Chapter 4: Transforming Pain

IN THIS CHAPTER, you will discover:

• Faith as the antidote to despair.
• The promise of Easter.
• The church as Christ's body.

AS A RESULT, you will be able to:

• Cope with the dark times in your life.
• Judge the present by the future.
• Represent God to those who suffer.
   

Reading: Where Is God When It Hurts? (WGWH), pp. 153-64.
Key Scripture: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1).
Without question, faith is at the heart of being a Christian. What is faith? Faith may be defined in ways that are ludicrous ("Faith is believing what you know ain't so") or profound ("Faith is the ear of the soul"). From a practical perspective, the most important thing we need to understand is that faith is the antidote to despair. It is through faith that we cope with the dark times in life. But how do we acquire such faith?
In the last chapter, in the Points to Ponder section, Tim Hansel shared something very valuable about faith. According to Tim, faith means "choosing joy" even in the midst of physical pain and despair. Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard expressed a similar view in his book The Sickness Unto Death (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1980). He taught that, from a biblical perspective, the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith (Rom. 14:23). Sin always involves distrust in God. It is an attempt to "reach beyond" God and capture pleasure or security on our own terms (Gen. 3:2-6). When this attempt fails, as it must, despair (or "lack of possibility") follows.
Faith, though it may know need, never knows despair. For faith believes that with God all things are possible. Through faith, the believer "obtains possibility" and thus avoids despair. Even if a situation appears hopeless, the believing heart trusts that salvation is either on its way to us (Dan. 10:4-14), or that we are on our way to it (Heb. 11:13-16).
Yancey calls this first type of faith "victorious faith." Victorious faith is exemplified in the lives of the heroes of Hebrews 11, many of whom saw miracles, physical healings, great deliverances, and victories on the battlefield. The second type of faith he calls "fidelity." Fidelity holds on to hope as the evidence of unseen victory, even in the midst of defeat and death. Job's persevering faith is an example of fidelity, as is the faith through which Jesus endured the Cross. A close examination of the heroes of Hebrews 11 shows that many of them practiced both kinds of faith at different times.
Like Abraham, David, and Jesus, we also must be prepared to practice both kinds of faith. At times we experience God's presence in all its sweetness and serenity. He is like a gentle shepherd, providing for our needs, protecting us from danger, and causing our lives to overflow with blessings (cf. Ps. 23). At other times God seems silent and absent. Our strength fails, and we are overwhelmed with confusion. During these times we need fidelity. We must hold on to the knowledge that God will not forsake us?indeed, that He has not forsaken us (cf. Ps. 22).
Why do we have to undergo times of testing like these? Why does God sometimes ask us to practice fidelity rather than give us victory? One likely explanation is expressed in a rabbi's commentary on Job: "Job had the kind of faith that cannot be shaken because it was formed out of having been shaken."
Still, the question of suffering remains a mystery. When we read Elie Wiesel's description of the pipel's execution (WGWH, p. 159-160), we are faced with the mystery of suffering at its starkest and bleakest. We can understand why many lost their faith in God in the Nazi concentration camps. Yet, equally mysteriously,Christian Reger (WGWH, p. 161-162) and others found their faith strengthened by the trials they underwent there. By learning to practice fidelity, they gained an insight into the mystery of suffering that "victorious faith" alone could not give.
