Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring grief or affliction to anyone. (Lamentations 3:32-33, NIV)
In case you haven’t noticed, God is not so popular these days.
Oh, the permissive God is still in man’s “good graces” (as we might paint the prevailing sentiment with a tinge of irony). This is the God who would never expect us to actually keep his commands, the God who always has what man desires in the forefront of his mind.
There’s trouble, too, with a God who could allow tragedy in the world. Surely, there cannot be a God, really, if he cannot prevent the devastation of a tornado or the ravages of cancer. The arguments against the existence of God—at least an all-powerful God who loves his creation—land smack-dab in the middle of such “tough questions.”
It’s hard to blame such detractors. Nearly all of them speak from far more personal experience than a perusal of the headlines of the morning paper reporting a distant catastrophe, or an extensive reading of an online report of the horrors of the modern slave trade. They have lost friends and loved ones—“good people”—to untimely accidents or painful terminal illnesses. Why, they wonder, can’t we all just die peacefully in our sleep? They have known severe pain and have responded to the counsel of Job’s wife: “Curse God.”
Many a soldier of the past withstood amputation with ineffectual or no anesthesia, yet by enduring such pain to arrest the gangrene, their lives were saved.But if we follow their lead, we have missed passages like the one we highlight today, the words of Jeremiah in lamenting response to the grief and affliction filling his own eyes. God brings this pain, Jeremiah wrote, but not willingly.
But how can this be if God is all-powerful? Can he not overrule his will and prevent all this sorrow?
The best answer here may lie within our own experience. It is not in my will, say, to watch my diet, but it is best. Or, to use a golf analogy, it is not in the will of most beginners to hold the club in such a “funny” way—but they must if they are ever to build a swing that works. What feels bad is almost never in my will; but that very thing may be just what I need. Many a soldier of the past withstood amputation with ineffectual or no anesthesia, yet by enduring such pain to arrest the gangrene, their lives were saved.
God permits affliction, not because he enjoys it but because it brings what is best. No, this does not answer every single question. We cannot know how the death of an innocent child in a brothel in Thailand is good for anyone. Not yet. But if we truly believe that the love of our almighty God is unfailing, as Jeremiah believed and proclaimed, we can know this: We will be given all these answers one day. And our souls will be satisfied with each and every one.
—
Jeff Hopper
Originally published June 8, 2011
Copyright 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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