Richard Rohr: Job and the Mystery of Suffering (1996).
Jottings to ponder…
‘You’ve lost your child but he’s up in heaven now’ is a sufficient answer only if you haven’t lost a child. If we haven’t been there our reactions will be empty, academic.
There are two types of suffering (Carl Jung): little ego disappointments and annoyances (minor suffering) which prepare us for ‘great suffering’ (symbolized in mythology and scripture either by sword or blood). Job’s journey is through both types…
The poor/oppressed of the world are the majority: we (mostly better-fed) Westerners are the minority, and slow learners. The history of the 20th century – with its billion murder victims – has readied us again to learn from Job’s struggle and the passion of Jesus…
Since our Lord entered history, we mustn’t run from life into principles, theories, too-quick answers. If our God does not suffer, we’ll have a problem similar to Job’s. God gives us, not a strategy, but a promise: ‘I am with you’.
Harold Kushner’s excellent book When Bad Things Happen to Good People struggles to reconcile a good God with a seemingly evil world. The Book of Job proclaims that there is no correlation between sin and suffering, between virtue and reward. Job’s advisors want clarity and order; Job wants to meet God. A ‘scorekeeper’ God is retributive: God gets some kind of cosmic justice out of burning people. But mature faith has a quality of mystery and paradox about it. Job (probably fictional) is ‘Everyman’ (and he’s not even a Jew) who feared God and shunned evil. Satan is the ‘adversary’, our accuser. (But the OT assumes God is responsible for evil – hardening Pharaoh’s heart etc. Cf. Amos 3:6. ‘But I don’t believe “God creates evil†even though philosophers reckon it’s got to come from somewhere’). ÂÂ
How do we know ‘reality’? Holistically, putting things together (right brain)? Either/or analysis (left brain)? We need both a sense of order and of creativity. (But the Bible is more right-brain than left-brain).
For 37 chapters in Job God’s on the sidelines, saying nothing: our worst nightmare. The self-appointed messengers (the ‘three stooges’) try to take away mystery, ‘solve’ problems, constantly talk about God (but they’re not in love with God), appeal to tradition and law (merit/demerit systems which ask the wrong question like ‘who is at fault here?’ producing only ‘victims’ and ‘shame’ and ‘scapegoats’), and universalize from their own experience. They are ‘often right but utterly wrong’: offering conventional religious answers but refusing to struggle with the questions.  An emphasis on ‘theology’ rather than ‘spirituality’ won’t help us here. [And I noted that not once does the Augustinian notion of ‘Original Sin’ get a mention in Rohr’s book].
Job’s wife doesn’t understand ‘paschal mystery’ when she urges Job to curse God and die: life is a mixture of joy and sorrow: we must accept both together. And Job is not ‘Anglo-Saxon’: he’s not afraid to feel his feelings: emotions are neither right nor wrong. Job is willing to encounter reality in his head and heart and gut. (And when Richard’s not sure of his prayer, he uses other senses: writing it out in his journal, or praying it out loud). Job doesn’t want ‘answers’ but rather empathy. Job talks to God: the advisors only talk about God. When someone walks with us through the pain, it’s amazing how much easier it all is (many nonsuffering people think that just talking about it – or, worse, preaching – as Elihu does – solves it.).
In chapters 38 and 39 ‘Yahweh gives Job his answer’ but God doesn’t answer any of Job’s complaints. It is all questions. And yet Job – at last – responds positively, as if to say ‘It’s OK God. I don’t need the answers anymore. I love you Lord, and I know you love me! You are giving me you and that’s all I want.’ That’s all we need – communion with God who cares, and also suffers with us: who even allows us to struggle with him – and win! (Gen. 32:28). We hear God say ‘I believe in you. We’re in this together.’ With such reassurance we can carry on. Love beats a theology of retribution any time.  And there is no true knowledge without faith.
Evil and sin are real and painful (‘why is my life like this?’), but they are not decisive. That is what Christ came to teach us. Suffering is sharing in the passion of God. God suffers too, and when we are in pain we’re in solidarity with God.
 ‘I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES/ AND HE, AT LAST, WILL TAKE HIS STAND ON EARTH. AFTER MY AWAKING HE WILL SET ME CLOSE TO HIM, AND FROM MY FLESH I WILL LOOK ON GOD. HE… WILL TAKE MY PART: THESE EYES WILL GAZE ON HIM AND FIND HIM NOT ALOOF’ (Job 19:25-27).~~~
See also here for my summary-article on Suffering.ÂÂ
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WEDNESDAY KOINONIA: SUFFERING AND HEALING: ROWAN FORSTER’S QUESTIONS 27/6/2012
What are some of the things that “well-meaning” Christians should never, ever say to a fellow Christian in need of healing?
Why are some faith-filled, Spirit-filled, praying, fasting, tithing, obedient Christians not healed, while other, even less pious ones, are healed? Does God have favourites? With more prayer going for him than just about anyone in the history of Christendom, why wasn’t David Watson healed?
What do we imagine God’s criteria might be for whom He chooses to heal and whom He doesn’t?
If God is sovereign, and everything happens according to His will, including people not being healed, is there ever any point in praying for healing for anyone at all?
Matthew says Jesus healed every sickness and every disease, and when great crowds followed Him He healed them all. Clearly that doesn’t happen today. Given that Jesus is not physically present on earth, what sort of success rate can we reasonably expect in praying for healing today, compared with a percentage in the very high 90’s in Jesus’ day.
