Oct

31

Why do we suffer?

October 31, 2007 |

Posted by prognosko · Filed Under People, Christian Life, Personal 

Mom finally finished her last A/M treatment. She had been dreading it since last night, knowing how badly she would feel afterwards. I came down last night and took her to chemo this morning, then we came back to my house, 2.5 hours away. She slept most of the way (thanks, Dr. Ben A. Dryl). Dad will come by here on the way home from a business trip in a couple of days and take her back home.

While taking chemo, there was another woman taking treatments who got very emotional over what seemed to be regrets for not doing things differently, thinking that she might have been able to prevent her recurrence. In her mind, she was responsible for not doing *something* (she didn’t know what that might be) differently. She said she had never smoked a cigarette, never drank a beer, never ate junk food, but she must have done *something* to get cancer.

But there is a problem here: many people smoke like freight trains and don’t get cancer. My mother-in-law died of lung cancer, but the dr. said that this particular cancer was not caused by smoking. Drinking doesn’t cause cancer, but I suspect she thinks drinking is “wrong.” Good luck trying to defend that — besides, good works doesn’t keep bad things away. If it did, my mother wouldn’t be suffering as she now does.

Let me offer my thoughts on this: God is neither surprised by our sufferings, nor is He powerless to prevent it. So why do we suffer? It’s a question you’ll never stop asking. I’m not even going to attempt an answer (though there are some good ones out there). What I will suggest is that God in His wisdom and providence is still wholly good and righteous, despite our present circumstances. God permitted Job to suffer the loss of his family and fortunes. God permitted (even orchestrated!) the death of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul recounts his many sufferings, and says they don’t even begin to compare to our future glory in Jesus Christ. And now, my mother — and perhaps you — suffer.

As this woman continued, it seemed that she was indeed a believer. But as believers, we must trust that “He works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11). It isn’t always easy, it isn’t always fun, but we were never promised it would be.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Michael Walling on October 31, 2007 8:13 pm

    I can understand where you’re coming from. My mother died of cancer last year, the day after Valentine’s Day. Even now, as I write about it, tears come to my eyes. We all wrote out Valentine’s Day cards and gave them to her. The next day, a Wednesday, she died, quietly in her bed shortly after 8:30pm.

    The saddest part, I think, about this whole mess was the fact that she kept the illness from us for a long time. She didn’t ask to be examined until after Christmas. In a matter of weeks, we were facing the very real possibility of our mother (one natural-born son, three adopted sons, one adopted daughter) was going to die - soon. Even worse, my sister was 7-months pregnant. In my estimation, she needed her mother to be a guiding light in raising a baby. However, God saw fit to call her home when he did.

    I don’t know why he did that. At this point, I don’t really care why did took her from us when he did. God is good, God is just, and God is faithful to his children. All I’m focusing on, a year and a half after her death, is trusting in the Lord to continue in his promise to take care of us even when he permits (and even, dare I say, commands!) evil in our lives.

    The children of Israel forgot the Lord’s faithfulness during the bad times, and subsequently prostituted themselves to other gods. God forbid I forget his faithfulness in my life during the hard, difficult times, lest I, too, prostitute myself to other gods in bitterness and rebellion against the true and living God.

    I pray for you and your family, my brother in Christ.

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