Some Thoughts on Suffering and Tragedy

I have not posted for some time now, due to various circumstances. However, this morning I felt the need to address the very difficult topic of suffering and tragedy, once again. Recently I have learned of two fellow Simpson students who were involved in a serious car accident. Needless to say, the entire campus is fervently praying for them and their families, asking God to bring healing to the injuries sustained in the collision.

Possibly one of the most frustrating things about this situation is that the accident was sustained while the driver was attempting to help a man asking for food on the side of the road. The question I am sure many of us are asking at this point is why does tragedy strike a fellow believer when he is trying to imitate Christ and give aid to the needy? Sadly, it is a question I do not think we can fully answer. We may never know exactly why tragedies such as car accidents, earthquakes, and diseases strike the righteous but not the wicked, however, we do know that God is intimately involved with the suffering occurring here on earth.

I notice in our prayers that we often call out to God and ask Him to come down and intervene in our situations. I think this is a mistake. It subconsciously presupposes that God is somehow distant from us and the situation; as if He is sitting up in Heaven, letting the world run its course, and only stops to intervene at certain times. I think what we need to remember in our thoughts and prayers is that God is already involved and working in the world in ways we cannot see. He is "working all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28) long before the first prayer reaches His ears. He has also promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b-6). In Christ, God felt the pain of suffering that so often afflicts us and those we love. Our God is familiar with suffering and is present with us in it.

When suffering comes along, it not only tests our faith and teaches us perseverance (Rom. 5:3, James 1:3), but the end result of it is becoming more like Christ (James 1:4). Let's then remember, that when suffering comes along, rather than focusing on the injustice of the situation, look to Christ as an example of how to suffer (1 Peter 2:21). Christ looked ahead "to the joy set before Him" says Paul in Philippians 2. Christ suffered injustice and tragedy, not for doing evil, but for doing God's will. Christ's suffering resulted in the resurrection, making possible the salvation of mankind and the restoration of the broken world we inhabit. In the same way, when we are faced with suffering, remember that God rewards the ones who persevere with a better resurrection (James 1:12, Hebrews 11:35). That is the gospel in suffering.