Helpful words for those who hurt
THIS WEEK’S WINNER
MANILA, Philippines - Teofilo R. Casimiro Jr. is an associate pastor at Victory in Jesus Christ Congregation in Las Piñas and executive VP of CARE Inc. (Christian Action for Relief and Empowerment). He finished BS Math at UP in 1986 and entered full-time ministry after he felt the call of God. He took up Diploma in Biblical Studies from the Cathedral of Praise Bible College in Makati from 1986 to 1988.
Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in life that many of us surely want to unravel or at least try to understand in a deeper way is the mystery of suffering. Many people are asking, “Why is there suffering in the world?” Particularly those who profess to believe in God may also be asking, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” This is the focus of a book written by noted Christian author Philip Yancey: Where is God When It Hurts? No doubt each of us has asked that question, though expressed in a different way.
Philip Yancey starts off with his personal knowledge of the painful experience, which his close friends, John and Claudia Claxton, had gone through. Claudia contracted Hodgkin’s disease or cancer of the lymph glands. Though the couple were strong Christians, they couldn’t help but feel angry towards God and would ask why them among many people. They needed answers that well-meaning visitors failed to give them. Some were judgmental (“There is sin in your life, that’s why”) while others were oblivious to their feelings, telling them to just muster enough faith for healing, to praise God for everything and accept that they are privileged martyrs. The author himself couldn’t offer a satisfying answer.
Pain is a gift that nobody wants. One undeniable proof of pain’s usefulness is the pain network in our bodies. Our skin, for example, is equipped with millions of pain cells that alert it to pressure and danger. Our internal organs use referred pain or recruiting nearby pain sensors to sound an alarm. The author attributes his increased appreciation of pain to Dr. Paul Brand who said, “Thank God for inventing pain” after attempting to design an artificial pain system and failing despite having an excellent staff and huge funding for his experiment.
I learned this the personal and painful way. As a speaker, teacher and supervisor, I speak a lot. At times, my voice will become hoarse but I only rest when the pain becomes unbearable. My failure to hear what pain was telling me caused me an operation of a cyst in my vocal fold, which developed due to voice abuse.
Dr. Brand’s research work among lepers in India revealed that leprosy didn’t work like a fungus, destroying tissue indiscriminately but rather it destroys the pain network especially in the extremities of the body, exposing the patient to danger. Philip Yancey saw this phenomenon at the Hansen’s disease research center and hospital in Carville, Louisiana where Dr. Brand moved into after going to India. His memory of the patients there would remind him that a world without pain is not a safe environment.
Modern society views pain as the opposite and enemy of pleasure, hence its attempt to eliminate it. But pain and pleasure are connected to each other. Our experience of pain heightens our experience of pleasure, the author says. This principle applies to other perceived “enemies” — fear, guilt, loneliness and the Christian concept of service. It is the servants and not the stars that find real fulfillment and happiness.
Yancey believes that the earth in its present state is not the best of all possible worlds. Much of the suffering in the world came about because of two principles God built into creation: a physical world that runs according to consistent natural laws and human freedom. Because man chose to disobey God, their world was spoiled, something that God Himself was not pleased with. God has a plan to restore His creation. Pain or suffering, according to C.S. Lewis, is the megaphone of God, calling our attention to the fact that something is wrong. We can turn to God through it just like what the 17th-century poet John Donne did when confronted with the death of his wife and his imminent death due to illness. He saw that his pain could be redeemed or accomplish something good.
The Bible offers no grand unifying theory of the cause of suffering. Many Old Testament passages warn against painful consequences that will follow specific actions. Some Old Testament passages show God causing human suffering as punishment for wrong behavior. In the New Testament, Jesus’ response to the question of suffering eludes the cause but answers the question as to what purpose or end is it for.
The story of Job in the Old Testament is a clear illustration of the fact that undeserved suffering (that is not the direct result of personal sin) does come to us to show that God is interested in freely given love. God allows suffering in our lives for the purpose of “soul-making,” something that cannot be achieved in a pain-free world. With this understanding of suffering, we will avoid the great errors: of attributing all suffering to God, seeing it as his punishment for human mistakes and believing that life with God will never include suffering, the bedrock of modern “health and wealth” theology.
