I was in a room close to 7:00 AM playing Jazz with my High School Jazz Band. We had band practice at 6:00 AM Monday to Friday mornings. (What kind of deranged person came up with that idea?) As I was sitting there at the drum set playing along half-asleep, the intercom began to come on and off. It seemed as though someone wished to say something, but no one could; they were hesitating. Then someone came in the room and said something that made us all silent. With a confused look on his face, he said, "Someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center. Thousands are dying or going to die." The date was September 11, as all of you know. We all stopped and sat there in shock as this person blankly stared us down. No one knew what to say.
It is days like September 11 or D-Day, or the day that Hiroshima was bombed, that we all say, "Where is God in a world full of so much pain? Why is there so much suffering in the world?" It is days like these that many people say (at least to themselves), "Who would want to bring a child into this world?"
We ask again and again: Where is God? Does He hear our cries? Why would a good God allow for so much pain in the world He created?
We all at one point or another have endured pain and suffering. I mean, who hasn’t been hurt by a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, colleague, boss, or mentor? We all know what pain is like. We have all experienced it. Unfortunately, some of us have experienced it more than others.
It seems that in the midst of our own personal pain, just as in the midst of the pain in our world, we ask: Where is God? Here I am hurting, suffering (I feel like I am dying here, all alone), and no one is here with me. Where is God?
I cannot answer all of the deepest questions of your heart and of humanity. But, I believe that there is a God. And I believe that God cares. And I believe He made Himself known in a man named Jesus. I believe Jesus can be trusted with our hearts, our love, and our entire beings. In spite of all the pain in the world and in our own lives, Jesus can be trusted.
Tonight it is my aim to show you why I trust in Christ. It is my aim to show you why I place my faith in Him in the midst of when I suffer and when I am joyous. I also want to discuss what we all can do to help alleviate suffering in our world. I believe that Christ has done miraculous things for us so that we may work towards ending the unnecessary pain that others endure.
Often times, God seems distant. He seems far away. Most people have heard others say, "Do not pray here, God does not live here anymore; He has abandoned this place." Is God really that distant?
Well, it may seem that God is distant, but He is really not that far away at all. Take the book of Exodus, when God’s people, the Hebrews, are enslaved in Egypt. The people begin to cry out to God in the midst of their suffering. So God acts. He calls a man named Moses to help the Hebrews. Listen to what God has to say to Moses. [Read Exodus 3]
Moses is afraid. It is no wonder he is afraid of God. The presence of God is a scary thing. And it is not everyday that a burning bush is on fire, but not being consumed, calls out your name. Imagine, "John, John." How do you react to that? But Moses is not just afraid, he makes a mistake. He is called to alleviate suffering, but he cowers down, at least for a moment. That is how it is. God calls us to do something, primarily to help end suffering, and then we say "Ummm ... I don’t know God, are you sure? I am not sure you know what you are talking about." This is what Moses did and this is what we do.
God appeared distant to the enslaved Hebrews, but He was actually working on their behalf. But what is most important is the way in which He works on their behalf. First God "sees" their affliction. Then they "cry" to Him. Then He "hears" them. In return He "knows" their suffering. Finally, and most importantly, He does not remain idle or distant, but He does what? He "delivers" them.
I find it really interesting that before anything, God "sees". He has a foreknowledge of our pain, and our suffering, before we even know it or feel it. While you and I are still numb to it, God is already "seeing." He "sees" before we "cry." I don’t know about you, but I find this comforting. God "sees" my pain, before I even "cry" out.
God hears my cry. This is very interesting because the Hebrew word for hearing also has a connotation of knowing and obeying something. Hearing and obeying are closely connected. If you hear, you obey, if you obey, you know--you know truth. Since God is all obedient to His good nature, He always knows, because He always hears. But, God still makes it clear when He says "I know." Simply, "I know". Moses, don’t worry, "I know." John, don’t worry "I know." Billy-Bob, Bobby-Sue, don’t worry, "I know."
With all this in Moses mind, God makes the finally part very clear to Moses I will "deliver". He specifically says, "I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians" (Exodus 3:7).
The beauty of the Exodus story is that it is our story. God does the same for us. He sees, He hears, He knows, and He delivers. He comes down to deliver. God has four action items on His agenda: seeing, hearing, knowing and delivering.
But did you catch something there, the crying is a crucial part of it all. Suffering was never God’s intention for the world, but He is able to use something even as horrible as suffering to show who He is and furthermore teach people why they must place their trust in Him.
