The Psalmist understood:
‘You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.’ [Psalm 60:3]
‘You have fed [your people] with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.’ [Psalm 80:5]
‘Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?’ [Psalm 85:6]
Sometimes, when we imagine that all is well with the world, it is easy to praise God and rejoice in all that he is and all that he has done. But sometimes, when the world is seen to be what scripture declares to be a ‘vale of tears’, it’s hard. Very hard. Sometimes, therefore, it’s right that we weep with those who weep.
What can we say on days when the anguish is intense? What words might bring a degree of comfort when there seems to be nothing but sorrow? And how do we answer the question that inevitably arises. Why? Why does God allow some to suffer as he does? Why does he allow bad things to happen?
This is mysterious ground and we should step carefully. The answer may never be ours to know and the wisest counsel may be to keep silent when asked to give a reason for such circumstances – there is certainly no easy, concise, one size fits all answer. God’s answer, from out of the whirlwind, to the questions Job asked of his suffering was
“I will question you” [Job 38:3]
G.K. Chesterton writes:
‘…God comforts Job with indecipherable mystery, and for the first time Job is comforted…Job flings at God one riddle, God flings back at Job a hundred riddles, and Job is at peace. He is comforted with conundrums. The riddles of God, Chesterton writes, are more satisfying than the solutions of men’
In the prologue to the book of Job, we see that Job was tormented, not because he was the worst of men, but because he was the best. There is a sense, therefore, in which Job points us towards Jesus. Job is not told that his misfortunes were due to his sins, or part of any plan for his self improvement – but we are, none the less, told that he was allowed to suffer under God’s sovereign care. That a good man should suffer at the hands of a loving God is a paradox. Chesterton calls it ‘the very darkest and strangest of … paradoxes‘ which is, nonetheless, ‘by all human testimony the most reassuring‘. Because the infinite mystery of God is enough to inspire our trust in his sovereign goodness, even when the specific reasons to why we suffer remain a mystery.
As the words of the psalms that I quoted earlier confirm, the Bible is honest about the reality of suffering. If we are to find any comfort, if we are to be revived that we might again rejoice in God, our words and our thoughts, will not be enough. We need a word that transcends our sadness, a word from outside of ourselves, a word from God that can speak truth into our sadness and in so doing bring us hope.
So what do we need to know when bad things happen? What might we find ourselves doubting when events grieve us so deeply? Of what do we need to be reassured?
Firstly we need to know that God is still in control. Nothing happens outside of his sovereign will. We may not understand why God would chose to allow things that we would not, but he is God and he is sovereign over all things – he has supreme power and ultimate authority.
Isaiah Chapter 6:1 assures us of this.
‘In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.’
Nearly 3000 years ago King Uzziah died, and the future seemed uncertain for the people of Isaiah’s day. Isaiah, however, saw behind the immediate apparent disaster, behind the current uncertainty, and saw a vision of one who was in total control, utterly in command of everything that was taking place. He saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up. The immense train of his robe, a symbol of his absolute authority, filled the temple. God was in control 3000 years ago. And he is still in control today.
John 9 is also helpful here. There we read about a man born blind. At the time of his birth, his parents were, no doubt, devastated at the discovery that their son could not see. But when we meet him he has grown up to be a man . Who knows how many years have gone by – twenty, thirty, maybe more – and for all that time the man has suffered, reduced to a lifetime of begging in order to stay alive.
The disciples, like, no doubt, so many others, find themselves wondering why the man had suffered in the way he had? And so they ask Jesus,
‘Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’.
But Jesus answers them by saying,
‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’.
And so we see that the man was born blind for a God ordained reason, one that, for decades would have been unknown to neither the man himself and his parents, nor indeed anyone else.
In seeking an explanation for the man’s blindness, they asked their question ‘Why?’, expecting an answer regarding what caused it. But Jesus answers their question of ‘Why’ in terms of what was God’s purpose. And the reason he gave for that was so that the works of God might be displayed.
It should, therefore. be of no suprise to us that God’s purpose in bringing about certain events in this world are, for the time being at least, similarly beyond our understanding. Maybe we will not see the reasons for them in our lifetime, indeed the reasons may never be ours to know. But though the sadness remains, we can, by faith, have confidence that God was and is in control of them. He does have a purpose.
But is God loving? He may be in control, but can he really love us if he allows us to suffer so? This is something that is also addressed John’s Gospel
‘Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.’ [John 11;1-6]
Lazarus was ill. And his sisters call for Jesus to come in the hope that he will heal Lazarus. But Jesus doesn’t respond in the way that they want and Lazarus subsequently dies. But notice versus 5 and 6 where we read
‘Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.’ [John 11;1-6]
Jesus loved these people. And yet the passage tells us that Jesus delays his departure. Indeed, verse 6 begins with the word ‘So’. It is precisely because Jesus loves Mary, Martha and Lazarus that he delays his visit and allows Lazarus to die. There is the. a higher, better, more loving purpose underlying Jesus’ actions – Lazarus’ suffering is for the glory of God too, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
Sometimes when bad things happen, we will have been calling on God to prevent that thing from taking place. Perhaps we will have been praying for someone’s healing, for war to come to an end or someone’s life circumstances to dramatically change. But for reasons that we currently can’t comprehend, rather than answering our petitions in the way we would like, God choses to act differently to how we would have chosen. Even so, though our sorrow remains, we can, by faith, know that his actions are still loving. Jesus loved – and continues to love – those that suffer..
