100 Sermon Illustrations on Pain

On Monday, August 9, 1993, a 31-year-old woman, Sopehia Mardress White, burst into the hospital nursery at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, wielding a .38-caliber hand gun. She had come gunning for Elizabeth Staten, a nurse whom she accused of stealing her husband. White fired six shots, hitting Staten in the wrist and stomach.

Staten fled and White chased her into the emergency room, firing once more. There, with blood on her clothes and a hot pistol in her hand, the attacker was met by another nurse, Joan Black, who did the unthinkable. Black calmly walked to the gun-toting woman - and hugged her.

Black spoke comforting words.

The assailant said she didn’t have anything to live for, that Staten had stolen her family. “You’re in pain,” Black said. “I’m sorry, but everybody has pain in their life....I understand, and we can work it out.”

As they talked, the hospital invader kept her finger on the trigger. Once she began to lift the gun as though she would shoot herself. Nurse Black just pushed her arm down and continued to hold her. At last Sopehia White gave the gun to the nurse. She was disarmed by a hug, by understanding, by compassion.

Black later told and AP reporter, “I saw a sick person and had to take care of her.”

Jesus Christ looks upon us in a similar fashion, as persons sick and broken inside, in need of his care. And it is his embrace that disarms us.

Last week in a Sunday school class I was teaching, someone asked about being delivered from depression. I noted that God is surely able to do so. But I tried to give another perspective on this — that pain may actually be a means of blessing. As C.S. Lewis observed, pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a dulled world.

In our culture, we have a tendency to be preoccupied with the alleviation of pain. But there is a danger: we can become so absorbed with “recovery” from pain that we make this a higher priority than knowing Christ or being delivered from sin.

Do we find ourselves more upset with our discomfort than with our lack of Christ-likeness and sin? Our main problem is not pain; alienation from God and idolatry and sin are. Once we realize that God is not obligated to take our pain away (as Paul experienced with his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12), our relationship with God can be enriched and deepened.

We are living and even hobbling about in a fallen world — in anticipation of the new heavens and earth. Christ offers us hope and grace in the midst of suffering, not always relief from it. Theologian Vernon Grounds eloquently writes:

An individual, quite completely free from tension, anxiety, and

conflict may be only a well-adjusted sinner who is dangerously

maladjusted to God; and it is infinitely better to be a neurotic

saint than a healthy-minded sinner.... Healthy-mindedness may be

a spiritual hazard that keeps an individual from turning to God

precisely because he has no acute sense of God.... Tension,

conflict, and anxiety, even to the point of mental illness, may

be a cross voluntarily carried in God’s service (Vernon Grounds,

“Called to Be Saints – Not Well-Adjusted Sinners,” Christianity

Today [17 Jan. 1986], 28).

Paul reminds us that it is often in our weakness and inadequacy that we are most conscious of Christ’s power resting upon us: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (cp. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Having God’s power means that we can please God whatever our circumstances or condition. I think of my grandmother (we called her “Oma”) who, though bedridden, always had such a sweet, gracious demeanor; she never complained. Christ’s power enabled her and enables us to carry out God’s will and purposes — despite our weakness and frailty. Consider the powerful British preacher Charles Spurgeon would be laid up in bed for long stretches of time due to depression, yet he was a remarkable instrument of God. Or think of the noted hymnwriter and friend of John Newton, William Cowper, who battled severe depression as well. Yet God used this man’s gifts to bless the church. Below are a few stanzas from Cowper’s “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” — one of my favorite hymns — that reflect the theme of pain as a possible means of blessing:

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

If we allow it, weaknesses and pain may open our eyes to see how much we need God and prompt us to cast ourselves upon his mercy. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9: “indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

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In Psalm 77, Asaph shows us how personal anguish can lead to growth. His pilgrimage shows us four crucial steps that lead from despair to joy. His honesty shows in each of 11 psalms he wrote. He knows us, he understands our innermost struggles, our abject hearts. He puts words to our wretched feelings. Yet he perseveres by faith to praise, and from his perseverance we can take hope.

Step 1: FOCUSING ON OURSELVES

It’s natural, when we suffer difficulty, to think first of ourselves, to pray first about our personal needs. It is never easy to turn to God for help. By nature we are proud. Looking first within ourselves and becoming aware of the pain that is there is the first step toward growth.

Step 2: ASKING QUESTIONS

Now Asaph shifts focus. No longer does he look only at himself and his troubles. He looks at God. And what he sees, he doesn’t like. Shaken by what, from all appearances, is a failure of God’s love and faithfulness, he assails God with questions. The cry of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross echoed Ps 22:1. He questioned the Father, but trusted Him for the answers.

Step 3: REFLECTING ON THE PAST

God’s seeming inactivity in response to the psalmist’s prayer brings bewilderment, but it does not prevent him from making a very important decision. Notice the “I will’s” in these 3 verses. Asaph is choosing to reflect on God despite his suffering, overwhelming circumstances, and the bewilderment of God’s silence. He is no longer carried along by the circumstances of his trial and his questions. Reflecting on the past faithfulness of God brings spiritual equilibrium to our lives.

Step 4: FOCUSING ON GOD

Now, in answer to his own doubts and complaints, Asaph sets forth in praise the specific things God has done that give him hope. Sixteen times in 6 verses Asaph had spoken of himself - ”I,” “me,” “my.” Contrast that with his words in this last section. Not once in 8 verses does he refer to himself. His focus is entirely on God.

FOUR STEPS TO GROWTH

We must not bury our feelings. Hiding them merely lets them fester and spread. Instead, we must expose them to the healing air of Communion with God. Neither must we hide our doubt-inspired questions. But when we’ve asked our questions, we must be honest enough to listen for answers, too. And we will find those answers in the miraculous works of God recorded in Scripture, in history, and in our own past. Finally, as we are reminded of God’s faithfulness and steadfast love, let us praise Him.

One of my favorite stories is about the famous artist Auguste Renoir. One of his best friends, Henri Matisse, even though he was 30 years younger, was a constant companion of Renoir. During the last decade of the famous artist’s life when he was confined to his home because of his crippling arthritis, Matisse visited him daily.

