God’s Good Purposes in Suffering
I have been thinking, writing, and teaching about suffering for more than 30 years. Initially I was drawn to the intellectual and theological questions of how can the existence of so much suffering in the world be consistent with the character of God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-compassionate. The reality of suffering has been said to be the Achilles heel of Christianity and I wanted to be able to answer sceptics who use suffering to argue against our faith. My interest was mainly academic.
Then my life fell apart and I experienced an extended season of suffering. Not long after that we lost five close family members in six years. And overlapping with that time of loss people I love dearly faced serious illness and chronic painful conditions. Suffering ceased to be academic, it became personal.
The first course I developed after joining the MINTS Seminary faculty was on a biblical understanding of suffering. I have taught that course in a church-based study center and in four prisons. I spend the first few classes laying out an intellectual argument in defense of God in view of the reality of suffering. The rest of the class is spent considering practical ministry to those who suffer.
Most recently I taught this course at Walker State Prison in the fall of 2019. Kelly Kapic is a professor at Covenant College who has written a book on suffering, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation of Suffering, and he teaches a course on suffering at the college. I invited him to be a guest speaker for our class at Walker. He spent the time speaking about biblical lament.
I have not considered lament in my thinking about suffering. I realized that is a major weakness. I’ve come to see that the primary biblical response to suffering is to lament. I’ve been mulling this over since Kelly spoke to our group. Then, for Father’s Day, one of my children gave me the book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop. I started reading it last week and am just about finished. I want to share a few thoughts from Vroegop with you all today.
Something that has frustrated me in my study of suffering is that none of the books I’ve read about suffering, and there have been many, offer hope for the guilty sufferer. They all address innocent sufferers. How do we help people suffer well when they experience a tragic accident, get a terrible disease, when a loved one dies, or after financial reversal, none of which is their fault? There is, it seems to me, an unspoken view that if someone suffers because of their own sins and crimes then they are just getting what they deserve. But, at its very core the gospel is for guilty people, and so it seems to me that we ought to be able to offer hope for guilty sufferers. We need to be able to help those suffering because of their sins and crimes to see that there is hope for them as well.
I will be writing much more about this later. Today I want to share four truths for guilty people that Vroegop pointed to from the book of Lamentations. Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah to people guilty of terrible sins that resulted in the judgment of God, the nation conquered by Babylon, the temple destroyed, and exile in a foreign land. In the middle of his lament about this suffering, in the third chapter of Lamentations, Jeremiah offered hope to the guilty, suffering people.
1. God’s mercy never ends. Suffering of any kind may cause us to wonder if God is no longer merciful. But Lamentations 3:22-24 promises that God’s love never ceases—even under dark clouds. Read these two verses slowly. They are rich and deeply comforting.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is his faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
2. Waiting is not a waste. Waiting for God to move or answer may be difficult and may seem like a waste. Lamentations 3:25-27 shows us the value of living in the space between suffering and restoration. Lament serves well as we mourn and wait.
The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
What you cannot see in your English translation is that verses 25-27 all begin with the Hebrew word “good.” It could read:
Good is the LORD to those who wait for him,
Good it is that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD,
Good it is for a young man to near the yoke in his youth.
To wait on the Lord means to place your trust in him—to trust that God is the one who can deliver you. Your entire confidence rests on him. We wait for the Lord because he is God and we are not.
3. The final word has not been spoken.
Suffering often involves the fear that it will never end or that it has no purpose. That is why the Bible is clear about suffering not being the final word. The biblical promises about God’s purposes, his character, and the future are all designed to remind us that suffering and pain are not ultimately victorious.
Lament not only mourns the brokenness of suffering; it also looks expectantly toward what is yet to come. Lamentations 3:31-32 is filled with great hope and encouragement;
For the Lord will not cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
4. God is always good.
The final truth is found in Lamentation 3:33:
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
This text tells us that all of the destruction—the leveling of Jerusalem and the temple—does not come from a heart of God that enjoys his people’s hardship.
God doesn’t delight in the pain of his children, rather, there are loving purposes behind every tear. You just can’t see what they are yet. You don’t know the whole story of what God is doing… Rest assured that if you’re a follower of Jesus, everything in your life is part of God’s good purposes for you. He’s not enjoying your struggle, but it’s producing something in you that fits with God’s good heart toward you. Lament can remind us that pain has a purpose. God is always good.
(Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, p. 112-118.)
Whether it is the current turmoil in our nation, or some painful circumstance in your life or family, or the suffering of our mentees in prison, we can trust that God has not forgotten us and he is working a good and loving purpose in our lives.
Much love, Barry