Carrying On When We Don’t Understand

Indeed these are the mere edges of [God’s] ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand? Job 26:14

Sometimes when I consider the worst things that people have to go through, I wonder how they can bear it. I also can’t help but wonder sometimes why God allows it. I sit and rack my brain trying to come up with some logical explanation– maybe based on the book of Job– about how suffering is brought on by Satan. I reason that suffering is allowed by God because we’re not in Eden anymore (see my article on that here) and because through our suffering we can grow and become better servants.

But eventually these explanations fall short, at least as far as making us feel any better, because we can always think of some tragedy horrible enough that it just doesn’t seem fair for God to allow Satan to take it that far. This is when we’re reminded that we’re human and our understanding is very limited. If we could understand it all, we would be like God. This was one of the temptations Satan used against Eve, remember?

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

We might reply: But I don’t want to be like God! I just want to understand. Tell me why and I’ll have the strength to face it and not lose my faith.

Ah, faith. There’s the sticking point. If we knew all the reasons why, what space would be left for faith? There would be none.

At the end of the day, we have to carry on without knowing why God has allowed this or that, without knowing His exact purpose or what the outcome will be. That is faith. That is what pleases God.

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:3

Besides, knowing why a bad thing is happening is no guarantee of comfort. The song “Remind Me You’re Here” by Jason Gray contains these lyrics:

I won’t ask You for reasons
‘Cause a reason can’t wipe away tears

This is very true, isn’t it? Imagine if Job had known all that is revealed to us in the first two chapters of that book. Would it have been any less painful to lose all of his wealth, all of his children, and even his health? I daresay he still would have been heartbroken and miserable.

So, when we’re asking why and there is no answer, we have basically four choices for dealing with our pain, and they’re not mutually exclusive:

1. We can try to cover up the pain with escapist pleasures, some of which are wholesome enough and some of which are downright destructive.
2. We can mourn— face the pain head on, sitting in the ashes and scraping ourselves with a broken piece of pottery, so to speak. See Job 2:8.
3. We can curse God and die (spiritually and/or literally if we decide to give up permanently). See Job 2:9.
4. We can cling to the one thing that truly is a comfort— the promise of being in Paradise with God when this life is over.

Sometimes there really isn’t much comfort to be had in this life other than the promise of a better life to come. But even if it seems that God has “taken away my justice” and “made my soul bitter,” I hope I’ll always trust God enough to say with Job:

As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit…
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. Job 27:2-5

When times of testing come, I pray that each of us will have a faith strong enough to see us through.

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. 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

Dear Heavenly Father, there is so much suffering in the world, some that seems beyond human endurance. With these things the enemy tempts us to question Your goodness, but we know that suffering comes from sin and from Satan, not from You. In our pain, please remind us of the blessings that we do have, especially the hope of eternal life without suffering. We long to be in Your presence, Lord. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins

Related Reading:

When Is It Okay To Give Up?

The Purposes Of Suffering – Part One