In spite of his torturous pain Renoir kept painting. In fact, he did so almost to his dying day. “The Bathers,” one of his most famous paintings was completed only two years before he died — 14 years after he was stricken with this disabling disease.

On one occasion when Renoir was struggling with every brush stroke, his friend Matisse said to him, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?” To which Renoir replied, “The beauty remains; the pain passes.”

“Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete [mature].” – James 1:2-4 (TLB)

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Yancey responds to Kushner's popular book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." God is not impotent, but self-limits his interaction with us to preserve our freedom.

The reasons people suffer, from the perspective that God doesn't send suffering, but it results from living in a world that is truly free.

I. The cause of suffering. (p 29)

A. Most theology assumes God is behind suffering.

1) We blame ourselves in order to spare God's reputation.

B. Another view - help comes from God, but not pain. Ps 121:1-2

C. Story of Job. (p 31)

1) Hypothetical story, since Job is portrayed as perfect.

a) Unfair story, since a good God wouldn't kill children.

2) Traditional piety contrasted with hard questions about fate.

a) Job does complain about God, friends don't.

b) Friends assume God knows what he is doing.

3) Conclusion has Job swearing to innocence, asking for evidence.

a) God's answer: "What do you know about running a world?"

4) Three truths assumed in book:

a) God is all-powerful.

b) God is just and fair.

c) Job is a good person.

1> Job's suffering creates a problem.

2> One of above truths must be sacrificed.

5) How the characters deal with the above truths: (p 39)

a) The friends blame the victim, Job. They reject "C".

b) Job rejects "B".

1> God is all-powerful and seemingly above morality.

2> The book portrays God as a (insecure) king. Job 9:12

c) Author of Job puts his answer in God's final speech.

1> God is really there?

A> Job never doubted his existence.

2> God is all-powerful and doesn't have to be fair?

A> Job has claimed this all along.

3> God cannot be concerned with one puny person?

A> Then morality of Bible would be irrelevant to God.

6) Author of Job rejects "A". (p 41)

a) God is good, but not all-powerful. Job 40:9-14

b) Misfortunes don't come from God.

1> But God can still be a comfort in our sorrows.

The following are chapter headings in Kushner's book:

I. The reason bad things happen - sometimes there isn't any.

II. Good people are not excepted from trouble.

III. God lets us have room to be human.

IV. God helps those who stop hurting themselves.

V. God can't do everything.

VI. What the value of religion is.

[see also #1433]

One afternoon while playing on a wooden picnic table, 4-year-old Jordon ran a splinter into his finger. Sobbing, he called his father (me) at the office. "I want God to take the splinter out," he said.

I told him his mother could remove it very easily. But he wanted God to do it because when Mom takes a splinter out, it hurts. He wanted God to remove it "by himself."

When I got home an hour later, the splinter was still there, so I proceeded to remove it, and I tried to teach Jordon that sometimes God uses other means to do his work. And sometimes it is painful.

God can answer prayer, even dramatically more than we expect:

Iris Tardive's husband Bill received the news that can cause the ultimate dread: the doctor told him he had cancer. An operation was planned immediately. On the morning of the operation their nephew Michael, a preacher, talked to him about faith and encouraged him. Bill believed in God, but Michael stressed that the Lord would be able to help him through any situation that developed.

The surgery was more than five hours long. As he came to in the recovery room, Bill was astounded at how painful it was. He thought he was tough enough to stand anything, but this had him doubled over in agony. He remembered Michael's words, and said a simple prayer to God. "Lord, help me to bear this." Bill didn't expect all of it to go away, but he just wanted to be able to take it.

He felt two hands move down his abdomen, past his own hands, and into the wound. The hands seemed to press down, and immediately the pain disappeared. Bill insists he was not groggy and doped-up, but completely alert. The relief from pain was so abrupt it shook him up. More than ever, he realized God can answer prayer.

Paying too much attention to a spouse's back pain can make it worse, according to a study presented by German psychologists.

A better strategy is to distract the pain patient with other activities, the study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg applied painful electric stimulation to the backs of 20 people with chronic back pain and measured their brain activity in response. Half the patients were married to solicitous spouses, who generally responded to their chronic pain by giving massages, fetching medicine, waiting on them and doing other such things.

The other patients had spouses who tended to play down the chronic pain, sometimes leaving the room or distracting the person with other activities.

For patients with solicitous spouses, the mere presence of that spouse in the room increased the brain activity in response to the painful stimulation. These patients were also more likely to moan or make other expressions of pain. "It's as if the spouse has become a stimulating cue for the pain," Flor said.

In contrast, no effect on brain activity appeared in the other patients when their spouses were in the room.

For a spouse, playing down pain appears the better course of action, Flor said.

"A spouse can be overly supportive almost to the point where they're enabling the pain," said Dr. Eugene Melvin, an Orlando pain specialist. "Just a little bit of pain on the patient's part can cause a severe overreaction to the point where they don't let the patient do anything for themselves."

Also Sunday, researchers Haverford College in Pennsylvania reported finding that untreated pain at birth may lead to lowered sensitivity to pain later in life.

In the study, Wendy Sternberg and her colleagues performed abdominal surgery on 40 mice the day they were born. Half of the mice received morphine and half received only salt water solution.

For a control, the researchers also treated mice that did not have surgery with either morphine or the salt water.

When the animals reached adulthood, they were then given a series of tests that measured their responses to pain.

"We found an overall lowering of pain sensitivity among those subjects who had surgery with no pain treatment compared to those that underwent surgery and received morphine and compared to those who did not undergo surgery," Sternberg said.

She said the research may eventually help scientists determine why adults have very different perceptions of pain.

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Pain and pressure can lead to greater fruitfulness.

1. Emotions of overload.

a. Feel ineffective and impotent.

b. Feel angry.

c. Feel abandoned.

2. God uses brokenness to get our attention.

a. God wants us on the altar, not just our best. (Ps 51)

3. What brokenness is not.

a. It is not suffering, which is more generic.

b. It is not sanctification or Spirit-filling.

c. It is not repentance.

