Why does God allow suffering?

“Our instincts are right,” said the preacher, “sickness is a horrible thing.” When faced with this ‘horrible thing’ or any suffering, there are two equal and opposite errors that we may fall into. The first is to minimize it; the second to glorify it. The minimizers tell us that things are not as bad as they seem, or even that suffering is an illusion. Positive thinking, they say, will make suffering feel less, or banish it altogether, in the case of Christian Science.

The second case is more difficult, because there is much in scripture that recognizes the potential of suffering for growth: the school of life forms us; hard experiences toughen us, and according to St Paul, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’ (Romans 8.28). However, Paul nowhere says that all [bad] things are good, and it is only a Job’s comforter who can tell someone in pain that suffering is a blessing in itself.

The hard truth that faces us as Christians is that we believe in a good and powerful God, yet live with suffering caused by ‘natural’ events as well as by human sin. We also see that the consequences of such events and actions are unevenly (and, it is often said, unfairly) distributed, with the weak and marginalized experiencing much more than their ‘fair share.’ Some conclude in the end that God is truly good, but powerless to deal with evil; others that he is powerful, but not truly good.

This may sound like a counsel of despair or an insoluble paradox. After all, Christian philosophers and theologians have debated for millennia without coming to a common mind. Yet there is much that can be said, and our preamble so far is part of it: as Christians, we need to engage in an honest and hard conversation about suffering. Those who ask us the question ‘Why?’ will quickly sniff out our clichés, defensive responses or excuses. We don’t begin to address the question with a set of clever words but with a Christian stance, in which we offer our questioners our vulnerable, risky, self-emptying life.

The other thing that we offer our questioners is complete respect. Job’s comforters undermined him not so much by inadequate theology as by a total lack of respect for his integrity. Job knew how he felt much better than they knew. So the starting point for our response is not to say, ‘I know how you feel’ because we may not know. Nor have we the right to tell people that they are mistaken about the depth of their suffering. We need to listen, to hear and to care with the compassion of Jesus himself.

This brings us to the threefold heart of our response: it is at once theological, pastoral and spiritual. Each part of this response is grounded in biblical principles, and each is crucial in the face of the cries of those who suffer.

A theological response
Scripture teaches that God is sovereign in all things. There is nothing over which God has no control. The created universe is sustained only by his continuing interest, will and power. We, pinnacle though we are of that creation, made ‘in the image and likeness of God’, remain creaturely, things of earth, life-breathed only because God wills it.

The clue lies in the ‘image and likeness’. This is not our rationality, our speech, or some other supposed superior faculty, but the fact that we have been invited to share with God in his character, his purposes, and in the very community of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this invitation lies God’s risky choice to allow us a share in the divine project, and not to act without us. In this lies God’s love, our freedom, God’s risk and our fall from grace.

Is it worth it? God thought so, and thinks so: he has promised never again to destroy the world through flood. He has sent his only Son, to live and die for us, and raised him from death as the first-fruits of our resurrection. Peter reminds us that through God’s promises we ‘may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1.4).

It is not so much that God ‘allows’ suffering. God risks suffering for the sake of an intimate relationship with us as his people, a relationship almost of equals, in which we are deeply involved in God’s saving work as ‘the body of Christ.’ To this end, we are given freedom of choice and the grace of redemption when we fall.

A pastoral response
There are a few who need such theology in the midst of their distress. I suspect that it is mostly we – the ones who are questioned – who need to have biblical theology engraved on our minds and souls. Whether we repeat it to those who struggle must be a matter of deep discernment; and sometimes we must keep our counsel, knowing that God has a broad back and is perfectly capable of defending himself.

Pastorally, we sometimes sense that our questioner asks ‘Why?’ out of a sense of isolation and deep loneliness. Evil cuts us off from those whom we have loved, and suffering loses us friends. Many tell of bereavement becoming a living hell not so much in the loss of someone loved, but in the loss of community, when supposed friends cross the road to the other side, not knowing what to say.

The truth is that they need to say nothing; they are simply needed alongside, in silence, in shared incomprehension, in a journey accompanied, in deep friendship. This is at the heart of the Christian gospel because it is at the heart of what Jesus did. This is the God of whom we ask our question ‘Why?’ The pastoral answer from God is that ‘I was there with you.’ Moltmann calls Jesus the crucified God: this is the ultimate ‘there with you’ from God. The promise is that this will never change: ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

A spiritual response
One person that I talked to before writing this said that he could answer in three words or in many thousands! The three words were, ‘I’m not God.’ More people resolve the issue of suffering through encounter with God than by being offered philosophical answers, even of the most sophisticated kind. Our spiritual response needs to be an invitation: ‘Pray with me, and meet the one who is God.’

It is a risky business inviting those who suffer to pray, but it is often all we have and all we need. We ourselves are in a living relationship with a God who, we believe, cares far more deeply than we, but we have no proof to offer in this case. So we offer an invitation instead. The invitation may lead to violent or bitter words, to recrimination or anguish. But it is here, in the truth of expressed pain, that new life may emerge as the Holy Spirit begins to work.

I once worked with a curate in an abusive relationship with his incumbent, and encouraged him to write an imaginary letter to the man expressing his feelings. When the letter came to me, it began: ‘Dear D, s***, s***, s***. Out of that painful writing began his healing. How much better if we could help others unburden themselves to a compassionate God rather than to a caring counsellor?

