Perfect in imperfection

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

     We are the clay, you are the potter;

     we are all the work of your hand.

- Isaiah 64:8

After reading through Isaiah 64 together, a friend shared this image with me.

When you work with wood, there is usually some measure of imperfection in each piece of timber that you use. Some will try and avoid that imperfection, or perhaps cover it up; others will stubbornly work in spite of that imperfection; the sign of a master woodworker, however, is that he or she is able to take that imperfection and incorporate it into the beauty of the overall design.

God is the ultimate master craftsman. He takes our weaknesses and turns them into his strengths; he creates beauty out of ugliness; he uses our imperfections to accomplish his perfect will. And in doing so, he demonstrates his glory. Paul knew this:

But [the Lord] 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. That 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.

- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Don't be afraid of your weaknesses; pray that God will use them as an opportunity to show his power. Don't pray for the removal of hardships, persecutions or difficulties (Paul tried this - read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10); instead, pray that God will bring glory to himself through them.

And he will make a thing of great beauty out of you.

Perspectives on Pain (Part 3)

Anyone who has suffered devastating grief or dehumanizing pain has at some point been confronted by near relatives of Job's miserable comforters. They come with their clichés and tired, pious mouthings. They engender guilt where they should be administering balm. They utter solemn truths where compassion is needed. They exhibit strength and exhort to courage where they would be more comforting if they simply wept.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? (2nd edition, Baker Academic, 2006) p. 221.

Over the last two posts, we have looked at some of the ways in which people understand and explain the presence of evil, pain and suffering in the world. Initially I was planning to leave it at that, but the more I thought and prayed about the issue, the more I was convinced that that was not enough.

No matter how thorough your understanding of these ideas, there will still be times when explanations and theories are not enough. Platitudes about building a better character will sound hollow in the ears of a date-raped woman; explaining God's higher purposes for creation will probably not comfort a man who has just lost his family in a car accident. In this post, then, I wish to offer some suggestions about comforting those who are grieving, ill or suffering.

At this point I should offer a brief disclaimer: I am neither a trained nor an experienced grief counsellor. I debated about whether to write this article at all, given my lack of qualification, but came down in favour of doing so in order to bring a necessary balance to the last 2 articles. Much of what I will offer here, then, is drawn from the experiences of others and as a result your mileage may vary.

The first thing that you need to know about counselling those in grief is that it is not your job to 'fix' them. Your chief allies in such a situation will be your ears, not your brain or your mouth. You do not need to have all the 'answers'; you do need to have a compassionate heart and listening ears.

Frequently in the midst of suffering the most comforting "answers" are simple presence, help, silence, tears. Helping with the gardening or preparing a casserole may be far more spiritual an exercise than the exposition of Romans 8:28. The Scriptures themselves exhort us to "mourn with those who mourn" (Rom. 12:15).

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? (2nd edition, Baker Academic, 2006) p. 223.

The second thing I would say is this: don't be afraid of, or embarrassed by, strong emotions. Unless you are able to accept the tears, the uncomfortable silences, and even the anger, you will not be able to meaningfully share in the journey. By being embarrassed, you add to their burden because (naturally) they then feel they have become an embarrassment to you - and hence they won't want to be around you. Consider these words from C. S. Lewis, written in the period after his wife died of cancer:

An odd byproduct of my loss is that I'm aware of being an embarrassment to everyone I meet. At work, at the club, in the street, I see people, as they approach me, trying to make up their minds whether they'll say something about it or not. I hate it if they do, and if they don't... Perhaps the bereaved ought to be isolated in special settlements like lepers.

- C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001) pp. 10-11.

There is no such thing as 'normal' grief. There will often be common areas, but no two people will grieve in exactly the same way. Some people will want to talk about things, to remember the good times out loud with you; others will not, preferring to process these things privately. Some will want to have others around; others will not cope with being around people. Some will turn to God for comfort; others will rage against him.

This last, by the way, does not necessarily signal a loss of faith. Even a man like C. S. Lewis, so greatly respected for his faith, may have severe doubts in the midst of trials.

Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms [of grief]. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be - or so it feels - welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in ruin, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be and empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this meani? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

- C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001) pp. 5-6.

