Suffering Sucks!

So I want to just quickly touch on two more points about suffering. We have talk about the idea of tolerance being an endurance and that endurance being a form of suffrage. {Click here and here to read those posts.} We live in a world that we are no longer citizens of is always going to be strange and uncomfortable. We learned that to suffer means to be affected by people. How do we respond to the people that affects us? Are we part of the remedy or part of the disease? Are we Christ like--always loving, always forgiving, always tolerating? So I would say tolerance is an indirect suffering . Basically it goes with the territory of being a Christian. We are commanded to tolerate and love one another.

The other more direct suffering we are commanded to do is "suffer the flesh". Now this is a phrase that I personally believe has been grossly misinterpreted. We must get one thing straight when it comes to suffering and that is...God does NOT cause suffering. If you want to believe in a God that is the author of suffering there are a bunch of other religions out there that have malevolent gods. God does not cause death, disease and misery just so He may be glorified. He doesn't cause death, disease and misery to test us. He doesn't cause death, disease and misery to purify us. I've never heard anything more twisted in my life! God's plan for you always has been and always will be fullness and life. Anything that happens in your life that is not life and fullness is NOT from God. God has NOT called you to a life of pain!

"The Lord said, "Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress." Jer 15:11

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness{prosper,welfare} and not for evil{harm,calamity}, to give you a future and a hope." Jer 29:11

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10

What God does do is work existing suffering as a result of being now strangers on this fallen planet, for his good and glory{Rom 8:28}. There is a huge difference. Sin, evil and the devil are the author of suffering, God is the facilitator for working a good result from the suffering. In that way he is glorified because the plan of the enemy to destroy has been defeated. Warfare! That is why we are called to rejoice in suffering because in doing so we are thwarting the devils plan. He has no hold over us.

When we read in the famous suffering book of 1 Peter he is talking about three different types of suffering. {read the whole book for an interesting take} One is the tolerance that we have already discussed. Two and three is to suffer the flesh. There are two types of suffering flesh...1}we do to ourselves 2} others do to us. So lets start with the first; another command in suffering.

Not Of This World

"If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, also we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world." CS Lewis

“Paradise is our native country, and we in this world be as exiles and strangers”  Richard Greenham

"Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight...You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:36-37


So I started into another word study yesterday after doing my post on "tolerance".  I started thinking about how tolerance can be a little uncomfortable sometimes.  I think that is exactly for the quotes above.  Once we as Christians experience Jesus we have a totally different worldview.  In a way we do become strangers on this finite planet because we now live with an understanding of the infinite and eternal.  We have an understanding of absolute truth in a world where truth is always changing.  For this very reason how can we hold someone who has not had this experience accountable to our worldview?  We can bear witness and testify the truth, but not all will hear the voice of truth.  Jesus was OK with this, as should we be.  Remember not fighting, only making known.

The concept that we looked at yesterday is that of endurance.  To tolerate people that are different from us is sometimes a test of love and endurance.  We discussed how Jesus was extremely tolerant as he walked among us here on earth.  The almighty God in the flesh most holy and pure made it a point to interface with the most sinful and lost.  At no time condemning or judging{he saved that for the religious leaders that should have known better...why?...because their experience of God should have changed their worldview}.  To the lost and unclean Jesus always had compassion and ministered to them regardless whether they followed him or not.  The Greek word for minister is diakoneo meaning "to attend to anything that may serve anothers interests"

The Parable of the WEEDS

This is a real quick follow up of my last couple of blogs on suffering. I am on my way to a wedding in Seattle. Woo Hoo! Anyways... Why doesn't God save the day. In my studying last night I came across Matthew 13:24. I think it gives a little more insight. Now when you read this the "man" is God, we (ALL mankind) are the "wheat" and the "enemy" is well the enemy...Satan.

"Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed GOOD seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping , his enemy acme and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat spouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
"The owner's servants came to him and said 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
"'An enemy did this,' he replied.
The servant asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
"'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring into my barn.'" Matthew 13:24-30

Is that cool or what! God is not going to step in until ALL the "wheat" can be saved. He wants EVERYONE to have the opportunity to be brought in to His "barn". I also loves how in says the the enemy will be bound up and thrown into the fire. We should exercise our authority "to bind" while we wait for the final binding that God will exercise for eternity. If He came back now think of how many lost would remain lost. So we have to wait for God's time and trust that His time is the best time. We are all suffering on this fallen earth one way or another. But in our (as Christians) sufferings we have the benefit of God's grace. Exercise that! And instead think of those suffering without the benefit of knowing a loving, gracious God! God is GOOD. Lets let everyone know that!

How Come God Doesn't Save the Day?

One one my wonderful friends and fellow blogger made a fantastic comment on my last post (click here) about suffering. She pointed out that "what most people wrestle with is not just the causation of the pain, but why does God allow suffering...[why doesn't He] miraculously intervene?" Excellent question! So this got me thinking and fortunately I like to think...well at least now that I'm older. ;D

My short answer was that God has to allow everything good and bad in order for us to truly be free. Free speech in this country means that we get to hear some really great stuff and some really horrible sometimes vulgar, hateful stuff. So because God is a loving God, He want us to be able to make our own choice in totally freedom. You cannot create something out of love for the purpose of control. Control is not love.

So then why doesn't an all powerful God step in and stop all the "bad" stuff from happening? Why doesn't He "miraculously intervene"? Well say God was to step in every time some thing "bad" was going to happen. Well we wouldn't be free. He would be in control of a world He gave us control over. And how would you define "bad"? "Bad" is subjective to each individual. As we know in this world a lot of people are answerable to their own moral compass not God's. For example...What if God decided He did not want to see another baby aborted. Now I agree with God, but there are others most defiantly don't. In fact they fight viciously for the right to do so. So can you image how pissed off some people would be if God stepped in and miraculously saved all the babies. They would be marching in the streets pissed off yelling they have a right to do what they choose. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Or look at it this way...My daughter is learning how to ride her bike. Now because I love her I want to protect her so i keep holding on as she rides. Sydney on the other hand keeps saying "let go, let go, I can do it myself!" So I let go. About ten feet later she hits a rock and falls off the bike. Now whose fault was it that she fell? Was it mine because I shouldn't have listened to her desire and kept holding on? Or was it Sydney because she shouldn't have tried to do it on her own? Am I an abusive parent for letting go of the bike? Or is Sydney rebellious for not heading my desire? It starts to get convoluted doesn't it. In the end no matter whose fault it is I go and gather my daughter up in my arms and comfort her.

Now could Sydney's bike accident been prevented by a miracle of God or divine intervention? Well believing in an all powerful God I say yes. So why did He let her fall? Well let's take a look at what the word miracle actually means in a biblical sense. I went to a fabulous online bible site that I have become well acquainted with in these last few weeks called "Blue Letter Bible". So I looked up the word "miracle" in the Greek/Hebrew dictionary. One definition was "sign or wonder" from the Hebrew word "mowpheth". The root word "yaphah" means "to beautify or be beautiful." In the new testament I found two words for miracle..."dynamis" meaning "to be able or to have power" and "semaino" meaning "to make known". I clicked back over to the old testament and found one other word used as "miracle" it was "owth" meaning "sign or mark" the root word "uwth" meaning "to consent or agree". EUREKA!!!

In order for their to be a miracle we have to give consent. In other words miracles happen when we give God consent to step over the freewill boundary. That is why prayer is so important and why God tells us to do it...regularly! When we pray or intercede we are giving God consent to change the way things might otherwise happened. So it is a miracle. Think of prayer and intercession on a corporate level and the power in the Spirit that that has to change things. What was suppose to happen didn't because we gave God permission to step in. In turn He doesn't compromise our freewill. Why do we need to give an all powerful God permission? Because WE have dominion over this earth given to us by the all powerful God.

Think in the bible what was often said when someone was miraculously healed. They we healed because of their faith. Or they were healed because they gave consent to be healed. Now I know this can get a little touchy for some people. I suffer from some not nice health problems myself! So I give consent and I am healed right? Well I don't think anything is that black and white. There are several other factors to keep in mind the biggest of which is the battle in the spirit realm. The enemy is constantly on the attack to destroy us emotionally and physically. I don't know that we will ever have all the answers we want; at least here on earth.

I do think it sheds some light on things though. It gives me hope that God did give us power to change things. None of those definitions for miracle were exclusive to God. Particularly the word for miracle in the new testament "dynamis" meaning "to have power". That is the power of the Spirit working through US to do miracles! The more we align our will with God by giving consent the more God can work for us and through us. I think this has to be a active choice daily. Even an active choice throughout the day. Giving God consent in all that we do! Will our lives be perfect and suffering free? No, we can not escape this fallen world until we go to heaven. But we can do our best while we are her to live in victory. And pray for victory and miracles for others.

Lastly I thought it was interesting that one of the other root words in the Hebrew text for miracle was "to beautify". Think about that for a moment. Any beauty that we have in this fallen, decaying world is a miracle of God. It is the grace of God, it is the goodness of God. He gives us "beauty for ashes...gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Now that is a miracle!

A Few More Thoughts On Suffering

I have gathered several quotes on the subject of suffering. I think it is a good way to see a broad worldview of how others feel about the subject. It is interesting that some of the quotes I have have chosen were written by people directly attacking Christianity and God regarding why we suffer. Basically saying that people are crazy to adhere to a religion that has such an angry God. Why would anyone want to believe or trust in a God that is the cause for all our suffering? Well you know what I think they are right. I am happy to say that I do not believe in a God like that. I believe in a good, loving, just God who would never use His power to abuse me. So where does suffering come from? I break it down like this...suffering(in general) comes from these 4 things...

1) A direct result of exercising our free will to sin. In the Old Testament when this sin multiplied to a national scale it was usually the cause for exile. But not exile by God, exile because they made the choice to step out of the protection of God and His law. In turn enemies had the chance to move in. God always gave several warnings to come back into relationship with Him to be protected. This was the cry of the prophets to the people...as we know they usually didn't listen until it was too late. Today we still incur our own suffering due to sin and choosing to break relationship with God.

2) An attack from the enemy, meaning the devil. As in the book of Job. Click here to read that blog. The devils mission is always to destroy us and defame God. He was doing it 5000 years ago and he is still doing it today.

3) An attack from someone else exercising their free will to do evil. This was in the old testament and the new. In the new testament this is the suffering most often discussed. The suffering they were enduring was the actual persecution of anyone trying to spread the gospel. They were literally being hunted, tortured and killed if caught! We are not talking about having back pain for Jesus. These people were being fed to the lions in arenas, made into human torches by Nero, and being physically crucified on the crosses of the Romans. All for their faith.
Today this is the suffering of abuse, neglect, oppression, war or any other human caused suffering.

4) Natural disaster. In the garden of Eden we were given dominion over all creation, then we choose with our free will to sin. This in turn effected all creation and is why I believe we have natural disasters. In Romans 8:20-21 it says "...for creation was subjected to futility; not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay..." This won't happen until Jesus returns.

So notice none of the suffering is from God. Yes, God corrects us, but He is never abusive. Remember "there is no fear in love" 1 John 4:18. Also remember He will never compromise our freedom to exercise our free will. Whether the choice be good or bad. He will not control us. That is not love and God is always loving. He will however work all suffering for good and restore what was stolen from us. That is a good God! That is my God!

So keep all that in mind while reading these quotes...

"Love never claims, it ever gives, love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself. Where there is love there is life; hatred leads to destruction" Gandhi

"Vice has more martyrs than virtue; and it often happens that men suffer more to be lost than to be saved." Charles Caleb Colton

"Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of overcoming it." Helen Keller

"Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather it is a spirit that bears all things-with resignations; yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope."
Corazon Aquino

"Suffering is not a punishment, it is a result." Robert Green Ingersol

"You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will." C.S. Lewis

"To be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings ans arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of trouble, and by opposing them, end them." Hamlet...William Shakespeare

"A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain." Samuel Johnson

"Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is a sense of ownership, which is loves opposite."
Antoine de Saint Exupery

"The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live."
Ayn Rand

"Fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Yoda...Star Wars

"Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in this world." Oscar Wilde

"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked." Machiavelli

"I am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things sorrow, misfortune, and suffering are outside my door. I am in the house and I have the key." Charles Fletcher Cummis

A Mystery Of Suffering

Everyone loves a good murder mystery. Trying to gather clues to solve the crime. I used to love to play the board game "Clue" when I was younger. The game centered around solving a murder mystery. You had to come up with WHO did it, WHERE they did it and with WHAT weapon. So an accusation would sound something like..."I think it was Professor Plum in the conservatory with the candlestick." The answer was hidden in a little mini manila envelope that wasn't opened till the end of the game. So exciting to see if you were the one that figured the whole thing out.

Now what does this have to do with our friend Job? Well I think the book of Job is written like a murder mystery. We "the audience" know from the beginning who the guilty party is for causing Job's suffering. But the characters(Job, his family and friends) in the play don't. So the whole "play" is these characters trying to figure out who has caused the suffering. All the while we "the audience" know the answer to the mystery. We go through the whole book of Job with God being falsely accused for Job's suffering. This is much to the delight of the guilty party, the Devil, whose name actually means accuser or slanderer. But God states His case towards the end of the "play" and redeems His name. Job and his friends retract all the false accusations against God, and repent for their slander. The Devil is found out, justice is served and Job and his family are restored. Easy huh? Well let's take a closer look at how this all plays out.

Job is an awesome book in the way that it gives us a peak behind the scenes and into the spirit realm. It starts out with Job who is a righteous man that loves the Lord. So the Devil comes along one day to challenge God. Big surprise! God says "where have you come from?" "Oh roaming the earth to and fro" the Devil responds. See when you are out of relationship with God there is no rest and you wander through life. Remember Cain after he kills his brother. Cain says to God "Do not cast me from Your presence...I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer of the earth..." Interesting huh? OK back to Job. So the Devil is in the presence of God via his own freewill and proposes a test for Job and for God. The Devil says that the only reason Job is righteous is because God has put "a hedge of protection around him" Which this is good to know...that when we are in the will of God there is a super natural protection around us...to a certain extent. We are protected more than we would be if we were not in relationship with God, but even with the hedge of protection the freewill of others(in this case Satan) can override that protection. Meaning that even if you are in close relationship with God; you can't walk out in front of a bus and not expect to get hit. Get it?

So back to this little chit chat between God and the Devil. God gives the Devil permission to attack Job. Now keep in mind...the Devil is doing the attacking NOT God. What is also interesting is how the Devil carries out part of his plan. He uses the freewill of man to attack Job. It says in 1:17 that the Chaldean's formed raiding parties and that the Subeans attacked Job. It also looks as though the Devil has some control over nature to cause natural disasters against Job. Remember now that we(man) were given dominion over the earth and we choose to sin. So creation is fallen as well.

Now when it gets to 1:16 it says "The fire of God fell from heaven" Ah Ha...see told you God did it! No not so fast. Remember the players don't know WHO is doing it, they are falsely assuming it is God. The players are unaware of the little chit chat in heaven at this point. Just as in verse 1:21 Job says "the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away." First of all this is present tense meaning Job is saying this in regards to his present situation. He is NOT saying "well this is the way God has always been...He gives and takes away." Job was only talking about his current situation. It goes on to say that Job did NOT sin in making this False accusation. Why? Because Job doesn't know about the chit chat. Also Job is still trusting God in His goodness and not slandering Him therefore he has not sinned. So in the book of Job when anyone of the "players" are accusing God it is a false judgement. We know that because we were in on the chit chat at the beginning of the book! As the book goes on Job begins to doubt God. He begins to doubt His compassion and goodness. At the same time He can not believe that God would be doing this to him. Job is right God isn't doing this to him, the Devil is. But Job continues down the slippery slope and begins to talk himself into thinking that it must be God doing these things to him.

You see God is all-powerful, but the Devil has freewill. So the only way that God can counteract our bad freewill choices is to renew and restore us beyond what the choice took away. He CAN prevent freewill but WON"T because then we wouldn't be free. See the book of Job is the Devil trying to see how much dominion he had in the earth via our freewill and his. The Devil also takes any opportunity to defame God. This is Job's struggle throughout the book. Why is God ALLOWING this to happen to me? or Why is God DOING this to his righteous servant? Job's friends are certainly not helping matters, but Job presses on to solve the mystery.

Then finally at the end of the book God can no longer take the slander. God can see that Job is beginning to question his relationship with God. Job is also questioning the goodness of God. The last 4 chapters of Job is a beautifully written speech of the power of God and his sovereignty. It is God saying to Job that He is all-powerful and He is just. Now God is asking Job the same question "Why would I bring on injustice to a righteous man ?" Job then finally sees the big picture, or more like God says "you've got the wrong guy!" Job responds by repenting for the false accusations he has made against God. God words to the friends are "you have not spoken of me what is right" 42:7 and the friends are made to give a offering of repentance for their part in the slander. God restores to Job what the Devil has stolen and then some. The Devil looses because in the end Job did not allow his suffering to be attached to God and in turn defame Him.

See in the end it is only God who can bring life out of death. That IS the power of God. That IS how He does have power over the enemy. Restoration and reconciliation. But He will not compromise freewill. I believe that whoever wrote the book of Job was trying to show people that there is another power at work in the earth...The Devil. That is why we get to read the little chit chat at the beginning. So people would no longer assume that the "bad" stuff was from God. You see the battle is on and has been since Eden. In the end God will have the victory. But until that time we have to fight for our lives and struggle through the attacks of the enemy.

