I’m struggling with suffering these days. Not my own, but others. I have family members who are suffering, and I don’t like it.
I am a seriously left-brained person. There’s not an ounce of creativity in me. I am all logic, all the time. I don’t feel things. I think them. And then I overthink them some more. I want to know why. Why does this loving God who I place my trust in allow such suffering to go on? Suffering that seems so arbitrary, so unrelated to anything and clearly not the result of anyone’s bad choices.
I know all the theological answers, but they don’t really answer the question. Most of the time, I am ok with that. I know my place in relation to a holy God. I’m not meant to understand everything. I can only see one small piece of the puzzle. It’s like my dog wanting to understand why she can’t eat at the dining room table with us. I just can’t explain it to her, and if I tried, she wouldn’t get it. She’s a dog. [I’m not saying humans are dogs, just trying to draw some sort of analogy to wrap my brain around the issue.]
But it’s frustrating! I want it to end. I don’t want the people I love to hurt. I don’t want them to doubt that God loves them in the midst of their trials. And I know that my God can stop it.
That is faith. Trusting in something you can’t explain. Going back to the Word, to what I know is true. God loves us. Jesus wept for his people. We are in the midst of a redemption story, but all has not yet been restored and redeemed.