Perspectives on Suffering and Evil IV: The Mystery of Providence, Part 2            2009.08.30       Pastor Richard Yu                                                                                             (2 Cor. 1:3-7; 12:9-10; Heb. 12:7-11) 

        I have been trying to build a Biblical framework to help us understand the problem of suffering and evil, and to train our mind and heart to be able to face sufferings better. I also think this framework should include at least six perspectives. The first being the root of all suffering and evil, that is, human being rebelled against God’s created order. The second perspective is the hope for a future in God’s kingdom. The third concerns the mystery of God’s providence. It means that God is always involved in the affairs of His creatures. He has always been, still is, and will continue to be, involved in the on-going development of human history and the order of the world, and to bring all His creation to fulfill its intended purpose.

        The mystery of God’s providence contains two paradoxical yet compatible propositions. On the one hand, God is absolutely sovereign, but His sovereignty never functions in a way to reduce human responsibility. On the other hand, human beings are morally responsible for all their actions, but human responsibility never functions to reduce God’s sovereignty.

        How does the providence of God functions in the Bible, and what might be some implications for our contemporary life situation? Last Sunday I offered one possible implication, namely, in the providence of God suffering is sometimes used by God to force us thinking about the inevitable in life – that is, we all shall face death. This morning I offer three more:

        1. In the providence of God, sufferings discipline us for our good. Sometimes suffering is a part of God’s means in disciplining us. In Hebrews 12:7-11, we’re told that every good father disciplines his child. And God always discipline those whom He loves, so much so that if God doesn’t discipline you, that you are an illegitimate child. Because genuine sons and daughters they will be disciplined by a good father. That means some of the sufferings we face are part of God’s rebuke or punishment or training.

        One example is when the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians that because of their improper attitude toward celebrating the Lord’s Table, that “many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have died” because of it.

        In fact, in a general sense, to a larger degree, when the church or individual believer is most holy there’s most discipline. One of the marks of God abandoning His people is perhaps the lack of discipline by God. What this means is that while we should not automatically think that our suffering is a direct consequence of some particular sin, we should at least ask the question: Is God trying to tell us something through pain and suffering? Is He trying to warn us about something?

        2.  In the providence of God, suffering sometimes turn out to be ways by which God prepare us to help others. The Apostle Paul speaks of the sufferings that he endured such that he learned to be able to comfort others with the comfort that he himself was comforted with. In other words God was preparing him to help others by going through some really rough time. Did you know that perhaps Paul endured the most suffering in life as an Apostle (cf. 2Co 11:23-30)? But in the end of all this, Paul says: “Praise be . . . to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).

        Those of you who have been around longer and have suffered in your own life circumstances, if you have learned to trust Christ’s sovereignty through it all, you also learned that you can bring comfort to others. You became a channel of blessing in this broken world to other people. I’m not saying your suffering is a good thing, and you would never ask for it, but by God’s providence, having experienced the comfort through those hard times you are now able to comfort others with your experience.

        3.  In the providence of God, suffering empowers us to be a better witness of His grace and power. Sometimes how we suffer yet still trusting God’s grace and power to sustain us gives us enormous credibility and clarity in our witness. Again, Paul is a good example (cf. 2 Cor. 12:7-10). He understands that the thorn was given to torment him, to cause him to become weak, is to keep him from thinking too much of himself and to keep people from thinking too much of him – because he alone uniquely has received surpassingly great revelations from God; so that people would recognize the grace and power of God at work in him.