A Faith Made Complete

Sometimes life is great. We are blessed abundantly to live in peace with our neighbors, our health and the health of our families are of no immediate concern, bills get paid on time and the baseball team of our choice is on a winning streak. The sun feels a little warmer and the birds sing a little more sweetly when this is our situation it seems. How easy it is to feel the love of God raining down on us from heaven! To anyone who wasn’t born yesterday though, it is obvious that life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. Real life is hard. There are times like those stated above, but there are dark times too. Solomon mused that “there is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”. Among these are “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Eccl. 3:1, 4) In these verses are both encouragement and warning. If you are going through hard times, they won’t last! They have their season, but the next season has also been appointed. In the same breath Solomon’s words warn that if things are easy, don’t get too comfortable! Enjoy the times of peace and ease, but prepare for things to go wrong as well. Through all of this, the conclusion of Solomon’s quest for meaning must be held at the center. “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say ‘I have no pleasure in them.’” (Eccl. 12:1) When you are young and life is easy is the time to serve God fervently and with zeal! Pour your energy into His service while you still have energy left! Also, says Solomon, “Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” It is clear throughout the whole book that all is vanity, save for the remembrance of God throughout all of one’s life- when it is easy and when it is hard. The conclusion of the wise king is this: “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl. 12:13). 

Following the commandments of God when things are going well is really hard for some people. It becomes difficult for us to realize our dependence on God for every little thing that we need in life. It becomes too easy for us to begin to take credit for the things that God allows and enables us to be and to do. Arrogance, pride, selfishness, materialism, ingratitude and self-righteousness all stem from a failure to recognize the origin of life’s blessings. 

Conversely, following the commandments of God during hard times is also hard for some people. It becomes easy to blame God for our misfortune, to give up our effort to serve Him because of difficulty for fear of failure, to wallow in our own self pity rather than count it as joy to endure our trials (Jas. 1:12). Bitterness, jealousy, wrathfulness, doubtings, and blasphemy can all stem from a failure to rely on God during the lows of life. 

It is so interesting to me that so many thousands of volumes of books and hundreds of years of religious philosophy (what an oxymoron) have been dedicated to answering what is commonly called the theodicy question. This question, which will never be answered while relying on the finite and fickle wisdom of men, deals with how a God who is all powerful, all knowing, and all good can allow evil to exist on the earth. Furthermore, how can He allow evil to happen to righteous people? If you aren’t willing to look honestly for the answer in inspired literature, attempting to answer might drive you insane. Thankfully, God explains it for those willing to study with an open heart. 

Suffering is a common theme throughout the Bible. From Old Testament slavery and exile, to the persecutions of Christians in the New Testament, to the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that cruel instrument of torture and death for the sake of all humanity, times of pain and anguish don’t just show purpose- they show promise as well. 

Psalm 22

In the Psalms, the Holy Spirit clearly utilizes the raw human emotions of the writers. Often the pain, fear and stress of the writer is tangible through the inspired words. God does not make mistakes. Every word and sentiment expressed within the psalms is there for a reason, and in many cases one of those reasons is to address the issues that arise because of life’s difficulties and the emotions attached. 

Psalm 22 is one such psalm. It clearly is prophetic in nature, pointing towards the pains and emotions experienced by Christ upon His death. In fact, Christ even quoted verse one of this psalm as He hung on the cross (Mt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1). However, the same concepts and experiences also clearly apply to David, the man who penned the words, exposing an obviously typical/atypical relationship between the two. The first two verses read: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.” It is clear that the author feels as though God has left him. Emotionally, this is something all of us may encounter during times of grief and distress- even if intellectually we understand that the only thing that can separate us from God is our own sin. When prayers seem unanswered and Divine help seems so far away, the Holy Spirit through the psalmist recognizes the reality of human emotions leading us down that dark path. Yet, He continues: “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in You and were not ashamed.” While David may have felt abandoned by God he recognized the blessings that were given to his patient ancestors. While in many cases it took long stretches of time for God’s promises to be fulfilled, every detail of His dealings with His people was according to His word (Ex: Joshua 21:43-45). We serve a trustworthy God! History proves His character. 

