I felt compelled to post a blog for April, because it seemed that the blog might be "dead" if I didn't. (Shouldn't you blog at least monthly to keep your blog alive?) It was already on life support.
I was going to post another Psalm of Ascents blog, but I can't find my notes or my Hebrew translation! (I'm sure I will eventually.) So, for the second time in a row, I'm resorting to posting some old material.
This is a little imaginary scene I wrote back in 2005. It could use some editing, but I think there are some good thoughts there.
Setting—Two men are visiting gravesites in a local cemetery. One man, Arthur, notices the other, Bernard, praying as he kneels before a headstone. He is just intrigued (or perturbed) enough to approach Bernard.
Arthur: Whom are you here visiting?
Bernard: My daughter. She died three years ago today. What about you?
Arthur: I came to remember my son. He was killed just over a year ago…He was driving home from college when some lady fell asleep at the wheel, crossed over into his lane, and hit him head on. I’ll never get over it.
Bernard: I’m very sorry to hear that.
Arthur: Yeah, I’m sorry, too. What about your daughter?
Bernard: She died of leukemia after a long, hard battle with the disease.
Arthur: So, would you mind telling me how it is that you can pray? I don’t understand how anyone can believe in a God that would let something like that happen. I mean, God’s supposed to be so good, right? And He’s supposed to have unlimited power, right? So how could He just stand by with all that goodness and power and let our babies die? I can’t fathom a god like that, yet you’re here praying to Him.
Bernard: Well, I believe that in spite of the suffering and the tragedy that goes on in this world, God is still good and powerful, and He is worthy of our worship.
Arthur: Sounds like they’ve got you brainwashed. Why would your God let this happen if He could stop it? Why does He allow any evil at all?
Bernard: It’s pretty complicated, but I’d be happy to explain it as best I can. It sounds like you’re asking two separate questions. I’ll try to answer the second one first if that’s OK. God is completely good and so cannot create anything evil. However, because He created us for the purpose of having a loving relationship with us, He endowed us with free will. The fact that we have freedom to make bad choices or good ones has serious consequences. We may choose to obey God or to rebel against Him. When we rebel against Him and freely choose evil, people suffer. Both the person who committed the evil and the person or entity against whom the evil is committed will suffer. The man who commits the evil will suffer as his relationship to God deteriorates. The victim will suffer because of the other man’s transgression.
Arthur: Exactly. That’s just not fair! Why would a good God give us such power to hurt one another?
Bernard: We are given freedom to choose because true love can only be chosen freely. If I am coerced to love, I do not truly love. God wants us to freely choose Him and to freely choose to do good. In fact, He calls obeying Him (or doing what is good) the same thing as loving Him! Because we were created to love God and love each other, God had to give us genuine freedom to love. That means we had to be able not to love Him as well—not to obey, not to do good.
Arthur: So God allows all this suffering just because He wants to be loved? That sounds really selfish and egotistical.
Bernard: Yeah, I admit that it does. But you’ve got to remember that God is the one who created us all. He knows exactly how we work. He knows what’s best for us. He knows what life is all about. And from our perspective it may seem cruel or meaningless, but God has His reasons. Evidently, love is so important that He was willing to risk all of this evil to let us choose to love. It must be that love is intricately tied in to the meaning of life! Without love, there is no life.
Arthur: I loved my son. And now he’s gone. What was the point? My son wasn’t killed by someone who made an evil choice—just a senseless one. Where’s the meaning in that? And what about your daughter? Who’s to blame for her suffering?
Bernard: Earlier you asked why God would allow any evil at all if He had the power to stop it. When He gave us freedom, He also created a world with natural laws…physics, chemistry, etc. Our actions have consequences, and God doesn’t suspend those consequences every time we make a mistake. If He did, we would never develop any sense of moral responsibility. We could do just anything we pleased, knowing that God would bail us out. Like a spoiled child running through a china shop, we could take the attitude of “No big deal. Daddy will clean up and pay for this mess.” Because we were created to have fellowship with Him, we must become like Him. That means we have to forsake sin. And the natural law helps us to realize that our actions have consequences. Real change has to happen in our character.
