The disciples of Jesus were routinely surrounded by suffering. It came with the territory. To follow Jesus is to walk straight to the bedsides of the sick, dying, and recently deceased. It is to be surrounded by “those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics” (Matt. 4:24). Even walking around town, they couldn’t help but notice pain: “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (John 9:1-2). It was common to view human suffering as the result of human sin – and that hasn’t changed much, has it?
When confronted with pain, we often wonder, “Who is to blame?” We blame ourselves: if we had only done something differently. We blame others: if the doctor had done this or the government that, things would have changed. Sometimes we even blame the victim: when a smoker gets lung cancer, the cause-and-effect nature of it gives us (typically non-smokers) a small sense of control to think we will avoid similar misfortune if we do not make their same mistakes. Except it doesn’t work that way. “Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:3). Sometimes we take all the right steps…and we still suffer.
Just ask Job: he was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). Yet, he lost everything: his wealth, his servants, his children, his health…even the respect of his wife and closest friends. For 42 chapters, God invites us to wrestle with who to blame for pain. While we glimpse Satan’s role as architect of Job’s pain from the start, Job himself seemingly never learns that. No, he learned something better: that God “can do all things, and that no purpose of [His] can be thwarted” – including His purpose to restore the sufferer (Job 42:1, 10). Just like Jesus taught by healing the man born blind.
We all will face pain. Yet, we see things differently when we are following Jesus through it. Instead of blaming God, we know “who has the power of death, that is, the devil” – and that Jesus destroyed that power through His own suffering and resurrection (Heb. 2:14-15). Instead of blaming ourselves or others, we know that “we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” – and that God provides what we need to stand strong (Eph. 6:10-20). This doesn’t prevent suffering; in fact, Jesus often leads us right into it. But then He stays with us in and works with us through the pain. Instead of pointing fingers, He anoints eyes – and God is glorified as we come back seeing.
Even in dark times of great suffering, God is working things out for good. Join us for Esther’s Missing God: Seeing Him in Dark Times at https://www.georgetownchurchofchrist.com/esthers-missing-god.