Thoughts on Suffering and Evil

Suffering and evil are endemic throughout life as we know it, and the longer we live, the more inured to distress and affliction we become; notwithstanding the 50 ongoing conflicts and wars presently, and the over 3,400 terrorist incidents last year. Furthermore, the news media’s daily dose does not fail to impress us how dysfunctional our world has become, reminding us of Habakkuk’s despair, “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists, and contention arises (Hab 1:2-3). What these latter days portend for us, the Bible had clearly warned us; it will be traumatic, and evil seems to be personified, yet we are encouraged to endure to the end (Matt 24:5-14; 2Tim 3:1-3; c.f., 2Cor 11:23-28; 2Cor 4: 16-18). Nevertheless, these constrained circumstances focus us on the fragility of earthly life and our undeviating mortality, with one bright spot which lies assuredly before us - the prospect of an eternity with our Lord and God. 
 
Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking conflict consequences is to watch children as part of a refugee band, bereft of parents and family, or maimed and permanently handicapped due to unrestrained battle atrocities. We are apprised that these little ones are the outcome of collateral damage, the horrific outcome of urban warfare! Without belittling the suffering of the victims of wars and persecution, and the wanton slaughter by terrorists, gleaning through the Book of Job assuages our struggles on the sovereignty of God. When Yahweh finally addressed Job, His series of rhetorical questions stumped him into silence and repentance. Job’s audacity to presume that God needed to justify to him the loses he had endured drew forth his penitence (c.f., Job 9:32-35; tantamount to a lawyer giving evidence in a court to substantiate his case). Nonetheless, Job’s causal suffering remained ambiguous; he was contented not to know God’s covert purpose, concluding, “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3). And God being God, One who is no man’s debtor, justified Job’s innocence before Satan (Job 42:10-17). Our hearts may be shattered over the demise of our broken world when we are unable to comprehend God’s authority over His creation, but one thing is certain, He is the Almighty One and is in control of everything that is going on! Job’s story shows us that suffering is not always a punishment for wrongdoing, and that even righteous people can face intense hardship for reasons beyond their comprehension. And although we may never fully understand the reasons for suffering, we are called to trust in God’s wisdom, sovereignty, and goodness, even in the midst of profound loss or injustice. 
 
 
Within God’s economy, suffering is often used as a time-based discipline, and surprisingly, as a witness for His people (2Cor 4:16-18; 1Peter 5:10). God’s sovereignty is not diminished by, neither is it contingent on human cognition and behavior, as we possess complete moral responsibility for ourselves, exercising our own choices (c.f., Gen 50:19-20; Isa 10:5-15; Acts 4:23-30). The fact that God foreordained and predetermined what is to happen within the context of time does not make it any easier for us to fathom the mystery of His transcendence nor any likely explanation to our messy world. Having said that, to therefore acquiesce and submit to fatalism is certainly not Biblical. We are ineradicably reminded that God does love His creation, and that His love had been expressed through the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross. Hence, to be able to grasp Who God is, is to love Him and to embrace His irrepressible lovingkindness over us. God’s response to Job emphasizes the vastness of divine wisdom and the limits of human understanding. Ultimately, the appropriate response is humility and trust, even without complete answers. The book challenges the simplistic view that good is always rewarded and evil always punished in this life, and it concludes with a focus from the problem of suffering to the mystery and wisdom of creation. In due course, we are comforted that “God causes all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28-30). Even so, come Lord Jesus.