A good friend of mine is a chaplain at a hospital, and yesterday she shared a story with me that really impacted me. She talked to a woman the other day who told her that nothing bad had ever happened in her life. My friend asked what she meant, and the woman replied that God is good and sovereign, and everything that has happened to her as His child has therefore been good. She shared how she was once in a terrible accident and had to stay in the hospital. There was a baby there at that time who had no mother, and this woman ended up adopting the child. It was a great blessing in her life that she would have missed had she not been in the hospital. She saw all of the events of her life in that way--everything that happened was for good. I was stunned by her faith, and envious of it!
This morning I was thinking about it and told God I wanted that faith. Sometimes I feel like bad things happen by mistake, like" if I had only done X then this wouldn't have happened." Or maybe I felt like God had looked away for a moment and forgotten me. But I wanted to believe with every fiber of my being, like that woman, that truly "all things work together for the good of those who love God and have been called according to His purpose. " (Rom 8:28)
I looked back over my life for a bit. I've been abused, struggled with depression, and known uncertainty, hunger and terror in the Alaskan wilderness--and seen God's protection and provision. In even the darkest moment of my life, I had to admit that there seemed to be a "glow" about the memories. He was there. It brought to mind a quote by C.S. Lewis that I love: "[Mortals] say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory." It is SO true! He goes on to say that the saved will say in the end that they had always been in heaven. I believe that it's true.
But Lord, I asked, what about the people suffering all over the world? That can't be good, can it? Are you ignoring them? And then it came to mind that God's purpose at all times in every place and generation is to bring people to Himself. The goal is to restore relationship, a relationship that every person was created to have with Him for eternity. But He won't force people to love or acknowledge Him. He made them free, free to love or reject Him. He may withdraw His hand of protection and allow the enemy to cause suffering, but the goal is not the pain itself, which He feels with them, but the goal is that they might turn to Him in their need and find peace and fulfillment, true rest, in relationship with Him. I knew it was true, but it still felt wrong. Then He asked me Is a dentist's drill evil? It is the most horrible instrument I can think of, but no, it isn't evil. Its a tool for good. And that, I realized, is what suffering is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A little post script--this is not to say that we are not called to alleviate suffering in the world, or that in so doing we are working against God. We go in His Name to offer relief and provision, and thereby point people to Him who loves them eternally and perfectly. That is how He has chosen to reach the world, through His children (the Church).
ReplyDeleteWe are further called to pray for the sick and destitute; this is part of God's plan as well. If we fail in our part of the work He has called us to, we may be held responsible in the end. He has chosen to make the Church be His hands on earth--woe to them if they hear the call and ignore it!
We were not saved merely to reap all the benefit and sit idly till heaven.
i understand the 'life is suffering' sentiment, and certainly that must be one of the reasons we seek the divine in the Universe (for solace, inspiration, and connection to something greater). but does that mean that suffering is part of God's plan, or could suffering instead be attributed to human will (particularly in the case of people harming others)?
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is both. People are free to be evil (that is, acting in ways contrary to God's own nature--goodness, fairness, love etc) but that even people's evil actions are allowed and used by God to ultimately accomplish His purpose for His creation.
ReplyDeletedo you think people have free will in the moment but not in the overall arc of their life? or do you mean something else by God's using evil actions? do you think evil is required to accomplish God's purpose for creation (particularly us humans)?
ReplyDeletei mainly like the idea that we're free to be evil b/c we're also free to be good! i think that sense of personal responsibility is both weighty and ennobling. :)
Yes, it is very weighty and very ennobling. I agree! Even more ennobling to me is that He desires to be in personal relationship with us.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your questions, I will share what seems to be true in my own experience. Each day I have a very real freedom to chose my own actions freely, for good or evil. My experience of God is that He offers a choice and is hands off for the most part in my decision. He woos, He convicts--that is, He helps me to know and choose right, but it is my own decision in the end. As for the overall arc of my life, I believe that God, knowing both the beginning and the end as "present" has already seen my decisions and placed me within history to bring about His own ends for this time.
I will be judged in the end for my actions, but even the ones that are evil will have served to bring about God's ultimate purpose for mankind. Sometimes it is necessary for us to suffer in order to grow spiritually (or otherwise). That suffering has come by my own hand for some people, and God has purposed and used that evil to shape those individuals. He also intervenes at times and sets limits on what people will do, though I do not think He does it often. So, in a sense, He willed even my evil, but had things not gone awry at the Beginning, I don't think suffering would have been necessary.
Suffering has become necessary because of humans turning their backs on God, but it is no more His desire for His creation to suffer evil than it is my desire to discipline my son in a way that hurts him. I go as easy on him as I can while still bringing about an understanding in him of what is good. To follow the earlier analogy,the dentist's drill isn't evil but a necessary instrument for good. But it would have been better had we not gotten a cavity in the first place.
I firmly believe that when we get to heaven and look back on our lives with eyes wide open and with eternal perspective, we will not be looking at the fun times as the "best times of our lives." Right now, I think we really tend to look back at fond memories and fun times and think of those as the best times. But often I believe it is because we are not having eternal perspective- God Himself outshines all of those experiences. I think when we come before Him and we see Him in His throne room, we will look back on our lives and see every hardship as the best times. All the pain and suffering, fearsome times and times of anguish which caused us to draw near to God, or to repent and be cleansed, which helped us to know Him better, or to live more fully for Him will be as precious stones to us. All the hardship that taught us not to waste our lives living for finite things- we will be so eternally grateful for those things when we stand before Him and know that it was because of those experiences that we have anything to give Him at all. Because we will want to give Him everything. And the fun times will be just what they are- a blessing to help us carry on, times of refreshing that just help us to know it won't always be difficult, that heaven lies ahead.
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDelete