God, Why Me?

Suffering Is Universal: What will your response be?

I think it’s fair to say that millions of people have turned against God, retreating into atheism, because of events such as the Holocaust. And despite its horrors, other atrocities, equally as evil, have occurred since then, though perhaps on a smaller scale. The historian Toynbee is reportedly quoted as saying, “Blessed is the nation that has no history, for history is the record of war.” The evils have been terrifying, heart-wrenching, and persistent.

Let us also consider so-called natural evils such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and famines. Watching neglected children starving to death is enough to make a stone weep. The world is filled with unimaginable suffering everywhere—in every country, city, neighborhood, and family.

And yet God appears to be silent.

Let’s back off for a moment and realize the existence of evil (even gross evil) does not count against the existence of God, but it does force us to question the character of God. Is He good or is He not? Trustworthy or untrustworthy? What kind of a God runs this broken world?

I’ve ministered to believers who have “deconstructed” their faith, no longer believing God loves us, cares about us, or that even the hairs of our heads are all numbered by Him (see Matthew 10:30). They have become bitter, feeling betrayed by God’s lack of intervention in their lives.

Evil of any kind forces us to rethink our view of God. To believe or not to believe? To cleave or to leave? We must choose whether we will run to Him for comfort or turn away in disgust and abandonment. That was the choice Job and his wife faced when they not only lost their cattle to lightning, but also their ten children to a windstorm. With ten fresh graves on a hillside, they had to make a choice: Do we bless or curse? Worship or live in bitter defiance?

Sitting on an ash heap with boils all over his body, Job’s wife told him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Thankfully, Job refused her advice and chose instead to bless God rather than curse Him. (Let’s remember that Mrs. Job also lost ten children and she was overcome with her husband’s suffering.)

Job chose to worship the Lord even though he had no explanation for his grief. He didn’t know Satan and God had discussed his character, and that God wanted to use him as an example of someone who would go on believing and worshiping when, humanly speaking, there was no reason to do so. When faced with a painful, personal choice, Job found solace in the God he could not understand.

That’s why I wrote, God, Why Me?, a brief tour through the book of Job to ponder the question of personal evil. In this book, we interact with Job’s friends, who were seeking an explanation for his tragedies. They thought they were doing him a favor, but they were adding to his grief. Theoretical discussions are of little value to a person afflicted with boils grieving their children’s deaths.

When God finally speaks at the end of the book of Job, we expect an answer to all the intricacies of His purposes. But we are surprised to find God confronting Job with unexpected questions of His own.

God has used the book of Job to comfort the afflicted, to humble the self-assured, and to bring all of us to repentance. I pray that God, Why Me? Will help you think more deeply about faithfulness to God despite our unanswered questions.

Suffering and the Goodness of God: When believing in God’s love is hard to do

It’s wonderful when we’re able to enjoy God’s abundant blessings in the “good seasons” of life. But what about those days when trouble comes, when we’re uncomfortable and don’t understand why we’re suffering? How do we fare in our faith then, when God seems so far away?

Q: Why does there seem to be such a disconnect between God’s promises and the reality of our suffering?

A: If one of our parents had the power to keep us from terrible suffering, we know they would do so. A decent human father would never allow his child to die from cancer, a debilitating disease, an accident, etc. And yet, our infinitely powerful Heavenly Father, who loves us more than our earthly parents, allows all that and more.

Simply put, God has a different agenda, a different purpose in our suffering. We value the now; He has an eternal agenda that, for the most part, is hidden from us. We are expected to believe that God has a gracious and good purpose in mind for us (and ultimately for everyone) even though we, with a Bible in hand, have only a glimpse of what it might me.

Q: That’s difficult to accept. How have believers in the past managed to navigate this challenge to their faith?

A: Historically, most Christians have always continued to believe in the promises of God despite what appears to be contrary evidence. Defenders of the faith like Martin Luther and C.S. Lewis have said in different ways, and I paraphrase: When you look around and see no reason to believe God is on your side, the Christian continues to believe the bare promises of God. But, and this is critical, we don’t need to know God’s wise and eternal purpose in the problem of our suffering in order for us to believe God loves us and has a plan for us.

Q: But isn’t believing in the goodness of God a struggle, given the evils that abound?

A: Absolutely, but that is the kind of faith that “though it is tested by fire...may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

Q: What can an individual Christian do when confronted with someone who says they don’t believe in God?

A: My experience is that there is little use giving them arguments for God’s existence, though such arguments have value in other contexts. Atheism is usually not based in rationality, but in an unwillingness to believe because of personal emotional pain and unanswered prayer. So, ask questions and listen. Then listen some more. Hear their story and understand where they are coming from. God will give you an opportunity to speak into their lives.

Q: What do you say to those who insist that the punishment of hell does not fit the crime?

A: That is a huge topic to answer in a few sentences. Let’s just say that first, people will be judged on the basis of what they did with what they knew. Hell will not be the same for everyone. Second, considering the holiness of God and the sin of our rebellion against Him, even the wicked will be satisfied that God was just.

Q: Anything else?

A: Yes! Point people to Jesus, who bore our hell. In the movie, The Last Emperor, the king is asked by his brother what happens if he (the king) makes a mistake. The king replies, “Someone else is punished in my place.” With that he takes an opulent vase and smashes it on the floor, and immediately a servant is whipped for what happened.

In Christianity, by way of contrast, we are servants who smash the vase—we mess up our lives with sin and brokenness. And yet it is our King who was willingly punished on our behalf. He bore our hell, so we could have eternal life.

No matter the questions, the doubts, or the disappointments, always direct people to Jesus.