In his introduction to Elie Wiesel's The Night Trilogy (foreword by Francois Mauriac from Night by Elie Wiesel. Copyright © 1960 MacGibbon & Kee. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, Inc., pp. 10-11), Nobel laureate Francois Mauriac wrote:
And I, who believe that God is love, what answer could I give my young questioner, whose dark eyes still held the reflection of that angelic sadness which had appeared one day upon the face of the hanged child? What did I say to him? Did I speak of that other Israeli, his brother, who may have resembled him?the Crucified, whose Cross has conquered the world? Did I affirm that the stumbling block to his faith was the cornerstone of mine, and that the conformity between the Cross and the suffering of men was in my eyes the key to that impenetrable mystery whereon the faith of his childhood had perished?
Mauriac recognized Christ's willing acceptance of suffering as the key by which human pain?and humanity itself?is redeemed by God. In Hebrews 12:2 we read, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame." Perfection in Christian living and the ability to cope with dark times come when we accept our sufferings as our share in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, and embrace them with joy and fidelity (Phil. 3:10).
When we suffer, we should not ask "Why?" but "To what end?" Jesus' faithfulness while undergoing suffering both pleased God (Phil. 2:5-11) and broke the spiritual grip of evil on the hearts of countless souls. When we "hang tough" and remain faithful during the dark times, it pleases God and even alters the universe in ways we cannot understand. As Daniel chapters 9-10 and the book of Job illustrate, our prayers, our faithfulness, and our fidelity have real repercussions in the spiritual world.
In C. S. Lewis' classic work of fiction The Screwtape Letters (London: HarperCollins Publishers, copyright in the text reserved C. S. Lewis, 1942), we eavesdrop on the demon Screwtape advising his nephew Wormwood about the spiritual world and the ways of "the Enemy" (God). He gives this "demons'-eye" view of fidelity: "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys" (p. 51).
Why do we suffer? And to what end? God wants us to participate with Him in the glorious process through which He is restructuring the world by bringing good from evil, victory from defeat, life from death. In this sense, "faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse" (WGWH, p. 161).
Key Concepts:
1. __________________ is the antidote to despair. [See above]
2. From the biblical perspective, the opposite of sin is (virtue, faith). [See above]
3. Perfection in Christian living comes through sharing in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings with _____________________ and fidelity. [See above]
4. _____ True or False. Our prayers, faithfulness, and fidelity have real repercussions in the spiritual world. [See above]
5. Jesus responded to His pain with _______________________, turning His attention to the good that His suffering could produce. [160]
6. In Jesus we have the assurance that God is ____________________ to our pain. [160]
7. ___________________ means believing in advance what we can only know in reverse. [161]
Points to Ponder:
A. Can you confidently say with Corrie ten Boom, "However deep the pit, God's love is deeper still" (WGWH, 158, )? In what ways do you experience the love of God? Discuss times in your life when you have experienced both "victorious faith" and "fidelity." What have you learned from each experience?


