Human Suffering and God

The ubiquity of human suffering seems to directly contradict the Christian belief in an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving God. 

Trying to find a “reason” for our pain is an affront to our human conscience. We appear left with only 2 options: A) God is not truly loving or B) God is not all-powerful.

And of course, if either one of these premises are true, then God is no God at all.

A Story of Loss

I have a friend that served as a United States Army Ranger. One night, after a few too many beers, he told me a story of his time spent overseas. 

Taliban insurgents had shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 38 U.S. military personnel, including 17 Navy Seals. My buddy’s unit had been called to clean up the aftermath of what would come to be known as the deadliest day in Navy Seal history. 

He explained that when they arrived at the crash site, the human carnage was overwhelming. Nevertheless, he and his fellow Rangers had to quickly process and compartmentalize what they were seeing and refocus on accomplishing their mission.

They were there to pick up the bloodied remains of their fellow Americans and bring them back so that their bodies could be returned to the U.S. for burial. They worked under the constant threat of enemy attack to ensure the families of these fallen soldiers would get the chance to bury them with the honor they deserved.

As you can imagine, this was a powerful story to hear from a first-hand witness, but it was what he said next that has stuck with me over the years. 

He looked me straight in the eye and said, “You know. I saw a lot that night, but I didn’t see God anywhere.” 

I wish I could tell you that I reached deep into the back part of my brain and pulled out some sage wisdom that eased his mind and assured him that God was indeed present on that mountain of death that night. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what I said, but rest assured, it wasn’t very profound. Worse yet, I’m almost positive it offered zero in the way of assurance.

And while I’m sorry that I didn’t have a better answer, I have spent the time since our conversation wrestling with his words. 

So, why do we suffer?

To understand human suffering — like anything else — it helps to consult the experts. And no one in the Bible understood suffering better than Job. 

A truly god-fearing man, Job was an Israelite that pleased God in all that he said and did. For his efforts, God had deemed him “truly upright” and blessed him with property, servants, and children. And then one day, just to prove Job’s faithfulness to a doubtful Satan, God decided to destroy him.

His servants and livestock were put to death by fire and the sword. His children were killed when the house they were dining in collapsed in on them.  According to scripture, Job went from riches to rags in a matter of minutes.

But he remained faithful. Instead of anger, Job tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to his knees in worship — thanking the Lord for granting him these many blessings at least for a short while. 

And if that weren’t enough, God then allowed Satan to afflict Job with painful sores: “from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head”.

And still Job remained faithful taking a broken piece of pottery and scraping his sores as he sat among the ashes of his once great fortune.

Even when chastised by his wife to “curse God and die”, Job refused. Instead, he chose to maintain his integrity and honor the Lord.

Finally, his three “friends” — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — arrived to help. 

But instead of offering comfort, they came immediately to the conclusion that Job had surely done something to bring the Lord’s wrath upon himself and must admit it to assuage the Lord’s anger and alleviate the curse.

Job bitterly protested against the onslaught of criticism and assured his friends that he had maintained his “blamelessness” and had done nothing to deserve this pain. 

Even a fourth party, Elihu, critical of Job for refusing to admit his fault and his “friends” for their inability to convict him of it, launched his own forays at both parties.

Finally, having heard enough, the Lord rebuked Job and his friends with words that still convict the heart of all humanity, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?… Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?”

In short: who are you to question the motives of God? Were you there when He brought light upon the waters of the deep or set the sun and stars in their place? Who are you to claim understanding of His ways?

The Lord blesses and curses those whom He chooses. In spite of this, we must remain faithful and trust that our trials and tribulations serve God’s perfect plans, even if we cannot understand them. 

What do Christ and His crucifixion say about God and human suffering?

If the book of Job puts us in our proper place regarding our relationship with God, then the story of Jesus and His crucifixion assures us that our human suffering does not go unnoticed by our Creator. 

In Jesus, God chose to come to earth as incarnate flesh, experience our joys and our sorrows, and physically suffer the excruciating pain and humiliation of crucifixion. The story of Jesus shows how deeply and completely God understands and empathizes with our human suffering because He Himself experienced it. 

The story of Lazarus’s death and resurrection depicted in the 11^th chapter of the Book of John serves as a perfect illustration of this dichotomy. According to Pope Leo the Great, “In His humanity, Jesus wept for Lazarus; in His divinity, He raised him from the dead.” 

And what are the alternatives?

Let’s assume that the original premises are correct. Let’s assume that either God is not all-loving or all-powerful. In fact, he is not God at all. 

Does this help? Does the problem of suffering go away?

Of course not. Far from it. 

Instead, we are left alone in our grief with no hope of purpose, justice, or reconciliation. We are left with only the empty conciliation prize of feeling “smarter than God”.

That and a dollar can get you a bag of chips.

How would I answer my friend today?

If I could rewind the clock of history and go back to that night with my buddy, I would tell him that, unfortunately, we are as far removed from understanding the ways of God as we are from teaching our dogs to solve algebra equations. The expanse between His ways and our ways is just too great to bridge with only our mortal minds. Like Job, we must patiently submit and trust that these present pains serve God’s perfect plans.

I would also tell him that is why God came to earth to live and die and rise again as Jesus — to show that He understands our human suffering and can empathize with us. 

I would tell my buddy that he and the rest of his unit weren’t alone on that mountain that night. God was there. Just like he was there to weep with the fellow mourners of Lazarus . And just like he was there when they nailed His only Son to a cross so that he might pay the ultimate price for our iniquities.

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