Suffering - When It Feels Like Too Much

So one of my most recent Bible studies has been the book of Job. Aside from Psalms, I think this is my favorite book of the Bible now. Ironic? Perhaps. But what Job goes through is beautiful.

For those of you unfamiliar with the book of Job, it is the story of a God-fearing, righteous man who experiences boundless suffering and yet, even in the depths of his sorrow and the pit of his anguish, he does not separate himself from God. On the contrary, he goes straight to God with his protests and questions. "Why me God? What did I do to displease you? I have lived rightly before you. Tell me what it is I did to deserve this!"

And what I find beautiful about his story is this:

Job was afflicted with loss of family, loss of good health, and loss of his worldly goods. But he did not go to the psychiatrist or the doctor or the Wall Street investors for help. He went straight to God. He didn't think twice about who to turn to when things went wrong - He went immediately to God. He maintained a passionate devotion to God despite everything that was going wrong. And not only that....he had the kind of relationship with God where he felt free enough and loved enough to get in God's face with his issues. He addresses him like the most intimate friend and confidant, literally baring his soul to The Most High.

Job's friends come to him and try to give him advice in the midst of his suffering. They tell him what's wrong with him and how to fix himself. They pull the "Oh my cousin of a friend went through the same thing....this is how you need to fix it." Then they use the Word of God loosely to frame Job's problems and give him solutions. They sure can quote passages from Scipture, but there is no true understanding of God in their own lives to back up what's coming out of their mouths. Their advice and suggestions are worthless because they attempt to put God and suffering in a nice neat little package with pretty corners and easy unwrapping techniques, when both God and suffering are things we will never fully wrap our minds around. Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why do innocent people suffer while bad people seem to always be happy and healthy? Why do children have to suffer? Why do some people die so young in life when they had so much potential? These are questions we ask all the time. Sit with a family whose loved one has just been killed or someone whose heart is heavily burdened and you will hear similar questions. But along with those questions come the same answers over and over. The empty, well-meaning words that don't even begin to touch the issue and often just make the ones suffering hurt more.

The truth is (and Job illustrates this well) it doesn't matter how good or bad you are. You will suffer eventually. Suffering is not always deserved. Suffering is not always something you bring on yourself. Suffering is not always something you can control. Suffering completely and totally without a doubt sucks! And suffering does not have an answer. Most humans hate to hurt and hate seeing other people hurt. This fear and hatred of suffering turns us into Mr-Fix-It bots: We give advice and lectures and preach at people about how to avoid suffering at all costs. But there is no way to advise someone away from suffering completely. You cannot say to someone, "Well if you hadn't married so-and-so," or, "Well if you hadn't made that decision," or, "Well if you were just more committed to God," because the truth is even the most perfect man to walk the face of the earth, Jesus, bore great suffering. Job was an honest, righteous man, totally devoted to God and he suffered. The irony of the situation is that the closer you are to God, the more you will often suffer. "Real faith cannot be reduced to spiritual bromides and merchandised in success stories. It is refined in the fires and the storms of pain."

One of my favorite quotes on dealing with suffering is this: "Instead of continuing to focus on preventing suffering - which we simply won't be very successful at anyway - perhaps we should begin entering into the suffering, participating insofar as we are able -- entering the mystery and looking around for God.....we need to quit feeling sorry for people who suffer and instead look up to them, learn from them, and, if they will let us, join them in protest and prayer. Pity can be nearsighted and condescending. Shared suffering can be dignifying and life-changing."

Reading the story of Job and the beauty that comes from his suffering is a humbling and knee-buckling experience. I can only hope and pray for such a defined reliance on the answers of God in my darkest hours.