B. Discuss Francois Mauriac's remarks above in light of the excerpt from Elie Wiesel's Night in WGWH, p. 159. How would you have answered the prisoner's question, "Where is God now?"


C. Philip Yancey illustrates his belief that "Providence is a forward-looking, not a backward-looking, doctrine" in WGWH, No.4, p. 274. Read and discuss this scenario. How would you feel if you were "Jack"? Do you believe that the road "erases as you make every turn"? What implications does this view have in changing your attitudes about your mistakes?


D. According to Kierkegaard, faith, not virtue, is the opposite of sin because sin always involves distrust in God. Does this mean despair is, in some sense, a sin? In what sense is this both true and untrue? What do you think of Kierkegaard's definition of despair as "lack of possibility"? Why is faith "believing in advance what we can only know in reverse"?


Life Application: In both his life and his writings, theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer refuted the fallacies of "cheap grace" and risk-free discipleship. When we authentically lay ourselves open to God, we are asked to make choices?choices that "cannot be made in security" according to Bonhoeffer. As we say "Yes" to that call, we forfeit earthly security but come to know true grace and life. Are you ready to open yourself to authentic faith and discipleship? Is God calling you to risk something for Him today?


 

Reading: Where Is God When It Hurts? (WGWH), pp. 221-34.
Key Scripture: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
We begin this lesson with a short review. As we have noted, arguments denying God's goodness and power because of the problem of suffering run something like this:
1. If God is all-good and all-powerful, He will destroy evil.
2. Evil is not destroyed.
3. Therefore, God is not all-good; not all-powerful; or he doesn't exist.
We have learned that God allows suffering so that He can bring forth spiritual sons and daughters in this "vale of soul-making." Our imperfect world is the necessary prerequisite to the "best of all possible worlds." The argument above should therefore be corrected to read:
1. If God is all-good and all-powerful, He will destroy evil.
2. Evil is not yet destroyed.
3. Therefore, God will one day destroy evil.
The key point is that the "problem of suffering" is a matter of God's timing, not of God's power. Because God is all-good and all-powerful, nothing can be more certain than that evil and suffering will be destroyed. Death will be "swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54), and all that is mortal in us will be "swallowed up by life" (2 Cor. 5:4).
Paul's phraseology in these two verses is pregnant with meaning. He spoke of a day when we will have no blemish of physical, mental, or moral weakness. The uncreated life of God will course through us, healing every sorrow, redeeming every pain, clarifying all confusion, and soothing every anxiety. No wonder Paul said elsewhere, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). It seems too good to be true; too good to believe. But we can believe it because the process has already begun. Through Christ the victory has already been won.
When Jesus said, "Take heart! I have overcome the world" (see the Key Scripture), His disciples surely felt a thrill of expectation. The final showdown with Jesus' enemies was at hand. Perhaps they thought that in the clash of confrontation Jesus would finally unleash His full power. The religious leaders would bow down and accept His authority, and God would free Israel from its captivity to Rome. The disciples would be vindicated and receive their reward at last!
But expectation turned to horror and despair as the disciples watched Jesus humiliated, tortured, killed, and buried. During the dark Saturday that followed, they may have cursed themselves for daring to hope; for being naive enough to believe that good would triumph over evil, that love was more powerful than hate, that God would step in and change the course of human events.
In fact, the disciples had not been wrong in their hopes. They had been wrong in their timing and perspective. As Easter Sunday dawned, they learned that there is no darkness too great for God. They witnessed the great change beginning, and saw with their own eyes that the great reversal was underway. Through the risen Jesus, God was bringing forth life from death, joy from sorrow, victory from defeat. Jesus was the "firstfruits" (1 Cor. 15:20). But with the coming of the Holy Spirit the disciples understood that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead was at work in them as well. The power of "the coming age" (Heb. 6:5) ?of the "best of all possible worlds"?would also raise them up (Rom. 6:5; 1 Cor. 6:14) and bring about the transformation of the entire universe (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:20-21).
Philip Yancey notes that the tone with which the biblical authors dealt with the problem of suffering changed dramatically after the Resurrection. The indignation and anxiety that had marked Job, Lamentations, and many of the Psalms disappeared. The New Testament authors looked back to the Resurrection and found a firm foundation for faith and confidence. The midnight of their despair?Calvary?was forever illumined by the glory of Resurrection Sunday. That dark Friday became known as Good Friday because of the Resurrection. In the same way, the radiance of the Easter dawn continues to lighten our dark times with the brightness of resurrection hope.
Living as we do in the interim period on the way to the "best of all possible worlds," we dwell, as it were, in the silence of the Saturday before Easter. However, we have the great advantage of knowing that Sunday is coming, and that God will one day enlarge the miracle of the Resurrection to a cosmic scale. In the last lesson we said that "faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse." We can express the same insight now with more clarity: Faith is learning, through Christ, to judge the present by the future. It is the ability to see all things from the perspective of the Easter that is past, and the Easter that is to come.
After His resurrection, Jesus came quietly to His disciples and said, "Peace be with you!" (John 20:19). He forgave them, He taught them, and He even cooked their breakfast. If we were to stage our own resurrection scenario, we would probably choose to reappear in the Astrodome, or to give an interview via satellite. But there was no hint of bluster or bravado in Christ's triumph over death. From God's perspective the outcome had never been in doubt.
And it is still not in doubt. As we learn to live according to God's perspective, we become confident that, whatever our trial, we are "more than conquerors," for nothing can separate us from the resurrection promise implicit in God's love for us (Rom. 8:37-39). However dark our Calvary, it is a "Good Friday," for "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all?how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (v. 32).
Key Concepts:

