Perspectives on Suffering and Evil III: The Mystery of Providence, Part 1            2009.08.23       Pastor Richard Yu                                                                                       (Gen. 50:20; Acts 4:27-28; John 9:1-4 & Luke 13:1-9)

In our continued pursuit of trying to understand suffering and evil in the world, I now turn to the question: How does God’s providence play a role in human suffering in the midst of calamities and tragic deaths? I want to first show how God’s providence functions in the Bible, and then talk about the implications of providence in various life situations.

Providence means the continuing action of God by which he preserves the creation, and guides it to his intended purpose for it. It is God’s constant prudent actions over the world and preparing it for the future. Although it is difficult to understand, but by believing in this we are able to live in the assurance that God is present and active in our lives. Nothing happens to us merely by chance; and God is fully aware and involved.

God’s providence contains two propositions: First God is absolutely and utterly sovereign over all things; but His sovereignty never functions to discount human responsibility. Second, human beings are morally responsible for their choices and actions; but human responsibility never functions to reduce God’s sovereignty. In other words, just because God is sovereign doesn’t mean that we are just tools that have no responsibilities.  While at the same time, our freedom of choice does not make God’s sovereignty conditional to human actions.

These two propositions coexist throughout the Bible. For example, toward the end of Joseph’s story in Genesis, Joseph’s brothers, who sold him into slavery in Egypt, were afraid that Joseph, now in powerful position, would take his revenge on them; so they came to Joseph seeking mercy, but Joseph replied: “Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done . . .” (Gen 50:19-20).

In effect, Joseph says that in the one and same event, his brothers intended it for evil but God intended it for good. In other words, God was sovereign over the whole thing, but with only good intention; his brothers were responsible in the whole thing and it really was intended for evil. This understanding should give us great confidence that even though terrible things do happen to us, God in his preserving and renewing of His creation can use these things for good and for his own glory.

Another important example is how human responsibility and God’s intention intertwined in Jesus’ death on the cross. On the surface Herod, Pilate and Jewish leaders conspired to have Jesus crucified out of political expedience; but all the time they did what God had already decided to be done (Acts 4:27-28). In order for the gospel to make sense, you have to believe these two verses together.

So how does providence play out in the midst of human tragedy caused by unexpected disaster? In Luke 13, a group of people come to Jesus and tell him about how Pilate had murdered some worshiping Galileans – as if their blood were mixed with the blood of the sacrificial animals. They wanted to see Jesus’ reaction.

Placing this text in our recent experience, we would come to Jesus and say, “Did you hear about the 398 villagers who were buried alive in their sleep by a mud slide caused by the severest flood in the last 50 years, which was brought on by typhoon Morakot?” And Jesus would look into our eyes deeply and say, “Do you think these villagers were worse sinners than all the other Taiwanese because they suffered this way? Or the over 200 thousand who perished in a tsunami in South East Asia – do you think they were more guilty than all the others in the world?”

Jesus’ answer shows us two implications of God’s providence in this kind of situation: (1) it forces us to face the inevitable – death (Lk. 13:1-5).  None of these dead were guiltier than anyone else, but “unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” The final outcome of non-repentance is more than physical death, it’s perishing – the eternal separation from the presence of God. Jesus reminds all of us that how we die, under what circumstance we die are not as important as death itself. People might die of tragic circumstance; but death itself as the result of sin in this world is the true tragedy.

(2) It is a practical and urgent message for today’s Christian missions (Lk. 13: 6-9).

In telling this additional parable Jesus is stressing the urgency of what he just said. He is telling them don’t treat his message as mere religious talk; don’t be too quick to write it off. Your children, you parents, your friends, your co-workers, they all will perish if they do not repent. Do you sense the burden for their salvation? C.S. Lewis wrote: “The Christian knows from the outset that the salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.”  That was his passion as a literary scholar. I hope it is also our passion in our respective walks of life. People are not mere mortals. They will all last forever; either live forever with God, or perish – the eternal death away from God. And unless they hear and believe the gospel and repent, they will perish. But how can they hear unless someone brings the gospel message to them?