A Theology on Suffering by Basson Nel
We are often confronted by questions regarding disaster or suffering:
“How can a God of love allow such suffering in the world?”
I realized how important it is that we establish our theology on:
1) Who God is and what He is like – His nature, 2) for ourselves, 3) on every aspect of life, 4) preferably, in advance.
This means that we need to know the nature and heart of God in every situation, because as we know, all theology starts with the question: “Who are you, Lord?”
This question should then be followed by the question: “How shall I then live (in the light of who You are)?”
What do I mean by this?
It is vital that we build our theology on the nature of God, on the truth of the word of God and not on our perceptions, experiences, failures, disappointments, or circumstances.
Secondly, it is also vital that we live by our own revelation and not by someone else’s, for that will never carry us through tough seasons, like times of trail or suffering.
And thirdly, it is vital that we sharpen our swords in times of peace – thus that we have a solid biblical theology, before we develop crisis theology.
I believe that probably the main difference between Joseph and David in their dealing with sexual temptation, was this third aspect – sharpening your sword in times of peace.
I believe that Joseph had asked himself what he would do if ever he was faced with sexual temptation.
He could see where the intentions of Potiphar’s wife was leading, and he made up his mind to flee, long before he had to, long before she stood in front of him half naked demanding intercourse from him.
David on the other hand, had a good look at Bathsheba and then allowed his thoughts to wonder, eventually ending in disaster.
*It is often very difficult to channel our thoughts and decisions in the right direction in the heat of the moment or situation, this is why it is vital that we anticipate the realities of life beforehand and make godly decisions, setting the proper boundaries,genuine accountability and safety nets in place.
Likewise, we might come up with some very twisted theology on the nature of God in the light of suffering, if we wait until we are in the situation before we establish our theology on God and suffering.
When it comes to suffering, it is good to know that the God, whom we serve as both Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is not removed from suffering.
This should be obvious to all believers, for the gospel that we believe is the gospel of the Cross – it is a gospel of suffering!
The amazing thing is that it is a gospel of suffering, only because it is a gospel of love! (“How can a God of love allow so much suffering in the world?”)
A God that cannot suffer, is a God that cannot love – unless there is a love relationship, there will not be suffering – I will only hurt if I love!
We know that sin separates man from God.
We know that a perfectly holy and righteous God cannot tolerate or forgive sin, but that sin has to be punished. (Rom.6:23a)
Therefore the cross was the key to our salvation, where a perfectly holy, righteous and just God punished the sin of man in the sinless Christ.
Thereby sin is fully punished and God can now forgive repentant sinners.
*The God of the Bible, of the New Covenant, does not use tragedy, calamity, sickness or disease, or the like to punish man – our sin has been punished in Jesus Christ on the Cross – He has paid the full price! (Rom.6:23b)
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
*To believe that God uses accidents, calamity, sickness and disease to punish us; is to believe that the Father regards the Cross as insufficient! – bad theology!
There is an understanding that indeed Jesus suffered, especially when we have the visual benefit of movies like the Passion of the Christ.
But what about the Father – does He remove Himself from the suffering of the Son?
Is this why Jesus cries out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Even as earthly parents we know the answer to this:
Which one of us has not been in agony, even in tears over the physical or emotional pain and suffering of our children?
Which of us would be able to stand and watch as they crucified our son?
Our innocent son – especially when we have the power to end it!
Think of the intimate, covenantal relationship between the Father and the Son, not from the moment of creation, but from all eternity, for they were always – in perfect unity, perfect love, and perfect oneness.
Yet now, for the first and only time in the history and future of creation, is there a separation between Father and Son – separated by the sin of mankind – our sins, mine and yours.
*As Jesus suffered – so the Father suffered in those moments, and as He was not able to be united with the Son for that time – for the holiness of God cannot be united with sin, so He would not allow man to see the Son in this state and therefore darkness fell over the earth. (Mt.28:45-54)
Jesus sufferred to enable us to be restored to the Father – suffering for the sake of righteousness and redemption; suffering because of His love for us.
We are sometimes left unmoved by ethnic killings in Somalia – for there is no love relationship, but it would be very different if it was my spouse, or father, or friend that was killed.
*To love is to open yourself up for suffering, and fortunately for us, John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
*The suffering of the Son was indeed the suffering of the Father.
Every nail that pierced the hands of Jesus, also pierced the heart of the Father.
In Jh 11 the death and resurrection of Lazarus tell the same story (Read Jn.11:1-44):
Vs. 3 “the one you love is sick”
Vs. 21 the accusation of the world “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” “Lord, where were You in my moment of need? Lord, how could You have allowed this to happen?”
Vs. 25 Martha does not ask the right question, (Who are You, Lord?) but Jesus answers the question anyway!
In verse 25-26 Jesus gives her the theology that she needs to get through this suffering – for those who believe in Christ, death is only temporary.