Is the gift of healing a Spiritual gift that is specially bestowed by God on only a limited number of Spirit-filled believers, or can we all pray for healing and believe that God will hear and answer us?
Paul had a thorn in the side that he prayed for God to remove, but to no avail. Could it be that some of our illnesses are sent by God to test our faith and build our Christian character? If so, would it be wrong to pray for the removal of a particular affliction in case it’s a heaven-sent one? If on the other hand it’s not heaven sent, how would we know the difference? How would we distinguish between divinely ordained afflictions we should stoically accept with forbearance and long-suffering; and non-divinely ordained afflictions which we should strongly resist in Jesus’ Name?
According to Psalm 139 and other passages, all the days (and presumably all the details) of our lives were pre-ordained. How do we understand the concept of pre-ordination or predestination in relation to the timing and the manner of death through illness or injury? [If I’m destined to die at 35, can I demand at least half a refund?]
Are there right and wrong methods of praying for healing? Is there a particular formula to follow that will work better than other patterns? Is it augmented by related components such as fasting and other spiritual disciplines? Is praying in tongues more efficacious than praying in English?
If we’re praying for someone’s healing, is it best not to tell them, lest this may give rise to either false hope, or some sense of obligation?
Is God less likely to heal people with self-inflicted diseases (eg tobacco related, alcohol related, drug related or obesity related) than He is to heal people who are ill through absolutely no fault of their own? [If not, He should be.]
Should we invite non-believers to believe in Jesus before we agree to pray for them?
I’m suffering from a really bad cold at the moment. One of the worst I’ve had. Should I waste God’s time on such a relatively trivial affliction, when he has the Rosie James’s of this world to contend with?
Some say death is the ultimate form of healing. Do you agree? If you do, I beseech you therefore brethren never to pray for my ultimate healing. Thankyou.
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SUFFERING takes many forms in the biblical stories – loss in battle, destruction of the nation, ravaging illnesses, premature death, great physical pain, rejection and loneliness, spiritual torment, disbelief about God’s goodness…
In the Creation stories God is good and powerful and just. God made a good world for humans to enjoy, but the man and woman must bear the responsibility for pain and suffering in the world.
Sin leads to suffering – and the hurt will be passed on to others (Ezk 18, Jer 31:29-30). The blessings and curses of Dt 27 and 28 indicate the connection between ethical or unethical behaviour and its consequences. The story of Achan (Josh 7) indicates than an individual’s sin has ripple effects bringing suffering to others. But the mystery remains: why should Manasseh, the worst king of all live a long and easy life, but the good king Josiah die a premature death? God ‘makes people deaf or dumb, seeing or blind’ he says to Moses (Ex 4:11) – so it’s not just human behaviour which causes pain… Ezk 18 and Jer 31:29-30 address the complaint that ‘sins of the fathers’ cause ‘the children’s teeth to be set on edge’. Is that fair? Ezk affirms that ‘the soul that sins shall die’ (18:4, Dt 24:16). But Second Isaiah (40-55) offers a vision of hope.
The Lament Tradition (eg. many of the Psalms) attempts to cope with human suffering by bringing it all to God’s attention, but they then mostly move to praise. Job – the classic biblical discussion of the problem of suffering - includes the strong suggestion (from Job’s ‘friends’) that as God rules in the world, such awful things would not be happening to Job unless he deserved them. The Book of Job has one of three OT references to Satan causing suffering (Job 1-2; 1 Chron 21, Zech 3). Eliphaz suggests that Job’s suffering may be good for him. But the prologue and epilogue affirm that Job is a case of innocent suffering: the notion of retribution is not a universal explanation – but God offers no reasons for why Job had suffered, and Job is content to live with the mystery.
Eschatology: In a future age there will be no war (Mic 4:1-4, Is 2:2-4), wild and domestic animals will sleep in peace (Is 11:6-9), there will be bountiful harvests (Amos 9:11-15), and all people will know God’s will and do it (Jer 31:31-34). The ‘Suffering Servant’ (Is 53) will suffer for the benefit of others. God will ultimately win, and bring back people from the dead to execute the justice they didn’t receive in their lifetime (Dan 12:1-2).
The New Testament asks two main questions: why did the innocent Jesus suffer? And why are his followers persecuted too? The Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12) tell us the ‘blessed’ are those who mourn, the meek, the hungry and the poor etc. Jesus says victims of accidents or oppression are no worse than those who escaped (Lk 13:1-5); in John 9 the man born blind suffered not through his parents’ sin nor his own; but everyone will be accountable in the future judgment. The suffering and death of the Messiah was all according to God’s plan, and Jesus’ followers must also be willing to take up their cross and suffer for the sake of spreading the gospel (Mt 16:24-25).
The epistles offer two areas of encouragement: the promise of resurrection (1 Cor 15); and God can work good even out of suffering (Ro 5:3-5). Suffering can make us better persons (He 12:3-11). Some – like Paul – can even ‘rejoice’ in their sufferings: God’s reassuring presence is always a reality.
(Anchor Bible Dictionary, article on Suffering, Vol. 6, pp. 219-225).ÂÂ
Rowland Croucher June 2012  See also here: http://jmm.org.au/articles/30358.htm
Rowland Croucher
June 2012ÂÂ
Interesting….
I have never understood why even when I am depressed, I find such comfort on Job 19:25-27.
Job’s declaration of faith comes before he receives the restoration of God. Why? Why does he, how does he continue to trust God?
Why do I?