A Theology of Suffering 9/22/26

Dear brothers and sisters, 

Do you struggle with why God allows the godly to suffer? (I have).

Psalm 44 was written for you and I.

"O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3  for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4  You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! 5  Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6  For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7  But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. 8  In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9  But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. 10  You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. 11  You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. 12  You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. 13  You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. 14  You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. 15  All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face 16  at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17  All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. 18  Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; 19  yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. 20  If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21  would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. 22  Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23  Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! 24  Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25  For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. 26  Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! 

The Psalmist knows about what God did in the past (vv1-3) and what God can do in the present (vv4-8), so he cries out to God because God "made us like sheep for slaughter" (v11) and sold his people "for a trifle" (v12). We might think this was due to their sin, but the psalmist indicates this happened during a time when Israel was faithful to the Lord (see vv17-21). The Psalmist concludes with a series of appeals to God: "Why? Wake up? Come to our aid?" Then the prayer ends, without any resolution, no change in sight, only a prayer of faith.

Bad things happen to godly people. 

What do we make of this? 

The psalmist took his confusion and doubts and requests to God. 

And God heard the psalmist. 

Centuries later, the apostle Paul reflected on this psalm and wrote these words:

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

God does allow his people to suffer, but he doesn't abandon them. And the proof of this great claim is this: God did not spare his own Son "but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). God Himself suffered, so that we might never be separated from his love. Thus, we may not know all the reasons why we suffer, but we can trust the one who died for us (and more than that was raised). This is good news for suffering people, so let us cry out to God in faith and not despair.

In Christ's Service,

Matt