God did not remain idle during the Hebrews’ enslavement and He does not remain idle during ours either. But did you take note of something that happened in the Exodus story. God sent Moses--a man who could not speak well. God uses people to do His work in the world. He wants people to realize two things: (1) I care. (2) I am going to use people (even people) to show how much I care. And what happens then is that people realize what they can do when they are aligned with God. God believes in people. God wants to use people like me and you.
Many people are under the impression that God does not want to hear about our suffering. Maybe you are under that impression. You may be thinking that somehow faith means never questioning God about the state of humanity, or about the pain we are enduring. A lot people seem to believe that asking God to intervene is somehow wrong. There could be nothing further from the truth.
The book of Psalms contains countless heart-pounding, gut-wrenching cries to God. Each of which expresses either one person’s or a group of people’s painful state. These cries are honest and real.
One psalm even relates suffering to drowning when it says, "Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck" (Psalm 69:1). Another psalm even says, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1).
The very act of crying out to God expresses a belief in Him--otherwise there would be no cry at all. Instead there would be a complete abandonment of faith. There would either be silence, or complaint, but not petition. Petition is directed at God. God loves petition.
These psalms express a belief that God will answer, but they are not afraid to call God to answer. They are not even afraid to prompt God to answer. There is a belief that God will somehow join us in our suffering. There is also a belief that we must cry to God in order for Him to join us in our suffering. God wants to hear our cry and God will answer.
Now this does not mean that suffering was God’s intention. His intention was for us to live in harmony with our surroundings, each other, and of course with Him. Humans made the choice to not live in harmony with our surroundings, each other, and God. Read Genesis if you don’t believe me. Or, just simply watch the news. In this way, humans made the choice to allow for suffering to enter the world.
But, we still ask the question: Where is God in the midst of all of this suffering? The only way we can answer this question is to realize something very profound. Despite of all the neglect humans have shown for the world and despite of how much people have just flat out ignored God or served something other than Him, God has not abandoned the world. Instead God has embraced the world.
You see, the Exodus story is our story. Just like the Hebrews in the wilderness, God has "seen" our affliction, "heard" our "cry", "known" our suffering, and in return, "delivered" us. For the Hebrews in 1200 BC, God sent Moses. For the Hebrews around 3 AD, God sent Jesus. For the whole rest of the world, God sent Jesus as well.
We must experience an Exodus ourselves. Just as Moses freed the Hebrews from slavery, Christ has freed us from slavery. We are no longer slaves to our shortcomings. We are free. We must be free as Christ has set us free. We must experience resurrection as Christ was resurrected. We must let Christ resurrect us with Him.
Resurrection did not just happen. It happens. I see Christ resurrect people all the time. There are tons of people living lives of desolation that I have watched Christ set free. Be free as Christ has set you free. Be resurrected as Christ was resurrected.
In the book of Matthew Jesus is referred to as "Emmanuel". Which when translated means, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). What Matthew meant is that Jesus is God becoming one with humanity. When it says in the book of Mathew that He shall be called "Emmanuel", it is actually a quote from Isaiah 7:14, which initially had to do with God sending a sign to His people. Jesus is a sign that God is with us--He is "God with us".
Furthermore, Jesus is God’s deliverance for humanity. Jesus is God’s restoration for humanity and for the world. He is the answer to our cry. In the book of John it says, "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17). And in the Greek the word for "world" here is not just about humanity, but about the entire universe, the word is "kosmos," the whole universe.
Foremost, Jesus endured even death to show His and God’s oneness with humanity. Jesus even cried in some of His last breaths words from a lament Psalm, Psalm 22, when he says, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me." Jesus in this way becomes the sufferer, the lamenter par excellence, meaning the ultimate sufferer and the ultimate lamenter.
Jesus showed that all people must cry out to God. He further showed that He is the ultimate sufferer. God with us means God suffering with us. It is through Jesus’ painful death and His miraculous resurrection that God shows His love for the world. God has every right to abandon the world, to abandon us, but instead He embraced us. It is through this embrace that He is slowly, but surely bringing us close to Him--He is showing us what it means to trust Him. God is restoring us and restoring the world.
So, where is God? God is with us, through Jesus. God is with you and He is with me. He is with us. In joy and in pain, God is with us.
May you know that God is with you. No matter where you are, no matter how much it hurts, God is with you. And as someone who believes in standing beside and with those who are suffering, I am with you. God’s people are with you. May you know that God is with you. May you know Jesus and in return feel the presence of "God with us." And may you make known what it means to feel "God with us". And may you experience an Exodus--a resurrection.