And we can find comfort in the rest of John chapter 11 too. In verse 35 we find Jesus himself weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. He is deeply distressed by the death of his friend – and that anguish is no less real for knowing that he will soon raise Lazarus from the dead.
Similarly. I believe Jesus is with those who are sad today. He too weeps with those who weep.
Even so. We can be sure that he won’t leave them to grieve forever.
Because Jesus, who declared himself to be the resurrection and the life, later raised Lazarus from the dead. And so, though we will sometimes have cause to mourn, we do not need to mourn as those who have no hope. For we believe in a God who saves, a God who redeems, a God who raises the dead.
Our salvation does not depend on how happy we are in this life. Our salvation depends on the grace of the God in whom we have faith, regardless of how weak that faith might sometimes be. We are not saved by virtue of how meritorious our life has been, but on account of the life of Jesus whose death on the cross paid for all our sins – those we have committed and those we are yet to commit,. We are saved by Jesus’ sinless life, his perfect righteousness being credited to us and making us acceptable to God.
We are saved by grace alone – a grace that, unlike our sometimes wavering faith, will never falter.
‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. Great is [his] faithfulness’ [Lamentations 3:22]
That is the gospel, the good news, the hope to which we cling.
God has made promises – promises he cannot fail to keep. We often find that what we experience now and what we hope for in the future stand in contradiction to each other. Our hope though is directed at what is not yet visible, and it is our faith in God’s promises that assures us that what he promises we will surely one day experience. God’s promises do not always throw light on the reality that exists today, mystery often remains, but they do illuminate the reality that will one day be.
So let’s remind ourselves again of some of those promises. Though the grief remains, there is a day coming when the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise. [1 Thessalonians 4:16]
There is a day coming when what is sown perishable, will be raised imperishable; what is sown in dishonour, will be raised in glory and what is sown in weakness will be raised in power [1 Corinthians 15:42-43].
And there is a day coming when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things will have passed away [Revelation 21:4].
What then shall we say when disaster strikes?
Is God in control? – Yes, the sadness remains, but God is in control.
Is God loving? – Yes, the sorrow remains, but God is loving.
Is there still hope? – Yes, the grief still remains, but there is still hope.
God remains worthy of our worship. Retuning to John 9 we read how, having said that the beggar was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed, Jesus restores his sight. And in so doing he declares himself to be God.
As he does so. Jesus makes use of some mud – mud that he himself had made which provoked controversy with the Pharisees who considered such an action unlawful on the Sabbath.
They didn’t understand that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. They didn’t understand that, because man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man, in order that man might rest and be restored, it was wholly appropriate for God to heal on that day.
Having anointed the mans eyes with the mud, Jesus instructed him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam which, we are told, means ‘Sent’. And there his sight was restored.
Interestingly, Jesus had just told the man that he, Jesus, has been ‘sent’ by God. Jesus, therefore, is giving us a picture – because going to the pool that is called ‘Sent’ is analogous to going to Jesus – the one who was ‘sent’ by God.
Jesus is, therefore, the place where spiritual sight is restored. And it is the restoration of spiritual sight that we then see, through a series of conversations that the beggar has, first with the Pharisees and then, finally with Jesus.
In verse 11, the beggar describes Jesus as a man, in verse 17, he describes him as a prophet, in verse 33 he acknowledges that Jesus is from God and finally, in verse 38, as well as calling him Lord, the man is seen worshiping Jesus.
First the beggar had his physical sight restored and then, a greater miracle takes place – he has his spiritual sight restored enabling him to see Jesus for who he really was.
It is no different for us. If we are to see who Jesus is, then we need to be the recipients of God’s grace. We need to have had our eyes miraculously opened as a result of the gracious act of a sovereign Lord.
An act that, as it did for the beggar, may involve years of suffering along the way – suffering which, if we do experience it, we can be sure it will have been both worth it and purposely ordained for our good by our loving Heavenly Father.
In order to be able to see, we need the Light of the World to shine in our lives. Praise God that when it does, we can see Him on even the darkest day.
And like the beggar in John 9, offer him our worship too.
Related posts:
To read ‘Weeping with those who weep’, click here
To read ‘Still weeping with those who weep’, click here
To read ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’, click here
To read ‘on the FALLEN and the FELLED’, click here
To read ‘When our joy will be complete’, click here
To read ‘What becomes of the broken hearted? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Palm Sunday’, click here
To read ‘Why do bad things happen to good people? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Good Friday’, click here
To read ‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things? Rejoicing, though temporarily sorrowful, on Easter Day’, click here.
To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here
To read “Luther and the global pandemic – on becoming a theologian of the cross”, click here
To read “Why do bad things happen to good people – a tentative suggestion”, click here
To read ‘Monsters’, click here
To read ‘On Sleeping like a Baby’, click here
To read ‘But this I know’, click here
To read ‘But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope’, click here
To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here
To read ‘The Promise Keeper’, click here
To read ‘Hearing the grass grow’, click here
To read ‘Because the world is not enough’, click here
To read ‘Do you hear the people sing?’, click here
To read “Suffering- A Personal View”, click here.
To read ‘Faith and Doubt’, click here
To read ‘Real Power’, click here
To read ‘Foolishness – Law and Gospel’, click here
To read, ‘But this I know’, click here
To read ‘Rest Assured’, click here
To read ‘The Resurrection – is it just rhubarb?’, click here
To read ‘One Day’, click here.
To read ‘General Practice – still a sweet sorrow’, click here
Some musings 