How Long O Lord?

My plane reading this week was a book by DA Carson, titled How Long O Lord ?- Reflections on Suffering and Evil.

The book was a wonderful encouragement to me as I think through the implications of and responses to real pain and suffering in the world. Carson is extremely thorough, insightful and at the same time compassionate in his analysis, which makes this just an amazing book. I borrow many of Carson's comments in the next few paragraphs.

First, when we approach a topic as challenging as this, christians need to exercise a great amount of humility and acknowledgement of the mystery that human suffering and evil poses. We cannot expect, no matter how theologically well trained we are, to have many answers to the big questions. We need to guard against being tempted to provide all the answers categorically, or to try to link specific sins to the suffering, somewhat like what Job's friends did - that would be wrong. Instead, this is a time to put our faith in a God that is sovereign and good, and know that He needn't provide us with the answers that we want, but He is in control over the worst things that happen.

Second, suffering falls within the sovereignty of God. In God's universe, nothing steps outside of His control.

Third, there is such a thing as innocent suffering. And it happens more frequently than our sense of justice would allow.

Fourth, having a good theology of suffering is important. Even though, the truth is, the pain of death and suffering will still stab our hearts we encounter it. Nothing can prepare us for the shock. But, by God's grace, we can call upon what we know from scripture in those hard times. For example, death may seem like the worst thing to many of us, - what will happen to my family if I were to die? Scripture reminds us that for Christians, there are many worst things than death. As Paul says, we consider everything (our life and death) a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. We can commit this truth to our hearts, to live a life worthy of the gospel.

Fifth, God does not blame us for crying out in anguish and hopelessness to Him. Job's lament, for example, is in the context of his knowledge of who God is and God's perfect character, which leaves Job puzzled at what was happening. Within certain boundaries, we can present our raw thoughts to the Lord.

Finally, the cross shows us a picture of the suffering servant, our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified for our sins. Meditating on the cross reminds us that we have a God who knows suffering and who has come to bring final peace and justice to the world. He will usher in a new heaven and new earth where all of this earthly struggles will end. Suffering and evil, ultimately point us to repent of our sins and realise that this world cannot be our final home. We are on a journey to a far better place.