While David recognized God’s trustworthy attributes, he still did not feel heard by his Sovereign or by his fellow man. “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see me ridicule me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue him; let Him deliver him since he delights in Him!’” David’s peers are of no help to him in his time of need. It may even seem as though it is his faith in God that is causing other men to refrain from helping him. Following the logic of Job’s friends they may think that David is unworthy of help, or at the very least that it is not their responsibility to aid him in place of the Almighty. The tone is somewhat mocking in nature, as if to say “David has had faith, let us see whether or not it is rightly placed”; both mocking David and blaspheming God. Though David feels abandoned both by God and by men, he recognizes not only the fidelity of God in His relationship with David’s ancestors, but with David himself. “But You are He who took me out of the womb; You made me trust while still on my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From my mother’s womb You have been my God.” David understands that the only reason he has made it this far is due to God’s guidance and blessing. He knows, as did Peter in John 6:68, that no matter how hard it is to do what is right, there is nowhere else to go for the answers of life than to God. 

And so, David makes his plea. “Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.” He describes just how dire his situation has become. “Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws; You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have encircled me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet; I count all my bones, they look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.” Clearly, the writer’s situation is desperate. Even though the slightly accusatory line “You have delivered me to the dust of death” is included, David still recognizes his dependence on God. His plea continues: “But You, oh Lord, do not be far from me; oh my Strength, hasten to help me! Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen!” 

Finally, a new section of the psalm is introduced. It begins, “You have answered me.” The remainder of the psalm is proclaiming praise to Jehovah for answered prayers, for now David understands that “He has not despised or abhorred the afflictions of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.” The psalm ends with the observation that the author’s experience will be used by future generations in the same way that David had earlier used the experience of his fathers. “A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.” 

What we learn from this psalm is that in the moments when it feels as though God has abandoned us, He still sees and hears and cares. He will answer us in His time. However, we are still left with the question of why this evil was allowed to happen to the righteous David in the first place (if indeed he did not bring his affliction upon himself in this case). The question of why bad things happen to good people while evil people prosper is not a new quandary. In fact, it is clearly addressed in another psalm. 

Psalm 73

This issue has caused the faith of men to falter for thousands of years. In Psalm 73, Asaph begins by saying that his “feet had almost stumbled; his feet had nearly slipped, for he was envious of the boastful when he saw the prosperity of the wicked.” When we are going through difficult times through no fault of our own, it is easy to compare our lives to others and in so doing, doubt the workings of God. In the context of our “theodicy question” such an experience may cause one to doubt either the power of God or the goodness of God. Of course these doubtings are irrational, but sometimes emotional times cause people to throw reason out the window. Such seems to be the case with Asaph, a chosen vessel of the words of God. He expounds upon his conundrum in speaking of the wealthy wicked: “there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as are other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than the heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore, his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?’ Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches.” Despite all the wickedness of these evil men- how they speak loftily and abuse resources and blaspheme, how they walk in pride and violence with no regard to those who suffer at their hand- still they increase in their abundant wealth and they live and die in comfort. A quick observation of these truths leads Asaph to question the worth of his faith. “Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.” If it profits so much to be wicked, why would anyone want to be righteous and suffer!? Who wouldn’t want a life of ease and a painless death while benefiting from the labor of others, bereft of any burdens brought on by compassionate empathy for their plight! It sounds pretty good to the oppressed soul who is desperate for relief, but Asaph continues, “If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me- until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.” Asaph came to the understanding that things were not as they seemed. While his times of distress were happening, it seemed as though God was unjust in His dealings with men, but when Asaph drew near to God and approached His presence, he learned the true end of the path of wickedness. “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.” God is faithful to reward the righteous and punish the wicked, and looking back on his questioning the balance of God’s scales of justice, Asaph says “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.” What Asaph’s experience gained for him was knowledge and trust in the faithfulness and honesty of God. Where he once had doubt, after his observations of the end of the wicked he writes, “I am continually with You. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me in Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and portion forever.” In this psalm we begin to get a glimpse of the answers we are looking for. From the previous psalm, we know that God hears the cry of the oppressed even when it seems He does not. From this psalm, we understand that while it may appear that the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, the end of the former is far worse than that of the latter. We also can observe that as a result of Asaph’s observations, he drew nearer to God. He concludes: “Those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.” Asaph learned through his adversity and testifies to us that the proverb rings true: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways though he be rich” (Pro. 28:6). 