In our own trials of suffering if we believe that it is from our loving God we play right into the Devil's hand! You begin to resent God for your suffering which in turns breaks intimacy with Him. Our God is a good, loving, restoring God. He seeks wholeness and security for you. He would never do anything to take that away. The Devil is the one that seeks destruction for you. And freewill is his vehicle to do so. That is how the Devil was testing God in the book of Job. The Devil wanted to see if God would compromise freewill and take control over the situation. Now if Job right from the beginning would have recognized that the attack was from the enemy and NOT from God he would have saved himself from all the suffering. Not the suffering from the enemy but the suffering in thinking that God was the cause. He could have counter attacked with help from the almighty God by aligning his will with the will of God. He would have immediately had victory over the scheme of the Devil. Not to say the attack would have ended, but he would have been better equipped to deal with his loss.  But we have to make the choice to align with God. Because even when we are making the wrong choice God can not compromise our choice. That is how the Devil gets away with so much in this world! He is doing all the dirty work and we are busy blaming God!

So when you find yourself asking "Why is God allowing this to happen?" The answer is going to always be "God is allowing EVERYTHING to happen." Not because everything is His will but because of our freewill and freedom to choose. If God only allowed all the GOOD things to happen that would be control. Likewise if He only allowed the BAD things to happen that would also be control. In order for there to be true freedom He must allow both. That is not a lack of power on God's part, but we get confused in thinking that because God is all powerful. But that doesn't mean that all good and all bad is from Him. That is Greek philosophical fatalism. Fatalism being the doctrine that all life's events are fixed in advance by God and man is powerless to change them. "What will be, will be" NO, NO, NO! This doctrine is practiced by several eastern religions and has also unfortunately leaked into Christianity. I say "NO, that is not my good, loving God!" Freewill was set into motion by US...WE decided with our dominion that WE wanted to be in control and God let us make that choice.

But God is so awesome in all of this that He has found a loophole. A trump card over the Devil if you will. God can not control that we make the right choices. But when we do make the wrong choices or someone does wrong against us...He can work it for GOOD. He loves to restore and renew because He is a good God who loves you and would NEVER do anything to hurt you.

Suffering Is NOT Your Destiny

This is a bit of a follow up on my post..."Trauma, Life In The ER" read here. All of us have endured some trauma in our lives. What I want to tell you is that it was NEVER God's plan that you would endure trauma. He can and does teach us good things out of traumas that we have endured. That is His grace to us "to work all things for good". But God never initiates those traumas just so He can teach us something. That is NOT our loving God.

Man has freewill to do what he wants on this earth. We all know the craziness that has got us into. Not only crazy things, but horrible, hurtful things. Horrible and hurtful are never from God! God will not go back on his promise of free will just to snap us all into submission. That wouldn't be free will, that would be control. So why doesn't God step in to prevent someone from hurting someone else? Greg Boyd puts it this way "A freedom which was prevented from being exercised whenever it was going to be misused simply wouldn't be freedom". Yes, God is all powerful and sovereign but just because you have power doesn't mean you always use it. I have the power to murder someone, but that is not the most loving choice for me to make in regards to my neighbor. So it is with God...using His power to control us isn't the most loving choice for us.

So along with our freedom comes the choice to use it for evil. This was the same freedom that the angels were created with. That is why Satan was able to make the choice to leave heaven. This is also the same reason why Satan was allowed to make the choices that he has made. God loves his creations so much and he is so just, that he will not go back on His promise of freedom.

So why doesn't God just put us all out of our misery and kill us all? Because he loves us and it is not in the nature of a Creator to destroy. But that is also why Jesus and the Holy Spirit were made available to us. The Spirit to minister grace to us on this earth. Jesus to show us the way to the Father...so that we my live out eternity with no fear, pain or sorrow. Hard to swallow for some, but it is the truth.

The bottom line is that God is never in favor of trauma in our lives. It was and is never his plan for you. His plan for you is to prosper and be whole. Why would a loving God break us down just so He could restore us? That is totally twisted! Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted and set the captives free. He didn't come to plunge you into a life of despair and misery.

So this doesn't make God less powerful or sovereign. Really it is a display of his power and love for us. That He keeps His word in regards to us. That word is always LOVE. Anything other than LOVE is NOT from GOD!