Chapter Eight: The Reason for
Suffering
On page
163, Dr. Keller says, “According to Christian theology, suffering is not
meaningless – neither in general nor in particular instances. For God has purposed to defeat evil so
exhaustively on the cross that all the ravages of evil will someday be undone
and we, despite participating in it so deeply, will be saved. God is accomplishing this not in spite of
suffering, agony, and loss but through
it – it is through the suffering of God that the suffering of humankind will
eventually be overcome and undone. While it is impossible not to wonder whether God could have done all
this some other way – without allowing all the misery and grief – the cross
assures us that, whatever the unfathomable counsels and purposes behind the
course of history, they are motivated by love for us and absolute commitment to
our joy and glory. So suffering is at
the very heart of the Christian faith…And that means that our suffering,
despite its painfulness, is also filled with purpose and usefulness.”
In our
modern world we no longer espouse any idea of the usefulness of
suffering. We understand that stress is
generally bad for peoples health, yet we also find empirical support that shows
we also need adversity and setbacks in order to achieve to our highest levels.
Psychologist
Jonathan Haidt points out three benefits of suffering. The first is that by enduring, we become more
resilient. Second, it nurtures and
strengthens relationships. Third, and
most significantly, it changes our priorities and philosophies. Those who invest most of their energies into
personal achievement and happiness find themselves most vulnerable to
adversity. For those whose priorities
include relationships, religion or contributing to society find suffering
enhances their efforts towards these.
Times of pain and suffering will often force us out of self-centered
life agendas and move us into ones that are other-centered.
On page
167, Dr. Keller lays it out for us.
“According to all branches of Christian theology, the ultimate purpose
of life is to glorify God. That means
that the first – but perhaps hardest to grasp – purpose for our suffering is
the glory of God.” It is unfortunate
that many of today’s most popular churches teach that God is there for our
personal benefit, to make us happy, healthy and prosperous. As we have previously discussed, happiness is
a western cultural idea of life’s purpose.
The church should know better.
There
are also those who argue that one who needs constant reminder of his own glory
is not one to be admired. C. S.
Lewis counters that when we notice “that a work of art is admirable, we don’t mean
that it “deserves” praise in the way that a good student deserves a high
mark. Rather, we mean the artwork
demands admiration because it is the only ‘adequate or appropriate response to
it’ and that if we do not give it praise, we shall have missed something.” Therefore, God directs us to do that which is
simply right to do because we need to do it.
“[In] every action by which we treat him as glorious as he is, whether
through prayer, singing, trusting, obeying, or hoping, we are at once giving
God his due and fulfilling our own design.”
But what
exactly is the glory of God that we should be giving him his due? For one it is “his infinite beyondness”.
Again, this is one of those things that modern people dislike. How can we believe in a God beyond our
comprehension? We don’t want to believe
in a God who would do this thing we don’t like or who would judge people. But would a god that we can figure out and
completely understand really be God?
The
glory of God is also “his supreme
importance”. “[When] the Bible says
that God is glorious, it means he should matter, and does matter, more than
anything else or anyone else. And if
anything matters to you more than God, you are not acknowledging his
glory. You are giving glory to something
else.”
Thirdly,
the glory of God is “his absolute
splendor and beauty”. This comes
from the Greek word doxa used in the
New Testament that means “praise and wonder; luminosity, brilliance, or
beauty”. As Dr. Keller states,
“Glorifying God does not mean obeying him only because you have to. It means to obey him because you want to – because you are attracted to
him, because you delight in him.”
To
illustrate what he has been saying, Dr. Keller describes the story No Graven Image by Elisabeth
Elliot. The point of the story is that a
god who acts the way we think he should, who supports our plans, who makes everything
go the way we think it should, is really a god of our own creation, a counterfeit. He is only a projection of our own
wisdom. But when we expect God to serve
our plans, we are not treating him as
God. We expect young children to trust
adults they don’t understand, yet we are horrified at the idea of trusting a
God we cannot understand. Elisabeth
Elliot would later write that “I dethrone Him in my heart if I demand that He
act in ways that satisfy my idea of justice…There is unbelief, there is even
rebellion, in the attitude that says, God has no right to do this…” So we can trust God’s wisdom in our
suffering, even when we don’t understand, because we remember the glory and
meaning of the cross.
While we
can glorify God in our suffering, we can also glorify him to others as
well. How we handle suffering
demonstrates the greatness of God to those around us. As early Christian writers such as Ambrose,
Cyprian, Ignatius, and Polycarp said, onlookers wondered where these dying
Christians were getting this power to face their torture and pain.
A recent
example we can look to is the Amish community’s response to the tragic school
shooting in Lancaster, PA in October 2006.
The Amish response was considered by the media to be an example of “the
best in us”, yet their ability to forgive has a basis on two things. First, their ability to forgive is grounded
in Christ forgiving his enemies and it is at the heart of their faith and
practice. Second, they understand that
forgiveness involves self-renunciation – giving up the right to pay back. But this is in direct opposition to our individualistic,
consumeristic society that emphasizes self-assertion that is more likely to
produce revenge.
Even the
suffering that no one sees can be a testimony.
The secular world says there is no transcendent, no supernatural, only
this world. Yet the Bible teaches that
angels are watching the church and rejoicing when sinners repent. Job was watched by a great council of angels
and the devil. Knowing that all is seen
and known brings great meaning and significance on the most insignificant
thoughts and actions. As Joni Eareckson
Tada wrote about Denise Walters, a woman who spent 8 years alone in a hospital
room dying of multiple sclerosis, “Angels and demons stood amazed as they
watched her uncomplaining and patient spirit rising as a sweet smelling savor
to God.”
“No
suffering is for nothing…Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can
really destroy you: that is being cast away from God…Jesus Christ suffered, not
so that we would never suffer but so that when we suffer we would be like him. His suffering led to glory. And you can see it in Paul…He is like Jesus
now. Because that is how Jesus did
it. And if you know that that glory is
coming, you can handle suffering, too.”
Next week Chapter Nine: Learning
to Walk
Until then, don’t take my word for
it, read the book – don’t wait for the movie,
and have a little hope on me,
Roger
To learn more about Timothy Keller and his work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, you can check out his personal website, his Facebook page or the church homepage.
Keller, Timothy (2013), Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-525-95245-9
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