To believe suffering is inherently meaningless is easy, to believe there is meaning even when you don’t see it takes faith. When catastrophe strikes we naturally ask ‘why?’ Perhaps an answer could restore order and make sense of the chaos. Recently a lecturer/mentor of mine suddenly passed on and I couldn’t make sense of any of it. There is beauty in the world we know but so often the mirror cracks and all is revealed to be but a broken reflection of Eden. How easy it is to dismiss God in these moments yet that is when he says he is closest, lamenting at the fallen Eden as he sits beside us. I implore you friend to tread on that narrow path of faith that leads to hope.
Faith is supernatural but it is not blind. It comes from an informed heart knowledge of who God is. We trust because we know. I know God to be good therefore I trust him. But therein lies the impasse, how can God be good if he allows suffering?
Romans 8:18-28.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subject to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. 25But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
It is in studying passages like this that we come to wrestle with God about suffering. In Romans, Paul is building a case for the gospel of Christ. Find some minutes to listen to an audio read through of the book (here). In this section of the chapter, he talks about future glory basically what the endgame of our faith is. I like many of you have struggled to see how a distant future far away helps my present suffering. We want an end to pain now, any delay seems cruel. Vs 22 uses an interesting analogy of childbirth to describe this. Giving birth is excruciating but thousands of women chose to go through it every day. They endure the pain because they hope a child will be in their arms at the end of it. Their expectation for a child carries them through the groaning. Most women on holding their child for the first time lose sight of the pain they went through. In the same way hope for heaven carries us through now. Many have accused Christianity of being a way to ignore and dismiss all the pain in the world because heaven is coming. Yet faith is no opium for suffering; for to know the beauty of eternity but live in the sting of now is to groan inwardly. We will all reach points in our life when the sufferings of this world hit us, Christian or not. In pain we groan longing for a different reality. We cannot get hope from the world we know for all around us are reminders of people, health and possessions we have lost. This world is not as it should be. Though we catch glimpses of beauty it is mired in thorn.
We live in a broken reality and unfortunately, we are the very cause of it. (Read Genesis 3). All of earth was put under humankind “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). We made nothing on the earth but were given the blessing to rule the earth. Thus, our actions affect not only us but also everything put under us. This is where the brokenness came from. For we tried to make a good whole world apart from the source of that goodness. We chose and still chose to redefine what goodness is. Eating the fruit in the garden wasn’t about diet but an attempt to usurp God’s authority by breaking his command. This is quite ironic because all authority had already been given to us. We tried to take what was already ours because we did not trust God in that moment. If God created the world whole and good and we as stewards of that creation chose and still choose to rule apart from him, how can creation be left whole? Thus what was whole broke and suffering entered the world. The reality we live in today is not what God designed the world as. In not choosing God, the source of life, we inevitably chose death and dragged all of creation along in that decay. (Read Genesis 2:16) However, this is not the end. God promises to restore all that was lost.
To believe in the unseen will of God is hard when you lose a loved one, lose a source of live hood, your health deteriorates, and natural disasters happen. Waiting is tedious when we see the brokenness every day. God’s will may be unseen but it is not unknown. The will of God is in the word of God. He means to heal the brokenness of the world. That is why the promise of a renewed world holds hope. Vs 21 talks of this liberation by “the Children of God” i.e. you and me. All creation waits for our glory to be revealed, for our brokenness to be made whole. We caused the brokenness, but we can’t make it whole for within us brokenness in form of sin exists. But Jesus, the God-man, took all that brokenness past and present and made it whole when he died on the cross. His resurrection from the dead assures his followers that they too will rise when they die. Our earthly bodies will be renewed. In believing in Christ we get to partner with God in restoring wholeness to the world, now in part but one day fully. God, not wanting anyone to be left behind in the new creation, does not end time just yet. He gives us time; time to choose to willingly partner with him. At the end of time each one’s choice will be honored. No one is forced into hell. For those who chose to partner with Christ it means a lot of groaning and tears as we wait. We share Christ’s pain as he lived through a fallen world. But just as we weep with Christ so do we rejoice with him. Therefore, we wait patiently. Closer evermore to Christ on the cross; feeling the sting of this world on our skin yet with eyes fixed on heaven, having faith that we will one-day be home. Perhaps that is why Jesus taught us to pray thy kingdom come. Suffering feels meaningless when we look at the world in front of us. Somehow God's glory, the glory of the new creation, lights up the darkness around us.
Revelation 21:3-4 “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Suffering is not meaningless. Turn your eyes up upon Jesus one more time. Linger there a little longer and hope will be found.
A casual view of God will not stand when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed. Suffering will come if it hasn’t yet. Put your faith to the test and continuously anchor it by studying scripture. Ask earnestly in prayer for grace to believe that which you do not yet see. We live by hope but hope by its very nature means that we don't possess in full reality the very thing we are hoping for. Christianity is not about ignoring pain but a firm commitment to live in hope, to believe that suffering is not the end.
Vs 26-27 Holds the greatest comfort in this. God is personally present with you. God the father knows your pain, Jesus felt and died to end all pain and now God the Spirit involves himself in your groaning over the pain of this world. God isn’t divorced from suffering. His spirit groans alongside you. It feels difficult to trust God when you are lost in the ‘why’. Why did I lose my job? Why did they leave? Why did they have to die? Answers to life’s painful questions are few and far between, and even when they do come, they rarely bring the relief and healing we hoped for. God’s presence so often calms our questions meaning what we want, more than answers or reasons is to know that God is intimately present with us; and he is. Bring your tears, questions, sadness even anger to him. It’s okay to make pain filled prayer. In vs 26-27 it says that God’s spirit translates wordless prayer into effective intercessory prayer. Draw nearer to God in this kind of prayer. In that silent anguish you will meet hope and comfort like no other. Talk to God even when nothing comes out of your lips. The God of the bible is close. When we bring our pain to him, we will find we are held by love. In his arms hope comes alive.
Every so often we catch glimpses of Eden in this broken world. Hope of things to come. God’s blessings still abound, but the eternal blessing awaits. May we all join this blessed hope by having faith in Christ. With eyes fixed on him we find strength to journey on home.