4. The pruning analogy.

a. God prunes us so we'll be more fruitful.

b. Those who resist pruning end up wounded.

5. A time for brokenness.

a. It is not intended as a way of life.

b. We cannot rush through brokenness.

c. More a hallway than a room.

6. Try an attitude check.

a. (Twelve personal checkpoints given)

b. If we lack these attitudes (risk-taking, joy in difficulties, etc)

we may need to be further broken.

How can you hold on to faith when God seems silent?

I. Admitting our helplessness.

A. It is not easy to trust God in times of adversity.

1) Choose to be helped.

2) Realize it is sinful to wallow in self-pity.

3) Turn to the Lord.

a) Through choice, prayer, Bible.

B. Trust and pain.

1) Trusting God does not mean we do not experience pain.

2) We believe God can use pain for our ultimate good.

3) Do not let distrustful and hard thoughts control our minds.

II. Our trustworthy God.

A. The Bible has many promises of his constant care for us.

1) Heb 13:5. (five negatives)

2) We may lose sense of his help, but not the reality.

3) He is with us through deep waters and the fire. Isa 43:2

B. Cast all your cares on him. 1 Pet 5:7

1) His care is constant.

a) Not occasional or sporadic.

2) His care is total.

a) The very hairs of our head are numbered. Matt 10:30

3) His care is sovereign.

a) Nothing can touch you that he does not allow.

III. Perfecting our trust.

A. Trusting in plenty.

B. Trusting the source. Prov 18:10-11

C. Trusting through the ordinary.

This was related by the pastor-evangelist of Sunnycrest Baptist Church in Marian, Indiana

The Value of a Soul - a true story

THIS WAS AN EMERGENCY! The voice at the end of the line was pleading, "Pastor, hurry to the hospital as quickly as you can! Mike was hit by a truck! It's very serious, so get here as quickly as you can!" - Little Mike was just nine years old.

The preacher hurried across town and found a dad in his early thirties. He was outside of the emergency room pacing back-and-forth. The preacher tried to talk, but the young father couldn't stop moving. His soul was breaking with his agony! The pastor tried to visit, but Ralph was so panicky and nervous that he could not stop pacing. Back-and-forth! Back-and-forth! The only way to reach him was to fall into step.

The preacher asked, "Ralph, how is it going?" Ralph fretted, "Preacher, it's not going good." The pastor inquired, "Ralph, what happened?" He exclaimed "Preacher, that old truck hit him! It mashed his little brain against his skull! They say they're going to transfer him to another hospital where another surgeon will operate!"

Then a very unnerving thing happened! Up and down throughout the corridors of that hospital and the emergency area, a young voice filled the air. Mike was crying out! More than that he was screaming, "Oh my head hurts, my head hurts! Please, could you give me something? My head hurts!"

Now let's stop for just a moment to remember another loving Father and the cry of a Son! God heard His Son better than anyone did down on the hill of Golgatha! He knew the cry that was drawn from the depths of Jesus' soul, "Oh, the hurt! Oh the pain! My feet are pierced! My head is pounding! Thorns are battered into My skull! I am stretched and torn - suspended on these nails! Oh, My Father! How it hurts! How it hurts!"

Ralph was nearly beside himself as there was nothing he could do to help his little boy! Not only did the hallway ring with, "Oh, my head hurts! My head hurts!" But little Mike began to cry, "Daddy! Oh, Daddy, WHERE ARE you? Daddy, why don't you come and HELP me? Daddy, DON'T YOU CARE? DON'T YOU LOVE ME?"

The pastor urged him, "Ralph, GO IN THERE!" Emotion gripped a freshly breaking heart as the young father cried, "Preacher, they won't let me. I've tried three times, but they RAN ME OUT and LOCKED THE DOOR!" Ralph continued his pacing to the sound of the pleas of his little boy, "Oh, Daddy, won't you help me?"

Do you wonder as I do? How could we possibly understand just how God felt as He turned away from the cross - knowing His beloved Jesus was SUFFERING BEYOND MEASURE while bearing my sin and yours! But the loving Father could NOT BURST THROUGH THAT DOOR TO HELP HIM! And even more than that ... just hear the orphaned cry of the wondrous Son of God! "OH, MY FATHER! Don't You even CARE? My God, My God, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Do you see? You probably heard about it before and you may know the message well, but I ask you WHY? "Why didn't God prevent that? Why did Jesus suffer so?"

The answer is, "For the worth of a soul!" Had God the Son not died on the cross, no life could ever be saved! Do you understand? What shall a man give in exchange for His soul? What is the worth of your soul weighed against the torments of the fires of hell? It was worth enough to Almighty God to silence His angelic choir! It was worth enough to the Lord for heaven to go into mourning! It was worth enough to the Father for Jesus to be born in poverty and to die in shame! That's how much your soul is worth! Jesus said:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:35-37

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David, a 2-year old with leukemia, was taken by him mother, Deborah, to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to see Dr. John Truman who specializes in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases. Dr. Truman’s prognosis was devastating: “He has a 50-50 chance.” The countless clinic visits, the blood tests, the intravenous drugs, the fear and pain -- the mother’s ordeal can be almost as bad as the child’s because she must stand by, unable to bear the pain herself. David never cried in the waiting room, and although his friends in the clinic had to hurt him and stick needles in him, he hustled in ahead of him mother with a smile, sure of the welcome he always got.

When he was three, David had to have a spinal tap -- a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him that, because he was sick, Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better. “If it hurts, remember it’s because he loves you,” Deborah said. The procedure was horrendous. It took three nurses to hold David still, while he yelled and sobbed and struggled. When it was almost over, the tiny boy, soaked in sweat and tears, looked up at the doctor and gasped, “Thank you, Dr. Tooman, for my hurting.”

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"Miracles of Courage," Monica Dickens, 1985.

