Reflections on Week Six: The Problem of Suffering

It's hard to believe the school is half over already! Week six was an excellent week of teaching by Peter Tinggaard, one of our school leaders. He is an incredibly intelligent and honorable man, whom I highly respect and trust. His treatment of the difficult problem of suffering was the best I've ever heard. A concept that impacted me from the beginning was this: Our answer to the problem of suffering is not just incidental to our faith; it is foundational to the way we view God. If God is in control of all things, how can He be good? And if He controls all things and is still good, how can we possibly understand a God whose goodness involves all the suffering in the world? Yet we believe God is good, all-powerful and knowable.

It's hard to summarize a week's worth of teaching on such a complex subject in just a few paragraphs, so I'll copy from my journal some of the concepts I identified as those that impacted me particularly:

• God gave humans authority to rule the earth (in Genesis) and intended that we rule with Him, and allow Him to rule through us; though we chose not to rule with Him, He does not take this authority from us, but continues to allow us to rule.
• God is not controlling every event on earth and is NOT behind suffering--this view communicates a distorted view of God and our authority; suffering is caused by sin (though an individual's suffering is not necessarily caused by personal sin), and has nothing to do with God, even though He can miraculously use it for good.
• There is an enemy (Satan) who has been given authority on earth by humans. God did not give Satan authority, but He gave humans authority, who, in turn, give it to Satan by believing his lies. Satan's goal is to lie, steal and destroy, and he causes much suffering on the earth.
• God cannot remove suffering; He can't give us free will without allowing the consequences of our actions.
  
• We still have authority! Authority to choose God, or to choose evil, and the authority to pray for God's will to be done on earth! Our prayers can change the world!
• God's way of conquering isn't always by removing suffering, but by giving us the power to conquer in and through suffering. This can be God's greatest weapon against Satan--taking something Satan intended to destroy us and using it to destroy him!
• God is not immune from suffering. Just like a father, when He sees His children suffering, He suffers as well. Even Jesus' victory was not a way around death, sin & suffering, but through and beyond them; He conquered not by divine power and authority, but by going through suffering in its fullness.
• The battle between God and Satan is not about power (there is no question that God is infinitely more powerful than Satan), but about love--bringing humankind back to God. God still wants us to rule in relationship with Him.
• The fact that God is not behind all events does not make Him weak. The fact that suffering exists does not mean God is impotent. It means the world is full of people God has created with the ability to make choices, and it means there is an enemy working with authority given to him by people. Therefore, we need to act! We have authority and we can pray and work with God to see a reduction in suffering on the earth.
  
• God is good! God is good! God is good! He does ONLY good. He is worthy of my love and worthy of my trust.

There are no easy answers to the problem of suffering, and this isn't meant to be an exhaustive explanation; it's only a summary of some of the things I've realized this week. This was a great topic for a prayer school because I believe it provides the basis for why we pray. God's will will NOT be done whether I pray or not; my prayers DO matter. Everything that happens is not God's will; that's why Jesus tells us to pray, "They will be done." And I can't emphasize enough that God is good! And He's good not just in an incomprehensible way, but in the way we understand goodness. So on that note, I will end this longer-than-usual post. Again, individual questions and comments can be communicated through the "Email Me!" link at the right...