This month we are approaching Easter Sunday which we often call Resurrection Sunday, for it is a remembrance of that first Easter Sunday on which Jesus Christ our Lord rose from the grave. While it is good and right for us to celebrate Easter each year, perhaps we also need reminding that every Sunday is a resurrection Sunday. Indeed, each Sunday that we gather is a continued celebration of the Risen King and of our expectation of His return to rule and to reign forevermore.
Pain, evil, and suffering do not win the day. Perhaps we struggle to believe that God has good reasons for allowing such things. Perhaps we struggle to hold onto the goodness and love of God in the present moment. This is precisely the point when we can comfort ourselves and others with the future promise of God. One day there will be no more tears or pain or death. God will himself comfort us for we shall see Him face to face.
What we mean by this is that suffering reveals things about God and His character that we wouldn’t know or experience otherwise. There are certain aspects of God’s character that would be unknown apart from an experience of evil and suffering. How would we know that God is compassionate if we never had a need? How would we realize that God is both just and justifier if there never was the evil of sin? How would we experience the comfort of God if we never felt loneliness, pain, or grief? How would we know that God as healer if there were no hurts?
Knowing why God allows suffering and pain won’t make me feel any better. It’s been said before that Job still had to face empty seats at the family dinner table even though he discovered (to some degree) that God had been doing a great work in his life even through his difficulty and grief. Asking why won’t lead me to an emotionally satisfying place, but it can lead me to a fruitful discovery nonetheless. Asking why leads us to some discovery about ourselves and our God that can lead us into a deeper relationship with and love for a God infinitely bigger, wiser, and more majestic than I can imagine.
