Suffering is one of those things that Christians tend not to attribute to God. Our response to questions such as “why do bad things happen to ‘good’ people,” or even “why does God allow suffering?” usually includes something about God giving us free will, which results in people—or beings, such as Satan—choosing evil, or that God allows suffering for some great purpose. But often we don’t say that God orchestrates the suffering – that seems contradictory to His nature.
God's Hand in Suffering
I was confronted with the idea of God affecting suffering most recently through small group, where we’re doing a Bible study called “Seeing and Savoring Jesus.” As it sounds, it’s about learning to, and enjoying, walking closely with Jesus, daily. One lesson, “Jesus Christ: Sovereign and Submissive,” discussed God having absolute authority over all things, including the so-called “good” and “bad” (for example, his dominion over “the gift of faith-Philippians 1:29; the persecution of Christians-Hebrews 12: 4-7; the growth of believers-Hebrews 6:3; and the sickness of children—2 Samuel 12:15” p. 81). The question was then posed what “theological problem” is created by the fact that God is in control of all, even suffering. The following was part of the answer, which in particular underscored that God has a hand in suffering, not merely that He allows it:
"How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, with compassionate outcomes is mysterious indeed! But that is what the Bible teaches. God ‘works all things after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1: 11)’…From the smallest things to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure—God governs them all for his wise and just and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos [the prophet in the Bible] asks, in time of disaster, ‘If calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it? (Amos 3:6).’ After losing all ten of his children in the collapse of his son’s house, Job says, ‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).’ After being covered with boils he says, ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? (Job 2:10)'" p. 80-81.His Example
There is no greater exhibit of God orchestrating suffering for His purpose than The Cross. It was purposed suffering that even Jesus himself was conflicted about enduring. When he went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before his death, the Bible tells us that Jesus said to his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26: 38). Then, in the following verse, “…he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (v. 39). He prayed similarly in verse 42. By asking that the “cup” be taken from Him, He likely was saying that if God’s plan of salvation could be accomplished without him having to endure death, God should provide that way.
But we know the story did not end with God removing Jesus from the pain of The Cross just because he felt overwhelmed. In the same breath as the plea in Matthew 26:39 for God to intervene, Jesus also asked that the Father’s will be done (v. 39, 42). As Philippians 2: 8 says, Jesus, the Lord of Glory, humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a Cross. He put aside His fears to choose His Father’s will. And because of the pain—the stripes—He suffered, we are healed, saved from the ultimate price of sin if we only believe on His name.
Looking at the death of Jesus should affect the way we view the suffering God purposes in our own lives. We can spend time debating to what degree God “allowed” or “caused” the pain we go through. But the better response is to use it as an opportunity to see God work in our lives and that of others.
God’s Work through Paul
A great example of how we are to respond to suffering as Christians, flowing from The Cross, is the Apostle Paul. As an early missionary bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth, he faced all kinds of persecution for claiming Christ (and presecution of that kind is still faced today!). The Bible also talks about him having some kind of unnamed “thorn in the flesh,” the nature of which scholars debate (some say it was a type of physical ailment, but that discussion is for another time). Whatever it was, Paul specifically says in 2 Corinthians 12: 7 that it was sent to him as a result of his ministry: “To keep me from being conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.” He knew God had the power to remove the suffering and not only chose not to, but purposed it:
“8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Paul also wrote of God’s design for his suffering in 2 Timothy 2: 8 – 10:
"8Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."The Ultimate Response
Imagine if we approached hardships in life first learning from Jesus’ example: That we pray God’s will, no matter how we are feeling. What if we also learned from Paul who, through Christ, delighted in suffering for the opportunity to be stretched—and strengthened—by The Source. We would see that God’s glory can be revealed in it, just as it can in the “good” times we long for!
The Great High Priest
Knowing the agony that Christ went through before and during his death on The Cross also should give us special comfort that there is no suffering we experience that He cannot relate to, so we should give all hardships to Him, and rely on Him through them. I love the words of encouragement in Hebrews 4: 15-16:
"15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (NKJV).
What power – what comfort – we have because of Christ’s death! The most we can give Him in response is our lives—and in all circumstances: sickness and health; wealth and poverty; “good” and “bad.”
This Easter, let’s be reminded that His willingness to endure has given us the grace to embrace all of life’s events, knowing that He has overcome them all and is at work in and through them. That’s how we get the most out of our time on earth that is here today, gone tomorrow, and filled with trouble in between!
There’s a song I love that speaks to the splendor of His suffering, aptly called The Glory. I have no better description for Calvary than glorious!
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