This little story Charles Getts tells in "Guideposts" emphasizes the attitude of "enjoying" the price. In old age, Pierre Auguste, the great French painter, suffered from arthritis, which twisted and cramped his hand. Henri Matise, his artist friend, watched sadly while Renoir, grasping a brush with only his fingertips, continued to paint, even though each movement caused stabbing pain. One day, Matise asked Renoir why he persisted in painting at the expense of

such torture. Renoir replied, "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.” Romans 8:18 NLT

THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING

On my shelf is a little books that asks a big question. It is titled DOES GOD CARE WHEN WE SUFFER? and was written by Randy Becton. Randy is a good friend and a cancer survivor who has spent much of his life ministering to people with terminal illnesses. Randy writes:

Of the hard “why” questions, “why is there suffering?” may be the hardest. This is probably because it not attacks us personally, but also because whenever the question is raised, the question of God’s part in suffering follows close behind... We are desperate for the meaning behind all this. We seek some someone to blame or deliver us, and that always leads to our view of God.

DOESN’T GOD CARE WHEN WE SUFFER?

Of course he does.

THEN WHY DOESN’T HE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

He did. Becton sums it up this way:

The answer is the cross of Jesus Christ.... From now on all human suffering must be understood in the light of his suffering; it is the source of meaning, hope, and new life for sufferers. When someone cries out, “He doesn’t care. He’s immune to pain,” they are brought to the foot of the cross to see for themselves.... The cross and resurrection hold the key to the mystery of suffering.

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Adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), p. 3

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The book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (Schocken, 1981), shocked everyone in the industry. When was the last time a book on a profound human question, much less a book about God, had ranked up there with the guidebooks on thinning thighs and mastering Pac-Man? Now, two years later, half a million hardback copes have been sold and the paperback sales are expected to total in the millions.

The book, with its splendid title and articulate rabbi author (Harold Kushner), has confused many Christians. The largest Christian book distributor sent out a warning notice to its bookstore clients, admitting that demand from readers virtually forced them to carry the book but acknowledging that Kushner's answers "do not present an orthodox Christian theology of suffering." Some Reformed denominations published cautiously negative reviews, and at least one evangelical leader, Charles Colson, went public with a blast against the book. Yet, throngs of average Christian consumers have found the rabbi's book comforting; his answers to the problem of pain sound good and feel good. Because I have written a book on the problem of pain (Where Is God When It Hurts?) and sometimes speak on the topic, I often get questions about Rabbi Kushner's approach. What do I think? Is he a heretic or a prophet?

COMPASSION AND PERCEPTION

First, I must congratulate Kushner on a wonderful writing job. Whatever else he is doing, he should stop it and get back to the typewriter. He tackles complex issues with a gracious style that makes them accessible to large numbers of readers. This book especially, coming out of his own family's experience with a horrible illness, shows human warmth and compassion. It deserves best-seller status. But a book that exists mainly to answer a theological question cannot be judged on its clever title, empathetic tone, or literary style. The central question is, are his conclusions biblical and true?

Frankly, I cannot join with those who categorically condemn the content. Kushner has presented some true and needed correctives for people who stuffer or who stand with others who suffer. Let's face it, too often evangelicals have offered guilt ("You must have done something to deserve this") and frustration ("You must not be praying hard enough") to sufferers. Thousands of years later, we keep falling back on the same rationalistic explanations for suffering that were voiced eloquently by Job's three friends - and repudiated in a withering attack by God.

Rabbi Kushner offers a superb analysis of the false guilt we can bog down in. His rejection of the idea that suffering is a common, specific punishment by God squares with Jesus' comments in John 9 and Luke 13 and with the underlying message of the entire Book of Job. A person in pain need not compound his or her suffering by such torturous questions as "What have I done wrong?"

In addition, Kushner offers stimulating insights on the role of natural law in this universe, the meaning of the fall of humanity, and the nature of free will. I wish all theology books were written with such clarity and brightness. Indeed, the book stands as a good model for Christian writers, who seldom have been able to present theological concerns to such a broad audience.

SOME RESERVATIONS

Despite my deep admiration for what Kushner has accomplished, however, I cannot endorse his ultimate conclusions. Essentially, he concludes that suffering exists on this planet because "even God has a hard time keeping chaos in check," and God is "a God of justice and not of power." In other words, God is as frustrated, even outraged, by the pain on this planet as anyone, but he lacks the power to do anything about it. After perceptively uncovering the flaws in other explanations of pain and evil, Kushner stumbles when he must provide his own solution to the age-old riddle.

Kushner wisely devotes an entire chapter to Job, a book of the Bible that could conveniently be subtitled "When the Worst Things Happen to One of the Best People." The Bible's fullest treatment of the problem of pain confronts the issues of undeserved suffering in their most absolute terms, even at the risk of approaching caricature. No one deserved suffering less than Job; no one suffered more. Somehow, though, Kushner and I come up with opposite conclusions looking at the same evidence. To me, Job's predicament gives God the perfect platform from which to launch an explanation of his less-than-omnipotence. Surely Job would have welcomed a speech that implies like Kushner: "Job, I'm truly sorry about what's happening. You know, of course, I had nothing to do with the way things have turned out. I wish I could help, Job, but I really can't." Such a speech, though hardly relieving Job's physical ailments, would have restored his faith in a loving, faithful God.

GOD'S ANSWER TO JOB

The speech Job got instead is one of the most extraordinary passages in the Bible, the longest single speech of God recorded. It has dazzling poetry, a wild celebration of nature, and a combination of exuberance and explosive force. The speech is so eloquent, we can easily miss its central message. Nowhere in the Bible is God's power described more impressively. God never once apologizes to Job for his lack of power; rather he composes verbal fugues about ostriches, wild oxen, snowstorms, and constellations to illustrate it. Frederick Buechner summarizes the argument this way, "God doesn't explain. He explodes. He asks Job who he thinks he is anyway. He says that to try to explain the kind of things Job wants explained would be like trying to explain Einstein to a little-neck clam.... God doesn't reveal his grand design. He reveals himself."

