Answers for Those in Pain and Suffering

Last Friday, I meet up with two of my colleagues for lunch, cum a bible study session in which we talked about our reflection and personal feelings on Psalm 107. During that session, I shared about some questions that I had pertaining to verse 4.

How had some wandered to desert wastelands without knowing? Why are they in a situation whereby they cannot find a way to a city where they could settle? Do they have no other ways? Is the situation caused by themselves or by other people?

The reason for all these questions is due to the fact that these are the very questions that I am asking in parallel with some real life experiences that I had in the past. I shared cautiously and vulnerably to the two colleagues of what was going through my mind, fearing that they may not understand where I was coming from, and why I had such thoughts.

True enough, the responses that came from them were their understandings of bible, God, situation and the personalities involved of why the past incidents happened and how I should respond in relation to God's truth. "Gives thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever...", "Our confidence should lie in God and not on men.." As we finished our session and walked back to office, I was desperately appealing for them to understand what I had been through, and my desire for the church leadership to be better. I was so flustered that I concluded that never will I ever want to share with them the matter again.

I received an email from one of them this morning about her reflection on her thoughts about how we should make sense, behave and act pertaining to church leaders and failures within the church. I wish I can include the content of the email here for all to see but I shouldn't in case she would be affected by it. It is ironic to receive "godly advices" from a Christian of less than half the time I had been a Christian, who have never served sacrificially and wholehearted involved in taking care and dealing with sinful people, who have never been hurt and disillusioned by the leaders and followers of Christ, who never had the experience of been betrayed by one of your closest friend and mentor, who have never stood up against authorities for a certain cause and the risk of being rejected by the main community. People who read this entry may think, why is Joncreate so emotional? Why can't he control his own emotions and just follow the biblical principles in response? Joncreate is so immature to have so much negativity within him.

In order to have genuine and a comprehensive answer to my pain, I began to read "Cries of the Heart" again, on the chapter of "The Cry for a Reason in Suffering". Ravi shared, "To live is to sooner or later experience or witness pain and suffering. To reason is to inevitably ponder 'Why?'". Everyone would have to ask this question sooner or later. Habakkuk asked, "Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong" (Hab 1:3). David cried out, "How long will the enemy mock you?" (Ps 74:10). Jonah was exasperated by the violence of the Ninevites and wanted them wiped out. Jeremiah challenged God, saying, "I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" (Jer 12:1)

It is not wrong to have such questions. These questions are some most honest and genuine questions that can be raised of a Christian faith that talks of a loving God who is in control of all things. Neither should we dismiss such questioner as one who does not want to believe in God's Word. Instead they may be the ones who sincerely wrestling in their mind and heart with the problem. How should anyone, or Christians respond to such questioner? Glib and incoherent answers to such heart cries will definitely not help. The bible does not ignore these questions in silence but addresses it with great seriousness.

Book of Job - An example of Job who never once lost sight of God that God is very much in control. However with all the pain and suffering that Job endured, he could not reconcile this with his theological framework. He had always assumed that if you are good, you will be blessed and if you are bad, you would be cursed. His theological framework was then refined by God subsequently.

I am really fascinated by the response of Job's so called friends who actually travelled to visit Job upon hearing his misfortunes. With friends like them, who needs enemy?!! But the true fact is such friends do exist..Note the interesting responses by the friends who saw the actual condition of Job and were so shocked by the Job's plight that they were speechless for 7 days.

