Where is this supposedly good God today?
These are such disorienting times that a devout Christian might be excused for doubting the Good News in the wake the god-awful news of madness and mayhem in “the real world.”
If Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God on earth and gave us a foretaste of the heavenly kingdom yet to come, one might be forgiven for thinking that Heaven must be over-rated.
One might be forgiven for wondering with the atheist what’s so loving and good about a God who allows so much suffering.
But we have the bible, which quotes many a believer who shakes a fist in anger and doubt at a God who seems to have given up and gone into some kind of cosmic retreat from us all.
Doubt is OK. Doubt is good. It’s a far better thing to live in the tension between certainty and doubt than to live in such certainty that you slaughter people in the name of whatever God you’ve created in your mind.
The eternal God to whom we sometimes doubting Christians remain faithful is the God who never promised that this living, breathing world would be safe and secure. The Son of God himself reminded us that we would have severe trials and tribulations on this side of the heavenly realm.
But the Son of God himself incarnated the God who is with us in our suffering. That’s always been the divine promise, that God is ever so close to us as to suffer what we suffer.
In his terrifying but powerful little book Night, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel offers up this response to the age-old question of where God is in the midst of misery:
“Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing…And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.
“And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.
“Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’
“And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
“‘Where He is? This is where–hanging here from this gallows…'”
I (still) need and appreciate hearing your words of wisdom, faith & humor, my friend. Thank you.
Be glad you aren’t here in Dallas – subjected to the local news reports of what Pastor Jeffress (Sr Pastor – First Baptist Church of Dallas) has to say about, well, anything.
Women’s health issues (code for abortion being an abomination and all). How the Bible says we should not take in refugees. How the Bible says that only people he (Jeffress) thinks should be able to get married should be lawfully able to get married.
Watching & hearing him speak — wouldn’t put it past him being on the down-low himself!
Now that I have revealed my judgmental nature, I have to remember what her Catholic priest friend told Anne Lamont as she bemoaned (in fact, ranted) about George W. Bush: “Ah, but Anne… We have to remember that God loves George W. Bush too.”
Her response was: “This is a truth I have to accept.”
Same for me and…Jeffress, Trump, Cruz…you name ’em!
If the spirit moves you, I would love to hear what the Jitterbugger-in-Chief has to say about, well, anything!
Blessings to you, Paul… mj
Marty Jones 972-897-1128 martyjones@sbcglobal.net
>
And we will not get the complete, satisfying answer or explanation here in this life. That is what faith is all about. We must take Him at His word that He will not leave us orphans, that He will be with us through it all. That is becoming increasingly more difficult to do as the world sinks deeper and deeper into chaos and madness. But we must trust and believe His promise to us — because, as Peter said,
“…Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
(John 6:68)