Job's response is as amazing as God's speech. In spite of the fact that God never answers question one about Job's own predicament, just hearing that blast flattens him. Perhaps Job, like Buechner's little-neck clam, doesn't understand any more about the theory of relativity, but he has seen enough to convince himself there really is an Einstein out there, one worthy of worship.

A response such as this causes me to question Kushner's final conclusion. If God is less-than-powerful, why does he choose the worst possible situation, when his power is most called into question, to claim omnicompetence?

To me, the puzzling question of God's involvement in the world is seen much better in terms of God's self-imposed limitations. He acts, and does not act, not because of weakness but because of self-restraint designed to promote certain other possibilities, such as freely given human love. And I know of no better example of God's self-imposed limitation than the Incarnation, an event that Kushner, a rabbi, understandably does not discuss.

The Book of Job reveals the more abstract, theoretical side of God and pain. (Looking back, we may have trouble understanding why Job felt so satisfied with a seemingly evasive answer; but, then, we didn't hear God speak out of a whirlwind, either.) Thankfully, the Bible also reveals God's close and personal response to human suffering. God himself, the God who boasted Of his power in creating the wild things, of earth, subjected himself to natural laws, including pain, when he visited our planet.

CHRIST ON PAIN

How did God-on-earth respond to pain? Surprisingly, Christ reacted much as we react. When he met a person in pain, he was deeply moved with compassion (from the Latin words "cum" and "pati", "to suffer with"). When his friend died, he wept. Very often (and every time he was directly asked) he healed the pain. Obviously, God is not a God who enjoys seeing us suffer.

When he faced pain personally, Christ also responded like most o f us. He recoiled from it, asking three times if there was any other way. When there was no other way, he experienced the sense of alienation that all of us feel to some degree at such moments. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" he cried out. It was the only prayer Jesus uttered that did not begin with the familiar term "Abba," or "Father."

No other religion - not Judaism, not Hinduism, not Buddhism or Islam - offers this unique contribution of an all-powerful God who willingly takes on the pain of his creation.

I am glad the Bible describes both sides of God' response - the perspective from heaven, in Job's case, and the perspective from the cross - for those of us who try to figure out why God permits suffering. We need both dimensions. The gospel writers stress that Jesus' suffering was not a question of impotence; he could have called on a legion of angels. Somehow he had to go through it for fallen creation to be redeemed. Suffering was the cost to God of forgiveness.

Often, when I contemplate the paradoxes inherent in the problem of pain and God's involvement in our world, I find myself going back to one passage of the Bible that falls halfway between the Book of Job and the first account of Jesus' life on earth. In a remarkable blend of prophecy and poetry, Isaiah 53 summons up an image of a suffering servant who bears our diseases, carries our pains, and is wounded for our rebellions. Jewish interpreters often apply the suffering servant to themselves as a race. Christians, following the New Testament, apply it to Christ. Could this be the reason, asks Japanese theologian Kazoh Kitamori, that Judaism has attracted so few converts? No race has suffered more than the Jews. But human pain, no matter how great, remains meaningless and barren unless it can become a symbol of God's empathy.

NOT CAUSATION, BUT REDEMPTION

After spending several years reading about and thinking about this messy problem of pain, I have concluded that the key word is not causation - the first question that occurs to one who suffers - but rather redemption. Senseless pain offers us little. But redemptive suffering, whether that absorbed by Christ in the reconciliation of he world or that ultimately accepted by such persons as Job and Jeremiah and Paul, can ignite the world. God took the Great Pain of his own Son's death and used it to blot up into himself all the minor pains of our confinement on earth. It doesn't seem like impotence to me.

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Philip Yancey is a CHRISTIANITY TODAY editor at large.

Unless you live in a college dorm or on a farm, you probably don't fear the destructive onslaught of creepy, crawly insect plagues like those experienced in the Old Testament.

But author Jan Coleman says people should fear what the Old Testament plague of locusts symbolized -- loss and destruction -- because it is everywhere in today's society.

"More than ever we're seeing broken lives, and the Christian church is really having the same problems -- even more so -- than the world," said Coleman. In her book, which is based on the Book of Joel, Coleman looks for the good in the crises life hands them. Highlighting the destruction caused by locusts, Coleman mixes the Old Testament narrative with contemporary stories from women who have dealt with pain and loss.

"The message of the book is that we will all face loss. We will all make mistakes that we think are irreversible, but that God will use that not only for our good, but for the good of those who come after us," said Coleman, who lives in northern California.

"Throughout history, not only in the Book of Joel, but in the women's lives that I highlight in the book, the message is that God -- in unexpected and surprising ways -- has restored the years and paid back for the losses."

In the book, Coleman includes some of her own experiences as a child, then wife and mother woven into the stories of other women.

"Each of the stories really examines a different situation and a different response to loss and what they feel are wasted years" -- stories that "can really touch a broad number of people," Coleman said.

She said the women she writes about are "women who came into my life as God took me through my own process. So they were inspirations to me, and I pass down their stories to be encouragement to others."

Loss and grief are an integral part of life that shouldn't be ignored or simply pushed aside, Coleman said, so she urges people to be honest about their pain and sorrow.

"In faith, know that God is going to use this in a mighty and powerful way, and even though you still feel the pain, feel it in an honest way," Coleman said.

"After the Locusts" isn't a self-help book or a magic antidote to help people deal with their pain, she said. It is a book about learning to understand the overwhelming power of God's love and restoration.

"Just walk with God and let him walk beside you as you go through this, because he wants to partner with you," Coleman said. "We're not alone, but he's not going to be up there with any magic dust either. It's a partnership. ...

"We need to get back to the biblical response to life, and we need to look at teachings of Joel and Jesus. We need to have a faith that the Lord is going to make something rich and beautiful. He makes beauty out of ashes."

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments.

Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semifinals at Barcelona. He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events:

As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,”’ he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” said Derek. “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.” And they did. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept. Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

That’s what God does for us. When we are experiencing pain and we’re struggling to finish the race, we can be confident that we have a loving Father who won’t let us do it alone. He left His place in heaven to come alongside us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. “I am with you always,” says Jesus, “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Forensic evidence: How many times has it helped solve a medical mystery -- determining how someone really died?