Going back to Job, God’s response (Job 38-41) was to make him realize that he cannot question how God rules the moral universe since he knows little about ruling the physical universe. God is more concerned with our response than the cause of our suffering. We can respond by rejoicing (Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1: 6-7; 4:12-13 ) not in the trial but in what it produces. God can bring good out of evil but He does not bring about evil to produce good.
He then relates the story of two Christians who experience extreme suffering: Brian Sternberg and Joni Eareckson Tada who at first struggled in their faith but were able to reconcile it with their pain. The former continues to believe for his healing and the latter accepts her condition and considers her suffering as a “glorious intruder.” Swiss physician and counselor Paul Tournier explains his concept of Creative Suffering this way: “Suffering is never beneficial in itself…What counts is the way a person reacts in the face of suffering…A positive, active, creative reaction…will develop his person…”
Suffering teaches us the value of dependence on God and keeps us from the sin of self-sufficiency just like what the Apostle Paul testified when he said, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” It is therefore encouraging to know that pain, though generally unwelcome to us, has a purpose. Times of weakness (or sickness in my case) can be fruitful times of communion with the Lord and solidarity with our loved ones and friends.
Again he relates a few stories of survivors of concentration camps during World War II. One of them, Elie Wiesel, lost his faith in God while the other two, Corrie Ten Boom and Christian Reger, found God. To the Christian, God did not exempt Himself from human suffering but experienced it through His Son, for man’s redemption. Reger said it plainly, “God did not rescue me and made my suffering easier. He simply assured me that He was alive…”
There are four “frontiers” upon which every suffering person will do battle: the frontiers of fear, helplessness, meaning and hope. Fear operates more like a reflex action. It can be overcome through love, that is, a personal knowledge of the God of perfect love, prayer and the availability or personal presence of others as many suffering people can attest to. The second frontier, helplessness, which is a sense of not having control of one’s self, can be overcome by directing our attention on other activities, even helping others. The wise sufferer can become a wounded healer to others. Suffering people are looking for meaning to their suffering. We can help them if we acknowledge that pain is valid and worthy of a sympathetic response. We should avoid the backward-looking question “Why?” and instead focus on suffering’s meaning not only to us but to others. God shared our pain so it cannot be utterly meaningless. Finally, we need to find hope (which is different from optimism), or simply the belief that something good lies ahead. Like the experience of many in concentration camps, the belief in an afterlife gives sufferers the strength to endure (Phil. 3:20-21).
One way to ease our pain is to share in the pains of others. This may sound contradictory but it agrees with what the Bible says that “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” We need not wallow in pity but think of God’s goodness and be His loving channel to others who are hurting.
In the last part of the book the author asks the question, “How does faith help?” The Christian faith teaches that God through Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer and experience our pain to show that He cares for us. He gives four ways in which the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ provide an answer to the problem of pain. (1) I learn to judge the present by the future, (2) I learn the pattern of transformed pain, (3) I learn a new level of meaning to suffering and (4) I gain the confidence that God truly understands my pain. How do we sense God’s love in the midst of suffering? Through the Indwelling Spirit, we are able to express our groaning to God and we are assured of His Presence. We also experience His love through the human touch of the Body of Christ, the local church.
The Church is called to follow the example of Christ in bearing the burden of the suffering. Perhaps the most comforting truth that the book highlights is the fact that God cares about our suffering. He became the “Man of Sorrows” for us so that every time we experience pain or suffering, we just have to remember that He knows and feels what we are going through and He will be there to see us through.
Finally, he mentions Christianity’s most important contribution for the person who suffers, the hope in a painless future with God. He expresses his belief that the problem of pain has no ultimate solution until God recreates the earth. Where is God when it hurts? He has been there from the beginning and He is with us now, through His Spirit and His body. One day, He will create for us a new, incredible world where pain will be no more (1 Cor. 15:51-55). We will never get away from pain in this world but if we have an intimate knowledge of our Creator, we know that all of this is just temporary. You, too, can have that hope if you open your heart to Him.