Psalm 119:65-72

We see this further flushed out in Psalm 119. This particular section, it is my opinion, was penned in the context of reflecting on past suffering. It begins in a way one may not expect: “You have dealt well with Your servant.” None of us want to go through hard times! However, when we look back on the difficulties of our past we can see how they built us into the people we are in the present, and even how we can use the lessons we learned in our adversity to better ourselves in the future. Sometimes, going through bad things is good for us. That is a difficult thing for us to accept when we are in the thick of it. The psalmist continues: “Teach me good judgement and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes… It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” This passage lays out the purpose of suffering for us very plainly. Difficult times are opportunities for us to draw closer to God. It is not supposed to be an easy thing for us to do, and oftentimes it is even a difficult thing for us to accept. It certainly isn’t something we look forward to. James writes “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3). The word joy definitely does not describe the emotion that we have when we encounter intense loss or hardship, rather it describes the attitude that we should have towards our discipline (which I think is an appropriate way to view suffering knowing that the end goal is to be better servants who are closer to God), knowing that in the end it will be good for us (whether we can understand that in the present time or not). This section of Psalm 119 concludes: “the law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.” This statement recognizes that a life of comfort that does not increase relationship with God is far less valuable than a life of suffering that ends in harmony with Him. 

Hebrews

The Hebrew writer understood this clearly. In the latter part of Hebrews 11, after the “Hall of Faith”,  we are told of those who may seem to the drive-by reader to be the “honorable mentions”- those whose names are either briefly mentioned or not mentioned at all. Of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, David, Samuel and the prophets it is said that they “through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens.” 

“Others,” those nameless heroes of the faith, “were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might attain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.” Hardly “honorable mention” material if you ask me… 

All of these spiritual giants were as those in the former part of the chapter who “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth” (11:13). They, who lived and died before the coming of the Messiah, “having obtained a good testimony by faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us”. 

That section of Hebrews always gives me chills. To think of the conviction and trust necessary to endure such pains and stresses has always been astonishing to me. I always thought that was the whole point of the passage. That is, until I realized that the giant twelve marking the beginning of the next chapter was added in by men, not by God. The thought continues: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Because of the examples that we have in our faithful forefathers, we should look to how they suffered and where it got them, ridding ourselves of sins and other burdens that hinder our growth and enduring the punches that Satan flings our way. These are excellent examples for us in how to suffer, but we have One greater. As we are enduring the race of life with gasping lungs and weary joints, we are to do so while “looking unto Jesus,” the Ultimate Example of suffering righteously, “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.” When we observe the way in which Christ suffered righteously, “enduring such hostility from sinners against Himself”, we may find comfort, “lest we become weary and discouraged in [our] souls.” 

For most of us, we have not yet “resisted to bloodshed”, as Christ and the aforementioned faithful have. And yet, so often, we like the ones to whom the Hebrew author is writing, “have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to [us] as sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” Often when we read this passage, we think of the traditional chastening with which we have been chastened by our own physical parents. We may think of being put in time-out, washing our mouths out with soap… maybe even receiving a swat or, if we really messed up, going out in the woods to cut our own switch. The word that is used here to describe the Lord’s chastening is scourge. During the context of the Roman Empire, this meant being stripped, tied to a post and flogged with a whip. This may seem to be pretty severe in the context of Hebrews 12… but I think that’s the point. Sometimes the experiences that cause us to draw near to God are severe, and sometimes they hurt. Sometimes we need pain (be it physical, emotional or otherwise) to make the realization that we need spiritual healing. All of these horrible things that we must endure, though, are “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” The value of physical comfort means literally nothing compared to spiritual peace. Paul wrote that he “count[ed] all things as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Phil. 3:8). The idea of suffering the loss of all things may be painful, but compared to being found in Christ Paul assesses the value of those things as garbage. “No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” 

Job

The most common place preachers go to talk about suffering is to the book of Job. There is a lot we can learn about righteous suffering from this “blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). Job, however, can be a confusing book. People tend to really focus on the beginning of the book, skim over the middle section, and try to tie a nice bow on the end. I think we lose a big part of the moral of the story when this is our approach. 

