Tools for Monday – Dealing with Pain & Suffering
We’re trying something new for our Monday blogs! Welcome to “Tools for Monday,” a weekly article designed to equip you as a disciple of Jesus. It is our hope that these articles will inspire and challenge you with practical guidance for the week ahead, so that you can more effectively walk as Jesus walked.
Let’s talk today about the topic of pain and/or suffering. Today marks twenty-two years since the awful terrorist attacks of 9/11. If you were alive at the time, then the events of the day are likely seared deep into your memory. Even after all these years, many of us still ask, “Why would a loving God allow such a painful tragedy?” Some people may even forsake putting faith in God because the tension between the evil of this world and the love of God is just too much.
It is quite natural for us to question why something as profoundly evil as 9/11 would occur. After all, it makes no sense whatsoever. We also question why we experience our own pain and suffering seemingly for no reason other than life is unfair and tough. While we cannot provide an in-depth theological analysis of pain in this article, we can offer some practical guidance for dealing with suffering from a perspective of faith in Christ. In fact, let’s consider the following items that may help.
First, Jesus himself experienced pain and suffering. Pain and suffering have been a fact of life since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Their own son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel. Consider also how the Bible details ways in which even the ancients not only enslaved one another but also experienced natural disasters and diseases beyond their control.
Jesus was no stranger to senseless violence, pain, and loss. He is the ultimate model of innocent suffering. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus even cried in prayer and had such a violent physical reaction to his impending crucifixion that his sweat could have actually been blood loss. His cry from the cross was a quote from Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The fact that Jesus suffered senseless tragedy and pain means that he can perfectly identify with us. He is our closest ally and advocate in times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Second, pain and suffering are not God’s fault. Sometimes we want to point the finger of blame on God when we experience loss and tragedy. A loving God however does not cause our suffering. He allows it. But why? Part of the reason is that God created humankind with the freedom of personal agency in decision-making. And there is no true freedom without consequences. This is why Jesus said that it rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). Because of human sin and fallenness, the whole realm of creation consequently is broken. Nature itself brings some good and some bad.
Third, pain and suffering can be redeemed by God. God is perfectly capable of taking what is meant for evil and using it for good (Romans 8:28). Consider the story of Joseph as recorded in Genesis. Joseph suffered violent abuse from his family and imprisonment on false charges, yet God redeemed that which God permitted! We may not fully understand how or why, but God can and will even use bad things eventually for good. We can trust Him. We have an Advocate!