will the suffering of good people end. What then, do we make of suffering now?

First, we cannot attribute to God suffering which is caused by Satan. Certainly, some of the most horrid episodes of suffering must be attributed to this troubler of all mankind. It would be wrong to ask, for instance, "Why is God doing this to me?" It may indeed be Satan. There is an old story of Satan holding a garage sale, selling off his tools. Envy is drastically marked down. Hatred is half-price. Lust is almost being given away. But over in the corner, there is a small, wedge-shaped tool. It is worn and beaten through centuries of use, but the price tag on it is outrageously high. When questioned about it, Satan answers, "That is my prized possession, for in using it, I have drawn more people away from God than through any other means. You see, this small tool is Discouragement."

The implication of the tale in relation to this topic is clear: If Satan can discourage people through his use of suffering, he believes he can win their souls. That is exactly what happened in the case of Job. God was pleased with Job and said so (Job 1:8; 2:3), but, in large part because God had so blessed Job, Satan believed Job's faith to be superficial, stating that if Job were allowed to suffer, ". . . he will curse Thee to Thy face" (1:11; 2:5). Job's suffering, in which he ". . . did not sin nor did he blame God" (1:22), was an attack by Satan to try to destroy his soul. And much of our suffering today must be considered an attack by Satan to win our souls.

Second, and we must be honest about this, we need to examine our lives to see if we have caused our own suffering. I am not saying that God sends us Alzheimer's as a punishment for sin, but certainly a condition such as AIDS could be a direct result of sinful behavior. However, I do not believe that God sends AIDS as punishment for sin either. Punishment for sin, if we are unrepentant, will come in judgment (2 Thess. 1:6-10), but sin can have earthly consequences, and even repentance will not always take them away.

The reason we must be honest about this is that sometimes we are unwilling to admit that we have brought suffering on ourselves. It takes brutal honesty to see ourselves as we really are and then take steps to remove sin from our lives. In some instances, removing the sin may remove the suffering as well, but it must be noted that in some, it will not. The AIDS sufferer (who has contracted his disease through sin) will not regain his health through repentance, but he can gain eternal life.

We also must realize that doubts, fears, even questions about God and our suffering are normal and are not necessarily sin. When he has lost everything, when his body is covered with sores, when his friends are so shocked by his appearance that they come to him but do not speak for seven days, Job is so troubled that he curses the day he was born (3:1). Later, he describes his view of life in this manner: "Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil" (14:1). The questions Job has do not condemn him, but his understanding of the "big picture"" is so finite as to misunderstand the cause of his suffering (Satan). We read the first two chapters of the book and we understand that all that happened to Job is Satan's doing, but he had no knowledge of that. His doubts and questions were understandable. And so are ours when we suffer.