Well, Lee Strobel covered many trials during his journalism career where a jury's decision hung on the medical evidence. So, was it possible, he wondered, to examine 2,000-year-old medical evidence and determine if Jesus really died on the cross?

If so, science could deliver a knockout blow to one of the most persistent claims against Christianity: that the resurrection of Christ, which we celebrated yesterday, was really just a hoax.

For expert opinion, Strobel went to Dr. Alexander Metherell, a research scientist. Metherell had studied the medical data concerning Christ's death, and he's convinced there's no way anyone could have survived what the Romans put him through.

First, there was the flogging. Soldiers used whips of braided leather thongs. The metal balls woven into the lash caused deep bruises, which broke open during the torture. Often the victim's back, in such a beating, was so shredded that his spine was exposed.

Those who didn't die from the flogging went into hypovolemic shock, brought on by blood loss. There would be a loss of blood pressure, leading to faintness and collapse. And the loss of fluids would result in tremendous thirst.

The gospels indicate that Jesus was in shock as he carried his cross to Calvary: He collapsed in the road, and Simon of Cyrene had to carry the cross for him. Later, Jesus said, "I thirst."

And then there was the agony of the crucifixion itself. The Romans drove spikes through the wrists and feet of Jesus -- spikes that traveled through the median nerves. This caused such enormous pain that a new word was invented to describe it: "excruciating." The word literally means "out of the cross."

Metherell believes that Jesus, like other crucifixion victims, eventually died of asphyxiation. The stresses on the muscles and diaphragm put the chest in the inhaled position; in order to exhale, the victim had to push up on his feet to ease the tension in the muscles for just a moment. It would be enormously painful, and exhaustion would eventually set in.

As his breathing slowed, the victim would go into respiratory acidosis, leading to an irregular heartbeat and eventual cardiac arrest. Then, in the case of Jesus, to ensure that he was dead, a Roman soldier thrust a spear into his side.

The flogging, the massive blood loss, the shock, the crucifixion, the stabbing: Could Jesus have suffered all this and survived?

Not a chance, Metherell told Strobel. Besides, Roman soldiers had good reason to make certain Jesus was dead: Had he survived, they, themselves, would have been executed.

In the weeks before and after Easter, we often see the usual spate of articles by so-called experts claiming that Jesus didn't really die on the cross -- and, thus, is not the Son of God.

If your friends mention these articles, explain that forensic science goes a long way in disproving these ideas. And give them a copy of Strobel's book, The Case for Christ. The better the science the greater the support for what Christians have long believed in faith: that love drove Jesus to willingly endure an excruciating death -- so that you and I might live.

_____________________

For further reference:

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998.

_____________________

Copyright (c) 1999 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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(Excerpt from article) Not such a pain in the gut: Thanks to laparoscopy, appendicitis is less of an ordeal.

Two games into the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs against Boston, Patrick Roy, the near-godlike Montreal Canadiens goaltender, refused to have surgery for an inflamed appendix. He insisted on playing against the Bruins. So team doctors gave him massive doses of antibiotics, closely monitored his condition, and allowed him to play after missing Game 3.

Roy came back in spectacular fashion in Games 4 and 5, stopping 99 of 102 shots thrown at him in two Montreal wins. He was shaky, however, in the seventh game, which the Bruins won to eliminate the Canadiens. Three days later, Roy succumbed to the pain and had an appendectomy, the most common of all abdominal surgeries.

Today, Roy could have been in and out of hospital in a day, and back on the ice shortly after, with laparoscopic surgery, a less invasive procedure that is becoming more widely used for appendicitis. Recovery times are much quicker for this technique, which has grown in popularity for appendix removal over the last two to three years.

When you hear a helicopter going over, you probably look up; I know I do. But it's probably not a major emotional experience for you. It is for Megan's Dad. She told me she and her Dad were outside recently when a chopper flew over. In her words, "My Dad suddenly hit the deck." In other words, he just instinctively fell to the ground. Now, you know you could look at that reaction and say, "Uh, is he a little strange, or what?" No, he isn't strange. He's a Vietnam Veteran. Obviously, Megan was really surprised by her father's unusual behavior. So she said, "What's wrong, Dad?' He said, "It's just part of post-Vietnam trauma. When I hear a chopper, it just triggers something inside. I'm suddenly in combat again." Now Megan understands.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Wound Underneath."

That father's hard-to-explain behavior is because of some of the battles in his past. He's not the only one. It may be some past battles that help explain what's behind the actions and attitudes of someone you're having a hard time dealing with.

Jesus, of course, knew that, and He had the wonderful ability to look beyond the deeds of a person to their needs. It's an outlook He wants you and me to have, too. Now our word for today from the Word of God begins in Luke 18:35. "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' He called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him." What follows is the miraculous healing of this blind man. And Luke concludes, "When all the people saw it, they also praised God."

Now to the folks in Jericho that day, this blind man was a noisy, stubborn nuisance. They want to make a good impression on Jesus, and here's this man screaming obnoxiously. The people see nuisance - Jesus sees need. He knows that behind those screams is a man with a desperate need. And the man everybody else is trying to shut up, Jesus stops for, responds to, reached out to.

When you try see the need behind someone's deed, it change the way you treat that person. Like Megan. She could understand and even sympathize with her Dad's dramatic reaction to the chopper overhead when she knew the pain in his past that made him react that way.

There's probably someone in your world who needs that kind of understanding from you right now. It may be someone who has hurt you deeply, mistreated you, used you, even attacked you. You may be increasingly annoyed or irritated or angry with someone whose attitude or actions or approach really rub you the wrong way. But there's a good chance there's pain underneath the way they are. Past battles that have almost programmed them to respond in a way that they think will protect them from more pain.

Sometimes when people are bleeding emotionally, they bleed on us. If that person was injured in front of your house and physically bleeding, you'd respond with compassion and you'd do all you could to stop the bleeding. I don't think you'd get angry with them for getting blood on you. Now it may be that they're bleeding emotionally from past wounds - and they don't need one more person who wounds them even though their behavior seems to invite a pretty harsh response.

