This week was the first anniversary of the death of Steven Curtis Chapman's five year old adopted daughter, Maria Sue. For those of you who don't know of Steven or of his family's story, it goes like this. Steven Curtis Chapman is a very successful Christian music artist who had six children (three biologic children and three adopted children from China). On May 21st, 2008 his five year old daughter, Maria Sue, was killed in his driveway when his older son backed over her with the family's SUV. It doesn't get a whole lot worse than that.
On Thursday night I had a beer with a friend who had some very hard but very valid questions about the sovereignty of God and the problem of God and evil. And, yes I had one very dark and malty beer. We can talk about the biblical view of alcohol consumption at another time so please don't let this be a stumbling block for you. It was a very refreshing beer but even more refreshing conversation from a man who is courageous enough and gracious enough to say what was on his mind even if it risked confrontation. Although he had a couple major concerns, God has laid it on my heart to address this one issue today: What is God's role in the evil that occurs in the world? HUGE question and one that has been the topic of four hundred page theses. This is not an easy topic to address in a five minute blog post so I want to do this over two weeks.
My friend and his wife have dealt with significant hardship surrounding the health of two young daughters. His concern I think was two fold. First, was the issue of how Christian friends often respond with platitudes or Christian-ese tag lines (though, likely well intentioned). They would say things like "God has a plan" or "God is testing you" or "God is using your daughters for a purpose". The second concern was, did God allow or cause the pain that had and still continues to occur? Or, is he outside of it completely. I want to touch on both of these very real and very important concerns.
I (we) have to start with this: God is who God is. I can't make a God after my own liking. So, I have to seek to know what God is like and not try to contrive a God I can wrap my mind around or a God that conforms to my preferences. God revealed his name to the people of Israel and that name was "Yahweh" which is translated "I am". He is who he is. The only way I can begin to grasp this is to humbly come to him and ask him. Then to try to set aside my own preconceived notions either of my own making or those that were forced upon me. So, here is what I know:
The Bible is very clear that God (Jesus) knows all things and he knows future things. Psalm 139 gives us a picture of this: "O, Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from far afar. . . Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely." Jesus told Peter that he'd deny him three times (i.e. he already knew). Jesus healed the blind, the lame, the deaf, and raised the dead. He commanded the stormy seas to be calm. God allowed Satan to cause pain in the life of Job. God is involved and can and does interceded in the world and with the people he created. God didn't wind up creation then sit back and watch it unfold without intervention or concern. But how can we reconcile a God who is "love" with the occurrence and even the allowance of evil? If God knows everything and can't help or intercede then he is impotent and weak. (i.e. God sees suffering and says to himself "Dang, that is horrible! I sure wish I could do something about that.") That is not the God of the Bible and I would argue, not a God at all. If God is all powerful but refuses to intercede to prevent suffering, some would argue that he is evil or that he doesn't exist at all.
But maybe the answer is this: God does know, God does intercede, and God does allow things (even things we perceive as bad) because his perspective is so immeasurably more grand than ours and he knows from the perspective of being all knowing and from the perspective of eternity what is ultimately "good". I want to give a picture of what I mean and I'd like you to really try to mull over this until our next time together. Picture this: You are at a party and the host is cooking dinner. Your two year old daughter climbs up on a stool and reaches toward a large pot of boiling water. You sprint across the room, yelling "NO!" from the top of your lungs, you dive through the air and knock your daughter from the stool. As you both lay on the ground, your daughter is wailing and has a look of horror in her eyes. Her knee is scraped from the fall. In her limited mind, you are evil, mean, scary, and have caused her undeserved pain. What she fails to see is that you have saved her life or have averted a much worse scenario. The difference between your mental capacity and your daughters is not even close to the difference between our mental capacities and God's. Maybe, just maybe, God can see what we can't and we have to trust that somehow.. even if it is involves something as heinous as running over your little sister with the SUV that it can somehow be reconciled in the final tapestry of God's purpose and creation. I personally have to also remember that my life isn't lived in a vacuum and it is in some small way it is connected with MANY other lives and God is looking at that from back far.. When we look at newspaper print up real close all we see are some red, green, and blue dots (meaningless) but from back far it is the beautiful picture of a new born baby.
That's as good as I can do today my friends! By the way God is the only one who knows the "whys" surrounding a particular instance of evil or pain so be very careful trying to tell someone else why. If you don't know what else to say maybe just hug them instead! I know this post is entirely inadequate but then again, I am inadequate. But the God who lovingly knit you together is more than adequate! In the end there will be no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, or crying, or pain! (Revelation 21:4)
Love you all,
David
