Where in the world is God?
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
The reality of Suffering
I remember when I was in third grade my brother and I were playing in the weight room at the local High School. Our church at the time was meeting on site, but being the pastor’s kids we had been to the previous services and were ready to be anywhere else. So we ended up wandering around without supervision.
What could possibly go wrong right?
We ended up finding some wrestling mats that were attached by velcro to the wall. My brother would climb up on top of the mats and then help me up so that we could climb back down and do it all over again. At one point, as he is pulling me up, we hear the velcro start to rip from the wall. Instead of holding on to me, he ended up letting me fall and grabbing the wall to keep the mats from falling on top of me.
Unfortunately, I still ended up landing on my wrist and fractured it. My parents didn’t think it was broken until they finally took me to the doctor's office a few hours later. For the next couple of months, I had to have a full arm cast to let it heal. To a third-grader, this felt like forever. It felt like I would never get past this pain.
Suffering in our world is a reality. There are worse things in our universe than broken bones. The natural world is filled with suffering: cancer, disease, tsunamis, eruptions. Then there’s the suffering we bring on ourselves as humanity: murder, betrayal, theft, and more. The problem of suffering has plagued humanity since the fall as seen in Genesis 1-3. We broke the universe. Yet the reality of suffering is sometimes used as a catalyst to question God. Where in the world is God? We demand to know where God is with all the suffering that happens. We begin to have doubts or sometimes outright anger at God for allowing such suffering.
I’m not writing this is give an answer to every painful experience you’ve had or to invalidate the emotions you feel. It would be a foolish and cruel thing to lie like that. There are but two things I can point us toward. The first is the story of Job and the second is the story of Jesus.
The story of Job
The story of Job is a complex one. In summary, Job was a man who loved God and honored him, then one day the devil comes along and says Job only loves God because his life is easy, so God allows the devil to bring much suffering to Job. Eventually, God restored to Job everything that he had and more and rewarded him. The crux of the issue comes in Job 40 where it is written,
“The Lord said to Job: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Then Job answered the Lord: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more.” Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s? And can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.”” - Job 40:1-10
We are not God, we do not have his perspective. The very morality we would attempt to use to judge God comes from him. Our very capacity to question him is actually a gift of mercy. He could have created a universe of robots, a universe where no one had any choice by to obey, but he didn’t for the sake of love for he is love. He is God and we are not.
The story of Jesus
I’ve experienced worse things than broken bones in this life. Betrayal, hurt, rage. I’ve not only been on the receiving end of pain but I have been the source of pain and suffering in other people’s lives as well. We all are sinful from birth. God is the only truly innocent one. God who is outside of time and space, entered time and space, not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Philippians 2). Jesus actually chooses to suffer. His word says,
“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” - Isaiah 53:1-3
Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:14-15). God chose to suffer and die for us so that we might have eternal life in him. One day there will be no more suffering, no more pain. He will come and wipe every tear from our eyes, and he will make all things new. Those who trust in the death and resurrection of the God who suffered, and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord will be saved.
Where is God? He is present in our suffering. He is close to the brokenhearted among us. I hope this encourages you in your journey.