All of these preferences and emotions are valid - there is no such thing, in my view, as a 'wrong' way of expressing grief. Don't fall into the trap of trying to tell your friend how they 'should' feel or act. In other words, share their journey without dictating the destination, or even the mode of transport.

I am sure that there are many more things to be said than these brief cautions, but I don't have the experience or wisdom to know what they are. Perhaps you have some suggestions, based on your own experiences... why not leave a comment to share them with us?

Perspectives on Pain (Part 2)

(This article is a continuation of an earlier one. If you haven't read it yet... read it now!)

Last time we looked at the questions of pain and suffering from the point of each of the world's main religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and atheism. The treatment of each was necessarily brief, partly because I was trying to boil it down to the core ideas so that we could readily compare, and partly because I am in no way qualified to discuss any more than the basics of any of those world-views.

There was, of course, one notable exception from our list of religions - Christianity. The rest of this article will be devoted to redressing that imbalance.

Before we start, let me offer an apology: If you are expecting to find here the answers to all of your questions how and why God allows pain and suffering to occur then I am afraid you are going to be sorely disappointed. I am not presumptuous enough to think that I have answered all of my questions, let alone yours as well! My aim is much more modest. I have attempted to pull together some (but by no means all!) of ways the Bible treats suffering. I hope that this will be a useful starting point for you as you wrestle with God's Word yourself.

Because this is both an important issue and a complex one, I would really appreciate any feedback that you have to offer - either questions or comments. You can do this either by emailing me, or leaving a comment here. I will do my utmost to respond to all questions as best I am able.

A result of sin

Key to any Christian's understanding of the presence of pain and suffering in the world is a correct understanding of sin. As we read through the first three chapters of Genesis, we understand that God created the world, that he created mankind "and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Gen 2:15). Adam and Eve, however, were not satisfied with the role that God had set out for them, and took matters into their own hands; as a result both mankind and the earth itself were placed under a curse (Gen 3). All suffering since is a result of that sin of rebellion, and millions just like it, subverting God's plan for creation.

One thing that it is important to note, however, is that this relationship between sin and suffering is a causal one, but not a mathematical one. That is to say that more sin does not necessarily mean more suffering on an individual basis. Otherwise why would the psalmist write:

I envied the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
    their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man;
    they are not plagued by human ills.

- Psalm 73:3-4

On the surface, this does not seem at all 'fair'. Why should it be that "only the good die young" (as Billy Joel would put it)?

[W]e must always remember that the Bible does not present us with a God who chances upon neutral men and women and arbitrarily consigns some to heaven and some to hell. He takes guilty men and women, all of whom deserve his wrath, and in his great mercy and love he saves vast numbers of them. Had he saved only one, it would have been an act of grace; that he saves a vast host affirms still more unmistakably the uncharted reaches of that grace. From a biblical perspective, hell stands as a horrible witness to human defiance in the face of great grace.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?, (Second Edition, Baker Academic, 2006) p. 92.

Don't fall in to the trap that Jesus' disciples did, of trying to trace individual afflictions back to individual sins (see John 9:1-2). God doesn't work that way - at least not in the kind of time frame we can see. Ultimately, of course, God's justice - his 'fairness', if you like - will be revealed in his final judgment of the entire earth.

A signpost to God

[E]verything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or obtained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence by means of some drug or other medical mumbo jumbo… the result would not be to make life delectable but to make it too banal or trivial to be endurable. This of course is what the cross [of Christ] signifies, and it is the cross more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.

- Malcolm Muggeridge, Homemade, July 1990, cited in John Piper, Desiring God, (3rd Ed., IVP, 2003) p. 266.

As I mentioned in another place, I believe that God sometimes uses suffering and pain to point us to himself.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

- C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (HarperCollins, 2002) p. 91

We have a God who invites us to come to him and express our doubts, to question God and to plead with him for some kind of response. Consider the start of Psalm 22:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, and am not silent.

- Psalm 22:1-2

It is OK for us to be baffled when a father is taken away from his family by a fatal car crash; it is right for us to be outraged at the rape of a young woman; it is proper for us to pour out our anguish when those we love are struck down with cancer. We should, like so many of the psalmists, bring those things to God, because it is in doing so that God promises to act.

No temptation [the Greek word here could also be translated testing/suffering] has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted [tested] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted [tested], he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

- 1 Cor 10:13

God offers us comfort in two facts: he knows you, and will not let suffering increase so much that you cannot bear it; and he will give you the strength and courage ("a way out") to "stand up under" suffering when it comes.

Jesus was and is certainly no stranger to strong emotion. The gospels record him as being tired (so tired, in fact, he fell asleep in a fishing boat in the middle of a storm! See ); grieving at the death of his friend; indignant at his disciples 'shielding' him from children; angry at the immense corruption in the temple; and desperately afraid as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He suffered agony on the Cross for our sakes - and when he did so, in his hour of greatest suffering and torment, he turned to the very words of Psalm 22 above (see Mt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34).

This is not a cry of self-doubt from Christ's lips, as if he is here questioning his identity and mission. It his [sic. is] deliberate and agonizing identification with the suffering poet of Psalm 22 and therefore, with all those who have cried out to God 'Why?'. There on the cross, so the Bible insists, God intentionally enters our pain and misery, getting his hands dirty and even bloody. This is God at his most vulnerable and yet at his most glorious.

- John Dickson, If I were God I'd end all the pain (2nd ed. Matthias Media, 2002) p.66.

Jesus chose the way of suffering, so that he could understand our pain.

For we do not have a high pries who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have on who has been tempted [tested] in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

- Heb. 4:15-16

A cause for hope

Hard as it might seem to believe, God also permits suffering in order to bring us hope. James, the brother of Jesus, puts it this way:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

- James 1:2-4

So, in other words, trials of many kinds help us develop perseverance, which is required for us to be "mature and complete." Paul fleshes this out a bit more in his letter to the Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

- Romans 5:1-5

The hope, then, is this: through our sufferings, God is making us more and more like his Son every day, in accordance with his will (Rom 8:29). And because of this, we have a hope that is eternal:

Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this we greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

- 1 Peter 1:3-7

My prayer, then, for me and for you, is the same one that James recommends:

If any of you lacks wisdom [to be able to rejoice when facing trials; see v. 2], he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

- James 1:5-6

Not just the hereafter

When we who are Christians wrestle with questions about evil and suffering, and in particular illness and death, it is important that we do not too hastily appeal to what used to be called "the hereafter." We struggle here, and much of the comfort and perspective the Bible offers has little to do with any appeal to the End.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? (2nd Ed., Baker Academic, 2006) p. 114.

The comfort of God

It is exceedingly important to appreciate that the comfort God gives is real comfort. It is not mere stoicism expressed in some stony-faced assertion that God knows best - though confidence that God does know best may contribute to our comfort.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?, (2nd Ed., Baker Academic, 2006) p. 113.

God is not unmoved

[The] God of the Bible is not unmoved by our suffering. He is slow to anger, abundant in mercy. The Jesus who delivers the terrible "woes" to the religious hypocrites of his day (Matt. 23) ends up weeping over the city of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate." (Matt. 23:37-38). The stereotype of a "hell-fire preacher" really letting his hearers have it cannot be found in the Bible. Though the Bible speaks plainly, and sometimes in fury, it never does so without tears. And Christians can never forget that they too, like the rest, are by nature objects of wrath. They never warn others about the wrath of God from a position of intrinsic superiority, but from the brokenness of experience and the relief of redemption they want to share.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?, (Second Edition, Baker Academic, 2006) pp. 92-3.

An act of grace

[W]e must always remember that the Bible does not present us with a God who chances upon neutral men and women and arbitrarily consigns some to heaven and some to hell. He takes guilty men and women, all of whom deserve his wrath, and in his great mercy and love he saves vast numbers of them. Had he saved only one, it would have been an act of grace; that he saves a vast host affirms still more unmistakably the uncharted reaches of that grace. From a biblical perspective, hell stands as a horrible witness to human defiance in the face of great grace.

- D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?, (Second Edition, Baker Academic, 2006) p. 92.