Arthur: But I’m not talking about character, dang it! I’m talking about the death of our innocent children! Why did they have to die? How can you believe in a God who values character formation more than the life of an incredible young man like my son?
Bernard: I know your pain. I was devastated when Hannah died. I miss her terribly. She was the most beautiful girl in the world, and nothing can replace her. But I have hope, you see? The story is not over. I’m going to see her again. God didn’t cause her death. He allowed her to die, just as all of us will die. But I’ll spend eternity with her. There is no more pain where she is. No more chemotherapy. No more weakness or tears. And God has given me that hope. Where would I be without it?
Arthur: But why would He allow sickness in this world?
Bernard: I used to believe that the sins of men affected the very fabric of the world and caused everything to be “out of whack.” I thought that was why we have natural disasters, suffering, sickness, and so on. Beyond all of that, I knew that there were spiritual forces of evil—angels who had rebelled against God and seek to harm creation in any way they are able, driving a wedge between us and God. I still think these things to be true, but I have realized that regardless of the explanation behind all of this suffering, God allows it. Even if He doesn’t cause it directly, He lets it happen. He must have a reason for this. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God or to understand His purposes. I can’t even tell you how a microwave works, much less the universe! But I believe that God has a plan. Our suffering is very real in this life, but compared with the backdrop of eternity it is very temporary. And through the pain we learn to trust, to endure, to hope, to have empathy and compassion, to give, to be a faithful friend, and to forgive. All of these traits make us more like Jesus. And that’s the goal—to learn to love like God so that we can spend eternity with Him and in fellowship with others that have responded to His love. Heather will be resurrected. So will your son. Doesn’t that give you some hope for the future?
Arthur: It’s all “Pie in the Sky” B.S. How does that help me now? I have to live the rest of my life without Danny. Nothing can change that.
Bernard: You’re right. We will never again be able to hold our children in this lifetime. If this life is all there is, there is no consolation. But your outrage itself is a clue that something is amiss. Just as physical pain tells us that something is wrong and that we need to take action to prevent further harm, so spiritual anguish alerts us to seek a remedy. If our hand is burning, the pain tells us to move it away from the flame. If we have a fever, our immune system goes into action. Sometimes we need to take medicine. Other times we may need surgery. When we suffer in our souls, we need to seek a spiritual remedy. I’m talking about more than counseling to help us deal with emotional issues. I’m talking about finding a way to make sense of the pain. For me, the only way it makes sense is if God can redeem it. Only if God is all good and all-powerful can He make it right someday. If He doesn’t exist, then what hope do we have?
Arthur: So you’re telling me that the best thing I can do is to embrace the God that let this happen to my son? What kind of guarantee do I have that I’m not just playing the fool, letting myself be anesthetized by the “opium of the masses?”
Bernard: The best guarantee you have is Jesus. God loved us so much that He sent His own Son to lead us to life. In Him we may receive forgiveness, the gift of His Spirit, and the hope of eternal life. God is not a disinterested observer who sits idly by and watches us suffer. He knows what it is like to lose a Son. He knows what it is like to suffer pain and suffer loss. He too was innocent, yet He entered into our suffering. He tasted death. Have you seen the movie The Passion? Do you recall the scene that showed a view of the cross from the sky above? Looking down onto the dead body of Jesus, we see a single teardrop fall. God knows your pain. He cares. But that was not the end of the story. Jesus rose again! He is alive and will never die again. The best guarantee you have is the empty grave! Your story and your son’s story are not over either. God is still good. He is still powerful despite the way things look now. When Jesus died, no one had hope, either. Everyone close to Him was crushed. They despaired. But everything changed on the other side of resurrection. It will change for us as well if we allow God to have His way in us. And in coming to know God, there is a love and a peace His Spirit gives that cannot be explained. Please don’t write God off because of your hurt. Let Him bring healing and hope as you come to know Him. The story is not over. God loves you. He can still write a beautiful ending for you and your family if you will let Him.
