24 March 2020
Recently to keep my mind off the news on COVID-19 which can generate a lot of fear, I’ve started to read a book by Philip Yancy called “ Where is God when it hurts?” This is a book on pain and suffering, which has helped me greatly during this crisis. A section I really enjoyed was the “Arms too short to wrestle with God.” It redirects us from asking the ‘whys’ of suffering to the response to suffering.
When it comes to innocent suffering, Job is a book most people will turn to. Job loses everything from wealth, to his health to his family. And when God finally appears to Job, God doesn’t explain the origin of Job’s suffering, rather God explodes at Job, asking him if he is capable of running the world or understanding it the way God does. Where was he when God created the universe? Can he command the sunrise and control the weather? Can he comprehend how the animals interact with each other? Then Job replied in surrender and humility to the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.”
Job 42:2-3
Job’s view and our view is limited; we don’t have sufficient knowledge about our universe. The book of Job doesn’t unlock the puzzle of why bad thing things happen. The book is inviting us to trust God’s wisdom and character when we encounter suffering, rather than to figure out the reason. A God wise enough to create the universe and us, is a God wise enough to watch over His children regardless of how bleak the situation looks. I guess, coming from a science background, I was told to always question and ask why. But with God it is not the “why is this pandemic happening?” I should be asking, but rather “How do you want me to respond?”.
If we are too focused on the past we tend to ask “what if people didn’t travel so much, then…” “What if the government responded better, then…”.
If we are anxious about the future we might think “what if I catch the virus?” “what if I become redundant?”
But God wants us to stop asking the “What if…?” question and ask “what now?” “God what do you want me to be doing now in this situation?” Our purpose is not to maximise comfort and a minimise pain – we can’t because this is the natural state of this broken world, the world is groaning (Romans 8:22). We are here for our soul-making, transforming ourselves to be more like Christ, to prepare ourselves for that day when we will be reunited with him. Where is God when it hurts? He is in us helping us to transform bad into good. Celebrate this opportunity for growth in perseverance, patience and faith. God wants us to choose to love Him even when there is pain involved. We seek the Giver not because of the gifts, when the gifts are removed we shall still seek the Giver.
In the ministry apprentice program (MAP), we were studying the prophet Habakkuk. Although they were going through a different situation to us, under the tribulation of the Babylonians the ‘Why’ question pops up again.
Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
What’s happening here is that Habakkuk understands God’s character, understands that he is a God of justice, but he failed to understand God’s plan. Unfortunately this is the limitation for all of us, in most cases we cannot grasp the whole situation. But we know God’s character so we can have faith and continue to trust God. No matter the situation, no matter how long this virus will last, God’s character is never changing. His love never fails.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39
Anita Li
