If God is good...

If God is good, then why is there suffering in the world?  This might be the most controversial question in history.  We want to assume that if God is good, He would not allow us to experience pain.  Some argue that if we suffer, God must not have known it was going to happen.  Others argue that our suffering is all our fault, and that we shouldn't blame God for any of it.  Either way, the reality is that God could stop all the evil and suffering in the world if it was within His nature to do so.  He hasn't.  Does that make God less than good?  Does it make Him less than God?

Yesterday, I spoke on Psalm 77 at Open Door.  In my study of the passage, I was surprised to see the psalmist openly question God in the midst of his suffering.  He genuinely asks God: "Are you still loving?  Have you forgotten to be merciful?  Have you withheld your compassion?

We have a tendency to think that if God is good, He will keep us from suffering or that He will immediately remove us from it when we ask.  The truth is, God almost never takes me out of suffering when I ask. I have seen Him work miraculously and providentially when the situation doesn't affect my comfort.  He has answered my prayers many times when it had to do with ministry or someone else.  However, when I am experiencing tragedy or when I am watching tragedy happen, he often lets me endure it.

I have wrestled with this at times.  Recently, I have come to some comforting conclusions:

1. God doesn't mind us asking questions of him (Psalm 77:6-9).
2. God loves me and is powerful.  If God allows me to suffer, it is ultimately for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28-30)
3. My suffering is directly linked with my relationship to him.  Jesus suffered.  Being like Him means I will too.  I am closer to Him as a result of my suffering (Romans 8:16-18).  
4. God's goodness is not contingent on whether or not He frees me from suffering.  
5. The most encouraging thing I can do is to remember who God is by recalling what He has done (Psalm 77:10-20, Job 38-41).  

This is what we did yesterday in Church.  Instead of a closing song, we had testimonies.  We read posts from the Adventure Stories (testimonies) part of our website, and we listened to a few live testimonies.  It was an exciting time.  It is amazing how many miracles He has done, how many people He has saved, how many prayers He has answered.  We were able to put aside our trials, in some cases even forget our suffering as we reviewed the greatness of God.  How could we not trust a God who rose His Son from the dead?  

So, today what I wanted to do was give you the opportunity to share something (anything) God has done in your life.  It doesn't have to be "big," just something that He has done.  Go to the Adventure Stories section of the website and share your story.  While you're there, read a few from others.  

 If you would like to read more on this topic, I can also recommend The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis.  

Hitler, Hell and Atonement

I recently watched a movie about the Holocaust. Seeing families torn apart and children murdered made me feel an emotion I don’t often experience: anger. Most people will tell you that I’m a pretty easy going guy. I don’t get upset about most things. But when I see wickedness at its worse my sense of justice wells up. It infuriates me. Similarly, I’ve had people sit in my office and tell me they were abused as children. They still live with the scars today. My soul aches. Someone has to answer for this. We just can’t let this kind of evil go unaddressed. Worse than rape or murder would be to pretend they weren’t that bad. It would be like telling the victims that their pain doesn’t matter. To be brutally honest, in those moments when I hear about things like that it makes me glad there is a hell. Of course, in these moments I am forgetting how evil I am.

We don’t want God to wink at sin…unless it is ours.
Last night, I attended our Good Friday Service. It is a sobering affair. The pastor wears black. The band plays dark mournful songs about the suffering of Christ. Instead of a sermon Jim (our pastor) read a list of sins written on bricks. As he read the bricks, he tossed them into a rusty metal wheelbarrow. Each one makes a hollow, metallic noise. Some of the sins were murders and abuse. Others related to bitterness and deceit. All of them made the same heavy noise. In that place, hearing all those sins listed together, I didn’t want God to ignore any of them not even mine. They were all horrible. That same sense of justice that made me want punishment for Hitler, rapists and murderers made me call out for justice for my own sins. I am a wicked man. My sin weighed heavy on that cross. I deserve death.

At the end of the service, as everyone sat with the reality of their sin Jim pushed the wheelbarrow across the stage and dumped the bricks at the foot of the cross. The weight of my sins and the worlds were placed on Christ. Justice was served but at the expense of God’s Son. It was a powerful image.

Feeling the weight of my sin has helped me to see the greatness of God’s grace. The God of justice is also the God of grace, and my sin has made that grace very costly. Praise God for His justice and His grace. I am a bad man who has seen someone go to death for me. Grace is good and I want it for the worst offenders just as it was given to me.

Do you think that it is a good thing to wish for grace for rapists and mass murderers? How does it make you feel to think that Hitler could have gone to heaven if he had surrendered His life to Christ?