In vs. 32 Mary arrives and makes the same accusing statement of vs. 21.
But having dealt with the theology, Jesus now deals with the emotion.
Vs. 35 simply reads; “Jesus wept.” (Suffering.) Compare to vs. 3 “the one you love”.(Love.) Because there is love, there is the potential of suffering.
I believe that Jesus wept, not only because of the emotions that He felt in that incident of the death of Lazarus, or in empathy with Mary and Martha, for He knew days before that He would resurrect him (vs.11); but in empathy with all those who will still suffer loss, illness, pain, rejection, humiliation, or death.
*Jesus weeps, for He loves.
Our suffering does not go unnoticed, ever.
When Saul persecuted the church, he was stopped in his tracks by God asking: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4)
Not “Why are you persecuting the Church”, or even “Why are you persecuting My people”, but “Why are you persecuting Me?”
God is saying that when we, His people, His chosen, His church, suffer, then He suffers – He feels the pain.
This might not answer all of our questions in this regard, but it helps to have a theology that confirms that God loves us, and that because He loves us, He suffers with us, that He is with us and that He is for us; always!
Pointers that will be helpful in our times of suffering:
We need to make sure that what we believe is the true gospel of Christ.
Some believe a false gospel of perfect happiness, health, wealth and prosperity on the earth.
This is not the gospel of Jesus – in fact Jesus said things like: “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” (Mt. 8:20) What Jesus had is contagious – Jesus said that we would suffer for the gospel.
The fact is that we are not living in the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven yet, but the good news is that “If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.” And “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” (Rom. 6:5 & 8:17)
We need to know that God is never taken by surprise.
Jn.11:4 &11-15
God is not shocked by the events on the 7 o’ clock news – He is eternal and omniscient.
*Because we are not in control, does not mean that God is out of control!
Heaven’s perspective is vastly different from our perspective, we need to align ourselves with the truth of the Spiritual realm – this happens in the presence of God!
We need to regularly remind ourselves that God is for us and not ever against us.
Settle your theology in times of “peace”. Settle this now. God is for you!
Even in situations where the opposite seems to be true – “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days.” (Jn.11:5-6) Why? The truth is Jesus waited for him to die!
Yet, when we see the end result, we can only say: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31b)
Rom.8:28 reads as follows: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
The death and resurrection of Lazarus really confirms this – Jesus used this situation to show His power and glory, and yet He was not blaze’ about the emotions of those affected by this death – He did not use them!
Jesus does not strut in as the cool hero, wearing cowbow boots and chewing gum, no He weeps.
There will be times when we cannot imagine anything good resulting from a situation, it is in these times that we need to trust and believe the truth of the Word of God. (Pa se dood.)
In some cases we might need to repent and make adjustments.
*God will sometimes use circumstances to get our attention (note – use, not cause).
God is not the author of suffering or disaster, but will use our bad choices and rebellion, or the fact that we live on a fallen sinful planet and are not immune to the results hereof; to draw us back to Himself.
Sometimes we need to ask ourselves: “Is this a wake-up call for me?”
*God has a purpose in everything that He allows.
Keep your heart soft and your ear close to the chest of God. Repent when necessary and make the changes to your lifestyle where necessary. (Read Deut.30:11-20 Life and death.)
We need to remind ourselves that we are not in this alone.
Often we can feel that we are the only ones that are suffering while everyone else, especially the ungodly, are prospering.
It is vital that we do not isolate ourselves when we are battling, but that we push into God and the church, the people of God. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25)
Regarding the Body of Christ, Paul writes: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26) We are a family! Suffering people provides the Church with an opportunity to model the fact that: “God is good, and we, His people, are kind”!
Sometimes we need to acknowledge that we do not understand; and therefore do not have the answers at that moment.
It is important that we do not speak or pray out of a place of frustration, or cynasism.
Abram definitely did not have the full picture, when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac…
Billy Marais leads a church in CT – he lost his son at age 18.
How do we explain the purpose or sense in that?
He said: “When I do not know the answers, I choose to remind myself of the things that I do know – God is good, God is loving, God is kind…always”
Nobody has ever learned their deepest lessons in life, or had their closest encounters with God, in the times of prosperity.
On the contrary, we dig deep wells in times of severe drought, and when we drink from these life giving wells, we thank God for the drought.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor.4:16-17)
We do serve the God of the universe – who is coming back in awesome splendour, majesty and power.
Jesus is not in hiding – He is not a refugee, and He does not have some heavenly political asylum.
He is not far removed from us, hoping that we will hang on and hold the fort in His absence, until one day He finds the time to limp back, to secretly whisk off His little band of followers under cover of darkness.
He is in fact preparing a place for us with the Father, and is returning to take us there – Jn.14:1-3.
His return will be majestic and triumphant, as He returns to a faithfilled Church, a Bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish! (Rev.19:11-16)
A Church who knew and worshipped their God; even through times of suffering!
