Why Do We Suffer and Where Is God When We Do? by Valerie G. Rempel

Author:Valerie G. Rempel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MennoMedia
Published: 2019-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

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What Does the Bible Say about Suffering?

As Christians, the Bible is our primary sourcebook for learning about God. We learn something of the character of God through the stories that have been collected and the way they have been told. We learn about God’s love for creation and God’s intention to redeem it. We also learn something of the human experience, especially in relationship to God. Throughout the Bible, we are presented with stories of blessing but also stories of suffering.

RESISTING A PROSPERITY GOSPEL

In our time, some Christians choose to focus primarily on stories of blessing. They see them as the pattern for how God relates to those who worship the one true living God. Some people preach or teach that God will bless true believers with all they need to prosper. Blessings, especially material things, are offered as evidence of God’s care for God’s children and are used to suggest that people are living in right ways. Some people preach and teach that if you simply have enough faith, God will take care of you in abundant fashion.

This so-called prosperity gospel tends to focus on the things that make life physically comfortable. If you have much, then you must be living a God-pleasing life. If you have little or are suffering ill health, then you are understood to be out of sync with God’s plan for your life. Or perhaps you are being tested and simply need to show more faith so that blessings will shower down. Of course, thinking in this way makes people ill-prepared for losses of any kind. It may even make them doubt their own relationship with God if they don’t experience physical blessings.

The Jesus way challenges this kind of thinking. When we look at Jesus’ teaching and the way he lived, we see examples of faithfulness that focus on spiritual well-being, not physical well-being. Jesus said that those who want to save their lives will lose them, and that losing one’s life is the way to save it (see, for example, Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35 or John 12:25). In this, Jesus himself serves as our example, giving up his life for ours.

Yet Jesus didn’t ignore people’s physical condition. The gospel accounts offer many stories of Jesus’ willingness to help those who suffered physically. He healed the blind and the lame and those sick with leprosy, and he healed the bleeding woman (see, for example, Matthew 9:27-30; John 5; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 8:42-48). Illnesses of many kinds excluded people from close contact with others. The Jewish rituals connected to purity meant that sick people were often considered unclean. People who were blind or lame were often reduced to begging unless they had family who would support them. In healing them, Jesus wasn’t offering wealth and status. In each of these instances, Jesus’ healing touch restored the afflicted to full participation in the life of their community.

The experience of Christians throughout history also challenges a prosperity gospel mindset. The apostles were faithful followers of Jesus, and their stories suggest that faithful Christians might expect to suffer in this world.

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