When you try understand the needs behind their deeds, you can finally respond as Jesus told us to: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke 6:27-28) That person you struggle with doesn't need any more wounds - they need someone who will, in Jesus' love, help heal those wounds.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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In the film, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, the character played by Woody Allen tries to tell his Jewish parents that he has difficulty believing in the God of their faith. His mother won't hear such nonsense and locks herself in the bathroom. Allen's character shouts after her, “Well, if there's a God, then why is there so much evil in the world? Just on a simplistic level, why were there Nazis?” From behind the bathroom door the mother cries out to her husband, “Tell him, Max.” The father replies, “How in the world do I know why there were Nazis? I don’t even know how the can opener works!”

Evil confronts us in many ways, and demands some kind of an answer. Regardless of whether we believe God exists, that we are god, that everything is god, or that there is no god, some kind of answer is needed. To the Christian, the question is posed in light of the view of God that is presented in the Bible, but all beliefs and everyone has to come up with some kind of explanation. The problem of evil demands some kind of philosophical response but also one that satisfies us existentially.

It has been fashionable of late to reject any and all notions of truth in place of taste and perspective. Reality is merely what one clams it to be. Truth is merely as we see it, or as it is socially constructed. But even when posing the oft-asked questions, “Where was God when such and such an event happened?” or “Why did God allow it to happen?” some knowledge of what life is about is presupposed. Moreover, positing the questions of God's involvement and whereabouts in the midst of evil presupposes some sense and notion of good.

But where does this notion come from? As the Twin Towers fell in New York City, many of the same voices that days earlier claimed the moral equivalence of all views and that no belief was better than another, suddenly seemed compelled to invoke evil as real, as different from something else, and that something called the “good” was both better and to be defended.

The biblical vision captured in the Westminster Confession in 1646 claims: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” To most modern people, the chief end of life is to provide freedom and as much pleasure as we can get, forever. Interestingly, as we look back through the history of ideas, the question, “Where is God when it hurts” was not asked before the 17th century. The inquiry has a late pedigree in our making man the center and measure of all things in our considerations.

The Bible clears up any ambiguity about who we are, who God is, what is wrong with the world, and what can be done. The possibility of freely chosen love means allowing conditions that permit freely chosen rejection, evil, or alternatives. Our lack of interest in God and our self-assured confidence excludes any normal or routine reflection on life. For many of us, pain is the platform from which the imperative questions of life are asked and answered. C.S. Lewis put it this way, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

The question of God's presence in the midst of evil is answered in the silhouette at the heart of a different question: WHERE WAS GOD AT THE CRUX OF HUMAN HISTORY? As the disciples' gazed at the Cross, their expectations were dashed, their hopes shattered, and they could not see God in the midst of the turning point of history. But at the Cross, what men at first could not see was the triumph of good over evil.

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Copyright © 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #10147]

Is a hammer a good thing or a bad thing? I guess it depends on whose hands the hammer is in. If you put a hammer in the hands of our little grandson and turn him loose, you're not going to like the results. He's probably going to do some damage with that thing! But I've watched that same kind of hammer do some really good things in the hands of some skilled workmen - of which I am not one. At our home, at our office, I've seen a hammer used to build some things that are really useful. That same hammer in a child's hands, though ... look out!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Hammer In God's Hands."

Suffering, pain, hardship, heartache - those are some of life's hammers. You may feel like one of those hammers has been beating on you lately. What you may not realize is who's holding that hammer - and what He's trying to do with it.

It was something the prophet Jonah figured out in the belly of a great fish. You remember the story - Jonah had been called by God to deliver God's message to the evil city of Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to. He tried to run from God - actually a whimsical thought if you consider it for very long - by getting on a ship to a faraway place. A violent storm engulfed that ship, endangering the lives of everybody on board. Jonah knew that storm was for him, and he urged the sailors to throw him overboard so they could be saved. As he hit the water, he was scooped up and swallowed by what the Bible calls a "great fish."

Miraculously preserved in the belly of that beast, Jonah "prayed to the Lord his God," the Bible says. His prayer is perceptive - and it's our word for today from the Word of God in Jonah 2, beginning with verse 2. "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave, I called for help, and You listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep (notice - not the sailors, but You, Lord), into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all Your waves and breakers swept over me." Notice here, Jonah looks beyond what people did to him and what the weather did to Him and he sees that those were just hammers in God's hand - not to destroy him but to build him into what he needed to be.

The hammer that hits us in our life can either break us or build us. If we will turn to God when we're getting hit, looking for His purposes and His message, that hammer can build us into something we never were before. If we don't turn to God when we feel the hammer blows, we'll get the pain but not the point. Ultimately, the suffering that we face is not from those people, or that condition, or the economy, or that situation that seems to be hurting us - it has either been sent by God or allowed by God, and He loves you enough to have His Son die for you.

Like Jonah, God may be using your storm to bring you back to some promises you made to God - promises you haven't kept. You told Him you'd go "anywhere" for Him, but you haven't. You made promises about your priorities (remember?), your family, your giving, your service to Him - but you've drifted from those promises. Maybe you told God you would abandon some sinful ways, but your repentance has lapsed - you're drifting back to the old you.

But God is pounding on you with His loving hammer, trying to use this storm to wake you up and bring you back. It's taking this pounding to get your attention. C. S. Lewis had it right: "God whispers in our pleasure, but He shouts in our pain." These hits are, in the words of Psalm 148:8, "stormy winds that do His bidding." Their purpose is not to hurt you, but to heal you - not to wreck you, but to restore you. The storm isn't to blow you away - it's to blow you into God's arms!

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

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If my days were untroubled and my heart always light,

would I seek that fair land where there is no night?

If I never grew weary with the weight of my load,

would I search for Gods peace at the end of the road?

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain,

would I search for a hand to help and sustain?

If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss,

would my soul seek solace at the foot of the cross?

