Don’t go there, go THERE.
I came across two quotes I have been pondering in my heart, and I want to share them with you.
1
Someone was talking to me about a huge reversal in their life recently, a massive problem that had come to them out of the blue. And they said, "Why did God allow this to happen?" And this is a great question. It's the important question, I think, and I asked my brother, "What would you say?" And John said, "You say that for whatever reason, God doesn't seem to be that interested in preventing suffering, but he seems to be very interested in redeeming it."
And sometimes, some days, that's enough. And it might not be enough on some days. It's still enough in that kind of way that transcends our understanding. The peace that transcends all understanding. *
2
God saves us, always. God does not deny anyone the grace of salvation. It is the most beautiful thing there is. We love vanity, and sin. We love depravation and wickedness. So we believe that God has abandoned us. That God does not like us. But God does not manage our lives. He does not correct our weaknesses. God does not stop our hand when it plunges into sin. No. All He does is save us. In the end, God saves us. And He saves us with a kiss. **
I write a lot, and think about a lot, the “problem of evil.” It’s the question, “If God is good, why does he let all these bad things happen?” Way back when I was in high school, I took a course called “The Bible as Literature.” We studied a play called “J.B.” by Archibald MacLeish. There is a famous quote in the dialog: “If God is God He is not good, if God is good He is not God…” I have no answer to the problem of evil. Really, personally, I think there is no answer, or if there is, my brain is incapable of understanding it. My brain doesn’t have the ability, like I cannot see ultra-violet light, I cannot hear the low, low tones elephants make, I cannot smell the scents a dog builds his world with.
In that same class on “The Bible as Literature,” when we studied the book of Job, the instructors invited a speaker who had been a POW (Prisoner of War) during Vietnam. He endured years of torture, isolation, and unimaginable experiences. The teachers said, if anyone would be justified in asking “Why?” or “Why me?” as Job did, it would be a POW like him. When we asked him how he faced that question of “Why?” his answer was that he just did not let himself ask it—he did not go there. He talked about how unhelpful it was to ask why, how it made him suffer even more, and reasons such as those. But basically, he just did not go there. And that’s what I try to do. I try to accept the evil in the world as the default. Like the first quote above says, “For whatever reason, God doesn’t seem to be that interested in preventing suffering…” Yep, “whatever reason.” I don’t get it and I don’t go there.
BUT God loves us. He redeems the bad stuff—eventually, somehow God makes good stuff happen. He saves us, always. He’s with us. We’re in him. He’s here. I go there. I pray you do, too. God loves you.
* From the Mockingcast podcast, episode 261 near the very end.
** Richard Beck, “God Saves Us, Always.”