On Sunday, January 17, my father, a minister, shared the following statement with his congregation. It so resonated with me that I wanted to share it with you.
“We have wept this week as we have watched the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti. Reporters have wept as they tried to tell the story. There is no answer to the question, “Why?” All of our answers end up sounding just crazy.
A friend of mine this week was seated in a waiting room. A man was spouting off “matter of fact” that the earthquake in Haiti was because they had a pact with the devil made in the 1700’s. Spouting off what he had heard Pat Robinson say. Not a word was said about the Christians who were suffering and dying there. Mothers and innocent Children who had no pact with anyone. To him it was like God pulled the trigger on the whole thing in spite of all the innocents who would get killed or maimed for life. Not a word was said about what good people and Christians are to do in response. Their so called “pact with the devil” meant he could walk away smug in his own self righteousness with an excuse to do absolutely nothing. My friend said, “I wanted to say to him, but bit my lip and did not, ‘the people in Haiti are not one bit more evil than you are’!”
Many Haitians have prayed to dedicate the country they love to God. A so called pact with the devil did not cause the shift of subterranean plates. It is natural evil that is a part of our fallen world, in the same category of floods, storms, and fires. We want to interpret all of these things personally. I am loved so I was spared. I don’t have a pact with devil so I will be not be hurt.
Don’t try to interpret storms, earthquakes, or even disaster in your personal life as a personal commentary of God on you. Diseases, job loss, divorces, and all kinds of suffering is part of our fallen world. He loves us if we don’t get our miracle. He loves us if we slowly die crushed by concrete and unable to free ourselves, and there is no one who has the equipment to get to us in time.
The Christian response to a world of suffering is to enter the world of suffering and do all we can to help the hurting. It becomes a commentary on us as to where and how far we go to perform a rescue and give someone a miracle.“
What do you think? Why is there suffering in the world and what should our response be to it? Let me hear from you.
This is what it means to be like Christ: To enter the world of suffering and give. To offer LOVE; real love, help, aid, healing, comfort, consolation, perspective, something transcendent, something eternal.
It makes me think of this quote from St. John Chrysostom: “The rich exist of for the sake of the poor. The poor [substitute the hurt, suffering, dying] exist for the salvation of the rich.”
Thanks Gail. The greatest example of love is Christ on the cross. This means that true love comes with a cost and that we should not expect that being Christian means no pain or sorrow. This mindset will only create more suffering. Christ came to enter into our suffering and redeem it for His purposes. This is what it means to take up our cross and follow Him.
While God has nothing to do with evil (James 1:13-18), He knows the battle against us. In John 10:10, Christ specifically said his purpose in coming was that we might have the life more abundant than the loss, death, and destruction the thief has brought into the world. Instead of judging other people, let’s go into our prayer closets and ask God how to pray and how to love. Then let’s believe Him for the manifestation of Isaiah 25:6-8.
Patricia, thank you for your response. I think we must make a judgement as to the “rightness” of a belief. We judge, and teach our children to judge, people and situations every day; when to cross the road, when to trust a stranger, etc. What we must be careful to not do is condemn.
Regarding Isaiah 25, God in Christ has set the banquet table and has swallowed up death by his death. He has turned sorrow into joy. That’s the reason why all Christians have within them the capacity to be at peace with all me. Not a peace that is devoid of conflict, but a peace that is rooted in the reality of the cross. Thanks be to God.
Hi, Joel!
The reason I understand Isaiah 25:6-8 to be about the return of Christ is that the wording in verse 8 is the same that is in Revelation 21:4. The beauty of God’s absolute love is that it is greater than all the evil in our world. We just have to work through all the deceptions we believe until we come to the place where we can see the power of what His love has accomplished through Jesus Christ. God’s absolute love–perfect, complete, and real!
Thanks you Patricia. I agree. God’s love is indeed absolute.