If all I desired was mine day by day,

would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear,

would I yearn for the warmth of Spring every year?

I ask myself these and the answer is plain,

if my life were pleasure and I never knew pain

I’d seek God less often and need Him much less,

for God is sought more often in times of distress.

And no one knows God or sees Him as plain

as those who have met Him on the “Pathway of Pain”.

In a picturesque Swiss village full of tourists, hotels, and restaurants, a 21-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with undiagnosed stomach pain. Twenty-four hours later she was dead of a highly unusual infection.

Her parents had never shown much evidence of faith, attending church only at Christmas and Easter or for weddings and funerals. After her death, they were bitter. “We can’t believe in God,” they said. “No good God could ever permit this to happen.”

Well-meaning comforters offered remarks that were true enough but hardly a consolation: “At least she went quickly. It could have been cancer.” “Remember the bus full of children that fell into the ravine.” “A hundred years ago one child in four died before age 5.” “At least you still have another child.”

The organist at the village church was gruff: “They ought to have thought of God sooner.”

AN INTUITIVE AWARENESS

In a day when many people never think of God except to blame Him when things go wrong, the organist’s comment does make some sense. If we have not paid enough attention to God to know and trust Him, we really do not know to whom to complain — or whether we are entitled to complain.

The fact that most people do complain after tragedy shows that they have at least an intuitive awareness of God. If there were no Creator and no divine purpose to life, the sudden death of a young woman would not be the least bit surprising. If the cosmos were the blind product of “chance and necessity,” to use the words of one Nobel Prize winner, the late biochemist Jacques Monod, then the universe would be both mindless and heartless. Whatever happens, simply happens. There is no one to blame, no one to whom to appeal for relief, and nothing to be surprised about. Heartless affliction is just what we ought to expect.

The reason people cry out, as these bereaved parents did, is because in our innermost thoughts we do not really believe the universe is blind. We sense there really is a Creator. In addition, we think of ourselves as decent and deserving — so we blame the Creator for not treating us fairly. “God is not fair to me, so I refuse to acknowledge Him.”

Unfortunately, an unfocused, intuitive awareness of God, without knowing Him personally, leaves us totally bewildered by and unprepared for the suffering of this world.

TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD

When people do know and trust God, the problem of pain and evil does not disappear. At first it may be harder to handle. “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,” the apostle wrote (Rom. 8:28 nasb). If this promise does not directly apply to those who ignore God, what of those who do love Him, who serve Him faithfully, who in every way exemplify what Christians ought to be and do?

Sometimes it helps to think of what we learn through suffering. Even Jesus “learned obedience from what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). But what do we learn through drawn-out, apparently pointless suffering at the end of life? What about the beloved seminary professor who contracted cancer and died after months of intense suffering? What did he learn by it, or his loved ones who watched his agony?

THE ABUSE OF FREEDOM

Philosophers and theologians refer to “the problem of evil.” Many books have been written in an effort to explain how evil can be so present and powerful in a world created by a good and omnipotent God. It would be foolish to attempt a thorough answer in these two pages, but it is possible to lay down some helpful guidelines. The two key words are freedom and Satan.

God’s Word tells us that He created the world good, but because of man’s rebellion — the Fall — it is now in an unnatural, distorted condition. Our guilty abuse of freedom has blighted it. Much if not all of the evil that we encounter, from AIDS to genocide, is attributable to this abuse of human freedom. Human evil, both individual and collective, casts long shadows and afflicts countless people who had nothing to do with causing the evil, or who may even have resisted it.

Much has been made of the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke; there is even greater danger from what we might call secondhand sin. A careful driver can be killed in an accident caused by a drunk. A chaste adult can contract AIDS from a blood transfusion. In such cases, although the immediate victim did not sin, someone else’s abuse of freedom set the deadly chain of events in motion.

Many diseases, such as most cancers, can strike without warning and without any direct link to behavior. But if we look further into the past, we see that some sin somewhere, or many sins in many places, is the root cause. Because of Adam’s sin, and all the other sins of history, the human body and psyche are vulnerable. We cannot always avoid the consequences of evil.

THE REALITY OF SATAN

Human sin by itself explains much. But the power of evil and the way it strikes the “undeserving,” even those who sincerely trust God and try to live as He would have them live, requires a fuller explanation. The answer lies in the reality of Satan — a real and powerful adversary, one who is determined to do us as much harm as he can. Though he cannot ultimately separate believers from the love of God, he will hurt us as much as he can.

Our fallen world “lieth in wickedness,” the King James Version explains (1 John 5:19). Some modern translations personalize the text: “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (niv). Satan’s final defeat is certain, but he still has tremendous power. He uses it against the unconverted to keep them as far as possible from faith, striking at their vulnerability and seeking to make them blame God for their hurts.

People such as the bereaved couple mentioned above are sometimes easy prey. If they knew the Scriptures, “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 nkjv), they could more easily find the way out of bitterness to faith. But even those who know the Bible and seek to walk by faith are not beyond Satan’s attacks. Satan will do all he can to make us doubt God’s love and drive us to disillusionment, depression, and if possible, despair.

PAIN IN PERSPECTIVE

The Christian life is often filled with evidence of God’s grace, love, and mercy, but sometimes the evidence is not so clear. Though we can experience great joy in serving God, this does not eliminate the potential for sorrow. Jesus warned, “In the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33). Hardly anyone experiences a completely healthy and harmonious life. And except for those still living when Christ returns, we will all have to spend time in the dark valley of the shadow of death.

The scope of human sin from Adam to the present, the pain it caused and continues to cause, is an incredible burden. As the Lutheran theologian Paul Althaus expressed it, the burden would be too much to bear except for two world-transforming facts: first, the victory Christ won on the cross over Satan and sin; second, His impending return in glory. These truths do not solve the problem of evil or answer all of the questions it forces on us here in time, but they do put everything into perspective. Philosophers and theologians can help us deal with the problem of evil, but the ultimate answer will come only when “God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes” (Rev. 7:17).

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Dr. Brown is professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois) and director of the Rockford Institute Center on Religion and Society.