Is there an answer to suffering?

There is a well-known theological question about God’s justice in our world. Specifically, it is about God’s response to suffering. The question is:

“If God is all-powerful and just, and if God is love, why doesn’t He change the suffering in this world?”

This question is called the question of “theodicy,” and it has preoccupied many people since ancient times. It is a similar question to the one Job is going through. Job, however, experiences this not from a general perspective, but from a directly personal one. He does not philosophize – he suffers himself.

The question of theodicy

Theodicy seems to consist of only 3 parts, namely:

1. God’s omnipotence and justice
2. God’s love
3. the suffering in the world

As long as we only start from these three parameters, the question probably cannot be solved in the final analysis. Just as Job could not solve the question of the cause of his suffering himself.

The question of theodicy can be compared, in a way, to Job’s situation in the first chapters. Let us try to live into the situation as Job experienced it. Word comes in that his sons and daughters have perished. His harvest is lost. Many more misfortunes befall his life until he himself also falls ill. Job suffers – and does not understand.

Job’s friends accuse God, but in the end they do not understand anything either. This is exactly the situation of theodicy.

But there is something hidden in the story of Job. Indeed, theodicy hides something in the question. What exactly is it about? It is the expectation that an all-powerful and loving God would have to solve the suffering in the world “now”. The time factor is part of theodicy, even if it is not explicitly mentioned. The question is actually whether an omnipotent and loving God “should” not solve the suffering of the world “now” and “immediately”. This immediate expectation is understandable, leads to the theodicy question, but completely ignores possible other solutions. After all, if God comprehensively solves the problems later, is it solved?

The silence of God

Job suffers. God had no reason to let Job suffer like this (Job 2:3). But God is silent. The moment the bad news arrives, nothing changes. And it got worse for Job. But today does not determine tomorrow, and God’s silence today does not mean that He will not be heard from at all. This, however, is not immediately apparent.

In the beginning we hear about Job’s suffering. At the end of Job’s story, however, the situation has changed dramatically. That’s when God Himself intervened:

“And the Lord turned Job’s fortunes.”
Hi 42:10

Only at the end did Job learn that the Lord is full of intimate compassion and merciful. His experience was stunning: “By hearsay I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you” (Hi 42:6). Job received an impressive experience of God’s nature and work. But there is more. Something is also changing in practical terms. Of the circumstances of life we learn, “And the Lord blessed the later life of Job more than his former” (Hi 42:12).

God acts sovereignly

Theodicy is answered from Job’s story in such a way that God acts sovereignly in time. He stands above everything and does not have to justify himself to anyone. God is merciful, but this is not visible every day. Only the end of God’s ways with Job shows this. We can find this lesson back in many places in the Bible.

We should not stop at our personal salvation. Ultimately, that is not the goal of God. God Himself is the goal. For this He has set us free. Job’s understanding is also corrected in this direction.

A liberated view of God’s purpose liberates ourselves and gives confidence and strength in everyday life. When we see how God makes history a history of salvation – through Jesus Christ – we stand in the middle of this history every day. Not only do we recognize that He gives us life, breath, and everything (Acts 17:25), but that He furthermore maintains a living relationship with us as He works out His plan of salvation.

God’s own purpose

God involves us in this history of salvation day by day.

“Indeed, He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not on the basis of our works, but on the basis of His own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before eternity.”
2Tim 1:9

This description is independent of our current situation, whether we are successful in life, whether we are healthy or sick, whether we have been putting our trust in Him for 40 years or only 40 days. God sovereignly works into our lives as well. Sovereign means: not always in the way I want or can imagine. But sovereign also in grace and with many promises. We are not only in God’s plan of salvation, but very concretely in His saving work.

At the moment Job says “but now my eye has seen You,” the external life situation was still unresolved. Nevertheless, that was the crucial realization. What we now learn from the Bible we can readily apply to our own lives and our own expectations: God’s perspective gives personal perspective.

Exchange questions

• Read and discuss 2 Cor. 4:6-18