The "problem" of suffering is a matter of God's __________________, not of God's power. [See above]
Because of the Resurrection, the Friday of Jesus' crucifixion became known as _____________________________ Friday. [See above]
Faith is learning, through Christ, to judge the present by the _________________. [See above]
Paul wrote that all that is mortal in us will one day be "swallowed up by ___________________." [See above]
The pattern of Jesus' response should convince us that God (does, does not) enjoy seeing us suffer. [229]
_____ True or False. When confronted with suffering, Jesus recoiled from it. [229]
_____ True or False. The authors of the New Testament expected suffering. [235]
Reflecting the understanding of the author of Hebrews, Christ has been called a"_____________________ Surgeon." [238]
Points to Ponder:
A. Instead of coming in weakness and enduring the Cross, what if Jesus had come as a Superman figure, immune to all pain? Would it have made any difference in our knowledge of God, or in our ability to have faith? Would it have affected God's knowledge of us?


B. How would you have responded to the "Farmhand's Cry" if you had been the pastor (WGWH, pp. 226-27)? If you had been a farmhand? Why do you think the priest at the young girl's funeral said Jesus Christ was not the "solution" to the problem of pain, but he was the "answer" (WGWH, p. 232)?


C. Read the poem in WGWH, No. 4, pp. 278. Do you agree with the philosophy of suffering expressed in the poem? What have you "asked for"? What have you "received"?


D. Review the four practical applications Yancey makes from the example of Jesus in the textbook. Have you experienced anything similar in your life?


E. What do you think of Jurgen Moltmann's statement, "God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him"(WGWH, p. 225)? Do you think the disciples would empathize with this idea? How would you compare it with C. S. Lewis' observation, "Joy is the serious business of heaven" (Letter to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 1964, p. 93)?


Life Application: Marilyn Ford's irreversible blindness was suddenly and miraculously healed after eighteen years. Her story is a dramatic reminder that we must allow for God's timing when praying for a miracle. Have you sought an answer to prayer for a long time without any apparent response from God? Don't lose faith and don't stop praying. Keep trusting God?and wait for His timing.

 