Job was a man of great wealth and influence. He had enormous herds of livestock and beasts of burden (sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys) and a very large household that must have included many servants so that this man was the “greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). Satan accuses God of protecting Job, having “set a hedge around him” and this being the reason that the man is so upright and pious. God then, in answer to Satan’s challenge, lifts His protection of Job, giving Satan the ability to afflict him in order to convince him to renounce his faith. Upon the loss of all of his herds and most of his servants, and upon the news of the deaths of all of his children and their families, the reaction of Job is that he “arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped, saying: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this, Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with any wrong” (Job 1:20-22). Following this, Satan robs Job of his health, causing painful boils to appear on his skin “from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). Job is cast down from what was probably a lofty social status, sitting in ashes and using a potsherd to scrape his boils (Job 2:8). His relationship with his wife (who also shared in all of his trauma) got to the point where she even told him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Job’s response to all of this came from a place of great humility: “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). 

As news eventually spread of Job’s adversity, his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to comfort him. Such was the condition of Job when they arrived that they could not even recognize him, and while their mission in travel had been to console their friend, they resigned to sit in silence for a week as they observed that the grief of their friend was very great (Job 2:13). 

Chapter 3 of Job is a brokenhearted speech from Job that betrays the severity of his mental state. He curses the day of his birth (3:1) and wishes that he was stillborn. He “longs for death, but it does not come” (3:21). All of the comfort of his life has been lost. His “sighings come before he eats and his groanings pour out like water” (3:24). Throughout the entire book, Job’s friends who came to comfort him prove to be their own kind of plague to him. They are masters at over-applying general truths, of listening to reply rather than hear, and of presuming to know things that have not been revealed to them. Job laments in chapter 7 that his suffering is comfortless. He lives his days without hope and is convinced that his eyes will never again see anything that is good. Chapters 9 and 10 are spent by Job humbling himself and pleading for repose. He examines himself and the distance between himself and God. He states that “If I am wicked, woe to me; even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace. See my misery!” (Job 10:15). In chapters 12 and 13 Job defends the claims made by his friends that his suffering is due to his own iniquity. At the end of chapter 12, he attributes the cause of his suffering to God and pleads “withdraw Your hand far from me, and let not the dread of You make me afraid.” Throughout the book, the reader can see the mental state of Job begin to devolve as his friends sling presumptuous accusations and useless platitudes at him, in their mind, to “help”. In chapter 19, Job reveals a glimmer of hope in the midst of another speech about hopelessness. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27). This, I believe, is foreshadowing of what true application is to come from the book. 

Oftentimes, the application that people tend to make from the suffering of Job is that God rewarded him materially for his patient endurance. God “restored Job’s losses… indeed the Lord gave twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). God restored Job’s social status, and all his former acquaintances came to comfort him and each paid him a piece of silver and a ring of gold. “The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning… he also had seven sons and three daughters… in all the land there were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job” (Job 42:12-15). God blessed Job with long life to spend watching his descendents grow. “After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So, Job died old and full of days.” 

So the moral of the story is be faithful through suffering and God will give you stuff? I have never been able to accept that conclusion. The false gospel of health and wealth has ingrained the value of material things so deeply into our cultural mindset that it causes us to skip over some important holes in that narrative. When it says that Job was blessed materially, it is true. God blessed him with riches and status and children, and this may be seen as part of his reward… or perhaps even as recompense. However, when it says that Job died old and full of days, I have to imagine that he did so with a hole in his heart that never fully healed, because he had suffered the loss of TEN children. The loss of even one child is catastrophic to a parent; Job suffered the loss of ten. Sure, he was blessed with ten more… but losing a kid isn’t like losing a hamster where you can go to PetSmart and buy one that looks just like it and name it the same name. If the replacement of Job’s losses is the summary of his faithfulness and the fulfillment of his hope, then suffering doesn’t have much meaning beyond material gain. 

Too often we skip the first half of that chapter when Job concedes to God: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said ‘I will question You, and you shall answer Me.’ ****I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You**** (remember 19:25) Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6). 

This, I believe, brings us to a complete understanding of the purpose of suffering. While we can have an intellectual understanding of God’s mercy and goodness while things are going well, we must walk through the valley of despair to appreciate and fully grasp the compassion of the Lord. “You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and seen the end intended by the Lord- that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).  It is through hard experience that our faith may become as full as Job’s, that we, like him, can say “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.”