The first friend who spoke was Eliphaz, the oldest and the kindest. Basically there were no evident flaws to his thoughts except for the weird foundation upon to which he built it and his callousness, which care more about his eloquenceof the argument than for the misery of his friend. We just need to put ourselves in Job's shoes to feel and understand how Job will feel if our friends start to talk like Eliphaz. An important lesson to learn from Elizphaz is never to build an entire theological system based on personal experience that cannot be verified by others. What you have experienced previously especially in terms of spiritual experience should not be used as the sole and main interpretation of your friend's experience of misfortune and existence. According to Ravi, this is a dangerous way to claim devotion to God as there is no way to differentiate between worshipping God or playing God. Job 6:14-17 - As authentic as Eliphaz's experience may be, Job has the right to dismiss it as Eliphaz's speech missed Job's anguish. Job went on to question Eliphaz's heartlessness in Job 6:24-28

The second interesting response was that of Bildad. He appealed to Job to refer back to the words of the ancient and the wise. After all, the former generations would have something to teach us about suffering and pain. However the issue here is that do these words provide an answer to the question of why pain occurs in our lives and not just merely asking us to accept, endure and triumph in the situation. Job was more concerning and pondering about the reason of his suffering more than how to endure it. Even if there is a valid and noble to suffering, it may be a distant answer to a proximate agony. The heart is not satisfied with such an answer.

It was then at this point that Job began to ask for aribitration between God and him. Maybe it can be that even his friends don't understand him at all and he felt so misunderstood that he wanted someone to be that point of contact, of arbitration. The point of contact to someone who understands, empathises should facilitate healing from within.

Finally, came the response of Zophar, the youngest and the rudest. He basically called Job an idiot and a windbag. (See Job 11:12) How typical is his reaction, that of impatience and anger - We are all like him once in a while when we think that we have the answer and the other person fails to see our point. Zophar's point is in essence - God's ways were not Job's ways and Job just needed to understand that. At this point, I felt so amused as I have heard so many of such reasonings given by leaders who don't have the time to go through the period of pain with their people and therefore they gave this reason, hoping that the person would shortened his grieving process and to resume back to his normal life asap. What is the result and impact in the church community as a result? You inculcate a community of people who doesn't think and try to make sense of a circumstance as best as they can, and to grow and become wiser from it. You inculcate a community of people who is just focused on doing God's will and on rushing to finish the Great Commission, while blinded to their inner world, as well as the surroundings arund them. Such imbalanced community are caused by such "godly" leaders. The fact is the devil's way is not Job's way as well. Job's thinking is just concerned about the what and why of the difference between God's thinking and his, not just the fact of it.

Finally, God started to give the most shocking response to Job, with questions that Job cannot answer. God is simply trying to demonstrate to Job that "Do not assume that you only accept that which you comprehensively understand." God implied that He has given sufficient evidence of His power and design in creation. To seek comprehensive knowledge as the only grounds for belief is unreasonable. There is a world of difference between the words sufficient and comprehensive. God challenged Job to admit to his limitation and allow Him to be God. God insists that those limitations do and must exist. At this point, amybe to all those who are suffering out there, may the point above remind you that we are still very much living in a fragile and fallen world. We are fragile and easily damaged if not for God's grace and protection. We therefore need a someone greater than us to be able to care for us.

God then took Job beyond just making him think that it was all too vast for him. God made Job realised that He is a God who brought beauty and all that's good into a world out from nothing and He would also fashion such good things out of Job's brokenness. There is intelligence behind the design in the universe, as there is also intelligence in helping us cope with suffering. All these in essence are to remind Job that God is both Creator and Designer.

Job's response to God was that of humility (Job 42:5-6), as God had heard his cries, met up with him and revealed to Job that He was also Revealer and Comforter. Job's knowledge of God has become from that of a third person's perspective and knowledge to being that of a personal one. A side note from this is that God had longed from direct fellowship with us through history and I don't have to elaborate on this. And I am comforted to note that Job finally is able to know who God is personally, through this experience of pain and suffering. And I suspect that many of us and our friends are also in this predicament that we are rich in the allusions to what others had said about God but improvished in our own personal knowledge of Him.

"Until pain is seen in a personal context and its solution is personally felt, every other solution, however good, will seem aceademic. All the answers that one might offer to a hurting person will fall on deaf ears until that person has come to a personal recognition that God has spoken and revealed Himself in His Word first and then in his or her own experience"