Suffering, faith and a loving God
I wrote this a week ago and didn't post it because I felt it was too heavy. But life is heavy sometimes. So here it is.
******
It’s been a long time since I wrote, but there has been something nagging at me for weeks that I want to write about. And it is this. In my experience, one of the main barriers people have to the idea of a loving God is encapsulated in one word: suffering.
How can a God who professes to be good, to love us “with an everlasting love”, stand by and witness such anguish, the raw, ugly pain that ordinary men and women face every day? Why doesn’t He step in? Where is God in Zimbabwe, in Darfur, in Finland, in South Auckland?
The Bible says that God gave men and women free will. With that free will, some people will choose to live blameless, upright lives. Some people will choose to manifest the darkest desires of their hearts, destroying others in the process. People have asked me “Why doesn’t God step in and stop the horrible things happening on earth?” Well, He did once. And it’s not something that any of us would wish to be repeated. The Bible says that God looked at the world and saw the evil that was everywhere. He said to Noah (Genesis 6:11) “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy them.”
And that’s what He did. With the exception of Noah and his family and the animals on the ark, every human being died. After the flood, God made Noah and his descendants a promise; “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination in his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”
The point is that to “fix” the earth completely, God would have to take all of us off it. There is no solution to the violence that we see all around us, because it is in us. With his gift of free will, God gave us the freedom to do anything we liked. Some choose to destroy others. Some choose to bless others. When God bestowed that gift on us, His hope was simply that each and every one of us would choose, of our own free will, to turn to Him and accept His love and forgiveness.
God never said that being a Christian would permanently protect us from evil. This strikes home today with the death of Austin Hemmings. This was an amazing Christian man who had served God faithfully and well for a lifetime. And yet he died on Thursday, stabbed by a madman because he tried to help a defenceless woman.
This is what I believe. God did not promise us immunity from suffering. Bad things will happen, because of the world we live in, to Christian and non-Christian alike. However, he promised that he would be with us through anything that life holds, “an ever-present help in time of trouble”. He did not promise us a perfect life, filled with happiness and prosperity and comfort, he promised a perfect eternity with him after this life is done, if we choose to follow him. He promised to walk with us through our lives, to guide us, to love us more completely than anyone else could ever love us, he promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. And the reality is that, in my experience, a life spent following God is filled with joy even through suffering.
I have no doubt that as Austin Hemmings died, he was not alone. Although there was no one else in that alley, God was there. I also have no doubt that it was partly his faith in God that made him go to that woman’s aid. Jesus said: “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” God’s presence in Austin’s life meant that he did something that perhaps few other men would do; of his own free will he went into a dangerous situation for the sake of another and paid the ultimate price. But because he did, that woman’s life was perhaps saved.
The reality is also that God often intervenes when we ask him to. I have had countless instances in my life when I have asked for God's help, or intervention, or safety, and seen, sometimes immediately, his answer to my prayer. Once or twice it has been so supernaturally amazing that I have been literally gobsmacked. That is the case for all of my friends as well, and I've heard countless stories of others seeing God's protection in a very tangible way. Psalm 91 has always been my touchstone with regard to the promises of God to those who choose to follow him:
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
That does not say that we are immune, but it does promise God is with us "in trouble". I will not escape tragedy or pain in my life because I am a Christian. But I do know that whatever befalls me, God and I will get through it together, and I am never alone.
******
It’s been a long time since I wrote, but there has been something nagging at me for weeks that I want to write about. And it is this. In my experience, one of the main barriers people have to the idea of a loving God is encapsulated in one word: suffering.
How can a God who professes to be good, to love us “with an everlasting love”, stand by and witness such anguish, the raw, ugly pain that ordinary men and women face every day? Why doesn’t He step in? Where is God in Zimbabwe, in Darfur, in Finland, in South Auckland?
The Bible says that God gave men and women free will. With that free will, some people will choose to live blameless, upright lives. Some people will choose to manifest the darkest desires of their hearts, destroying others in the process. People have asked me “Why doesn’t God step in and stop the horrible things happening on earth?” Well, He did once. And it’s not something that any of us would wish to be repeated. The Bible says that God looked at the world and saw the evil that was everywhere. He said to Noah (Genesis 6:11) “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy them.”
And that’s what He did. With the exception of Noah and his family and the animals on the ark, every human being died. After the flood, God made Noah and his descendants a promise; “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination in his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”
The point is that to “fix” the earth completely, God would have to take all of us off it. There is no solution to the violence that we see all around us, because it is in us. With his gift of free will, God gave us the freedom to do anything we liked. Some choose to destroy others. Some choose to bless others. When God bestowed that gift on us, His hope was simply that each and every one of us would choose, of our own free will, to turn to Him and accept His love and forgiveness.
God never said that being a Christian would permanently protect us from evil. This strikes home today with the death of Austin Hemmings. This was an amazing Christian man who had served God faithfully and well for a lifetime. And yet he died on Thursday, stabbed by a madman because he tried to help a defenceless woman.
This is what I believe. God did not promise us immunity from suffering. Bad things will happen, because of the world we live in, to Christian and non-Christian alike. However, he promised that he would be with us through anything that life holds, “an ever-present help in time of trouble”. He did not promise us a perfect life, filled with happiness and prosperity and comfort, he promised a perfect eternity with him after this life is done, if we choose to follow him. He promised to walk with us through our lives, to guide us, to love us more completely than anyone else could ever love us, he promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. And the reality is that, in my experience, a life spent following God is filled with joy even through suffering.
I have no doubt that as Austin Hemmings died, he was not alone. Although there was no one else in that alley, God was there. I also have no doubt that it was partly his faith in God that made him go to that woman’s aid. Jesus said: “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” God’s presence in Austin’s life meant that he did something that perhaps few other men would do; of his own free will he went into a dangerous situation for the sake of another and paid the ultimate price. But because he did, that woman’s life was perhaps saved.
The reality is also that God often intervenes when we ask him to. I have had countless instances in my life when I have asked for God's help, or intervention, or safety, and seen, sometimes immediately, his answer to my prayer. Once or twice it has been so supernaturally amazing that I have been literally gobsmacked. That is the case for all of my friends as well, and I've heard countless stories of others seeing God's protection in a very tangible way. Psalm 91 has always been my touchstone with regard to the promises of God to those who choose to follow him:
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
That does not say that we are immune, but it does promise God is with us "in trouble". I will not escape tragedy or pain in my life because I am a Christian. But I do know that whatever befalls me, God and I will get through it together, and I am never alone.