In the fire of conversion, or reconversion, the ‘why’ of suffering is not always answered, but is woven into the fabric of this new life. Chaos and pointlessness begin to be replaced by meaning and direction: God’s meaning, and God’s direction. Even where there are no words to be spoken, only silence to be endured, waiting beside the suffering one until God comes gives courage. We who know how to wait contribute persistence; those who struggle bring their pain. Together, by God’s grace, persistence in pain may lead into a place of light.

Afterword
And so I come very quickly to the end of myself, left with the reality of suffering, in often silent contemplation of Christ on the cross, in a time of dereliction. This is the deepest darkness of all, evil blanketing the world and cutting out the sun. It is here that I really want to take all those who suffer, to know a God who has been there, and remains there with those in pain, yet who at this moment gave hope back to the world. There can be new life, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing. There is life after death. We discover these truths for ourselves not in challenging God, but in embracing him forever.

Making good use of the season of Lent

The development of Lent is something of a mystery, and scholars are divided on its origins. We know, however, what we have now: a 40 day period of fasting, reflection and preparation for the celebration of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. So let's think of Lent as a series of spiritual exercises which help us to grow as fit, faithful disciples, grouped around several themes.

Theme 1: Preparation for baptism

Because you are probably long since baptized, this first theme involves us in reconnecting with our baptism. I recently suggested in a sermon that people dig out their baptismal certificate and keep it before them for a while, and you might like to do the same. You may or may not remember the occasion, but you can envisage it, and the associated exercises might include:

1. A spiritual spring clean leading to an act of penitential confession. Depending on your church tradition, you may wish to do this on your own, with a friend, or in the presence of a Christian minister. 
2. A reaffirmation of your baptismal promises. In some of our churches, this will be done at the Easter vigil, but you might like to look [a] at a baptismal liturgy and think carefully about the promises, and [b] at an example of the Easter renewal of promises itself. 
3. A consideration of the role of the Holy Spirit in your baptism, which is much more an act of God than it is a human act. What did the Spirit do for you and in you, and what does the Spirit continue to do, in holiness and equipping you for God's mission?

Theme 2: Following Jesus

Because Jesus' baptism was immediately followed by his time in the wilderness, culminating in the great temptations, there has been a long association between Lenten observance and the 40 days. Never mind that Jesus went into the wilderness after his baptism, while Lent comes before the renewal of baptismal vows. Just hold baptism and the desert together in your mind! There are several ways in which you can use the connection for your Lenten exercises:

1. The first characteristic of the imitation of Christ is not us copying him, but Jesus sharing in our life's experience. It would be appropriate to read the scripture in Hebrews 4.14-16 as a lectio divina. Click on the link if you need help with this.
2. The second characteristic of the imitation of Christ is the command to follow. I have sometimes found it helpful to look back at what following has meant. Each step of obedience is like a map marker, or a marker in the road that we have walked. In this looking back we are invited to give thanks for the presence of Christ, the privilege of being invited to follow, and a sense of hearing his 'Well done', something that we are not very good at as Christians. Then look forward to what is not yet, not trying to double-guess God (very tricky!) but simply asking for the grace to recognize the difference between the gentle call and the light yoke of God, and the heavy weight of responsibility we sometimes lay on ourselves.
3. The third characteristic of the imitation of Christ is the invitation to take up our cross. This is a tricky one, because we often talk about 'bearing our crosses', simply meaning 'putting up with what life throws at us.' RT France says this about Matthew 16.24-26: "In the light of what follows it must mean here to dissociate oneself from one’s own interests, which in this case means the willingness to risk one’s own life. It means putting loyalty to Jesus before self-preservation." So you might like to follow this through by praying the Prayer of Ignatius, or the Methodist Covenant. Certainly, if there is something that you are reluctant to let go of, even though you know Jesus wants you to, that's an exercise to go through this Lent.
   

Theme 3: The disciplines of life

I sometimes wonder whether it's particularly helpful to 'give something up' for Lent, usually chocolate or alcohol, of course! It may be that this is useful for you personally, and I sometimes think that I'm just plain reluctant to give up my creature comforts :). But that's not really what the discipline of Lent is all about. What follows are simply some random thoughts which might help you to take this further:

1. If there is something that has become an idol in your life, whether it's a consumer item, a regular practice or an addiction, then an act of renunciation may be called for. We don't give up idols for Lent; we give them up for God for good. That of course may need help, and it's something to discuss with a mentor, coach or spiritual director.
   
2. If you want to use the opportunity to get yourself in better physical or mental shape, then do so, but replace the thing you temporarily give up with something else constructive. Introduce a positive. Christians all too frequently make life sound like having a hard time with God, who is an exceedingly grumpy parent! I wonder if some of you might not do better giving up staying up half an hour too late for Lent, thereby getting better quality sleep. And maybe your mobile phone is more of a temptation than that bar of chocolate?
3. Perhaps most important would be an exploration of the rhythm of your life, the patterns, and whether there's a little arrhythmia in the proportion, the regularity or your control over elements of this little Rule of Life. If you've never done this before, then you might paint or draw one, or create a Mind Map, using some of the following categories: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually, Future, Often... 
4. Start small with discipline. It might be as simple as: each day in Lent, I will light a candle, and sit quietly with God for ten minutes, waiting to see what happens.

There's so much more that could be said, but my prayer is that you will be prompted to think creatively about this wonderful season, which begins on Ash Wednesday, March 6th 2019.