Reading: Where Is God When It Hurts? (WGWH), pp. 239-47.
Key Scripture: "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it" (1 Cor. 12:27).
In the last lesson we tried to imagine how Jesus' disciples felt when He said, "I have overcome the world." They were probably encouraged to hear such an assurance of victory. But the disciples were undoubtedly bewildered as well, for a few verses earlier we see Jesus announce His imminent departure (John 16:5). Hearing this, the disciples must have been dumbstruck with confusion and distress. But Jesus responded: "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (v. 7).
Anyone who has lost a parent can imagine how the disciples must have felt. In a way, the problem of Jesus' departure is as frustrating as the problem of suffering. Why didn't He stay? Why didn't He continue to teach and heal? Why didn't He bring world peace through His rule? How can it be to our "good" that He leave?
The answers to these questions lie in the nature and ministry of the Comforter. Though Jesus returned to His Father, He did not desert His followers. He promised: "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is also the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). As an incarnate human being, Jesus was limited to dwelling with His disciples. But through the agency of the Spirit, He came to dwell inside them (John 14:17). Through the inner working of the Spirit, each believer can be transfigured to resemble Jesus Himself (Eph. 4: 13). This slow but thorough process of transformation-from-within seems to be God's preferred method of redeeming both individuals and the world as a whole.
Paul taught the Christians at Ephesus, "In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). Like cells in a living body?or "living stones" forming a spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:5)?each individual Christian is a member of a single body of which Christ is the indwelling Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 12-13). More than thirty times in the New Testament, the church is called the "body of Christ," the instrument through which Christ remains incarnate and performs His ministry. The Church is Christ's body in far more than just an analogical sense. Paul (then Saul) learned how literal the connection between Christ and His body was when the risen Christ appeared to Him and asked: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Not knowing who was addressing him, Paul asked, "Who are you, Lord?" Jesus answered: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4-5). Jesus was so intimately identified with the individual Christians Paul was harassing that it was as if Paul were mistreating Jesus Himself.
The implications of God's decision to make Himself "present" through the church are staggering. If we asked a Hebrew in the fourteenth century B.C. what God looks like, he might point to a flaming pillar or he might describe an invisible presence dwelling in the sanctuary that would strike those dead who entered the Holy of Holies uninvited. If we "fast-forwarded to the time of Jesus and asked His disciples what God looks like, they might lead us to Jesus and tell us about His healing miracles or His teachings about unconditional love. But after the Ascension, the biblical narratives no longer focus on the awesome acts of Yahweh or the personal life of Jesus. Instead, we read in Acts and in the Epistles about the words and actions of ordinary men and women?"Christians"?in whom the Spirit of God resides and works.
God seems to have taken a terrible risk by making acknowledged sinners like ourselves His representatives. Has He miscalculated? Oddly enough, God made the same kind of "miscalculation" at the Cross. There He also demonstrated power through weakness. Paul wisely reminded us that "the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength" (1 Cor. 1:25). Whether we fully understand it or not, it is God's will that we, the church, reveal God to the world through our works and our holiness.
As the body of Christ, we give God a shape and a face. We are His hands and His voice. When Paul first came to Macedonia, he was exhausted, harassed, fearful, and needy. At that moment, the answer to the question "Where is God when it hurts?" for Paul was given in the ministry of Titus: "God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Cor. 7:6)
From this example we can understand that the answer to the question "Where is God when it hurts?" is another question: "Where is the church when it hurts?" The answer to the question "What does God look like?" is that He looks like Titus; He looks like Paul; He looks like Mother Teresa. He wears the face of countless Christians in numberless pews. In short, He looks like you and me. "For it is God works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Phil. 2:13). To paraphrase St. Augustine?without God, we can do nothing; without us, God will do nothing. We are the instruments of God's peace. Thus, for members of the body of Christ, ministry is not an option; it is a command. It is an expression of our true nature?of who we are, and of who we are becoming, in Christ.
As Jesus demonstrated, doing God's work often involves relieving suffering. Biologically, pain safeguards our physical well-being by directing attention to areas of need in the body. When we drive a painful splinter into our finger, we remove it quickly and without hesitation. It never occurs to us to ask our finger if it wants or needs our help! We feel its pain as our own because our finger is part of us.
The same principle applies on the spiritual level. Healthier members of the body of Christ must attend to the pain of weaker members. Since we are members of one body, their pain is our pain. In an even broader context, all pain is God's pain, and every hurting soul is an object of God's compassion. Christian love, at its root, is action taken in light of spiritual solidarity. As we discover our unity with other members of the body of Christ and with the needy everywhere, the quality of our love changes dramatically. It becomes truly Christlike?spontaneous, unconditional, filled with grace, self-sacrificial.
Key Concepts:
1. Christian love, at root, is action taken in light of spiritual __________________. [See above]
2. The Epistles reveal the God (alongside, within) us. [239-40]
3. The church as Christ's ________________________ expresses well what we are called to do by representing in flesh what Christ is like. [241]
4. For members of the body of Christ, ministry to the needy is (an option, a command). [243]
5. The Bible repeatedly tells us to bear one another's _____________________. [246]
6. The answer to the question "Where is God when it hurts?" is another question: "Where is the ________________________ when it hurts?" [247]
Points to Ponder:
A. Read the quote from Dr. Brand in WGWH, p. 242. What do you think the italicized statement means? How can we develop greater sensitivity to those around us in pain? How do we avoid being exploited when involved in a helping ministry? How do we avoid depression and burnout?


B. Read the quotation from John Howard Griffin in WGWH, p. 239. What are some examples of cliches about suffering? How can we avoid being patronizing or paternalistic when helping others? Are you comfortable offering solace to others through silence?


C. Study the Scriptures listed under "Body, B.2.b., The church as the body of Christ," NIVTSB, p. 23. Consider practical parallels to the unity of the physical body displayed by the body of Christ. Consider also John Donne's remarks in WGWH, p. 245 that "the church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all."


Life Application: Identify one person, family, or need around you where help is required. What can you do as an individual to be God's representative in this situation? What can your church or community do? Organize a group in your church to bring the problems of the dispossessed or needy to the attention of the whole church. Then coordinate some strategies of response.