On one occasion Jesus received word that Lazarus, a dear friend, was sick and near death. His response is quite puzzling to us and to some seems even insensitive. Rather than rising immediately and hasting to the house of Lazarus and curing him of his illness as Jesus had the power to do, He waited two days. Christ intentionally allowed Lazarus to die. Why? Jesus answers that question: "that the Son of God might be glorified" (John 11:4). Jesus even says to His disciples, "I am glad...that I was not there" (11:15). WHY? Again, Jesus answers that question: "to the intent that ye may believe." Finally, after two days of waiting, Jesus says, "Let us go unto him." When Jesus arrives Martha receives word, and the Bible says, "as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, [she] went and met Him" (11:20). She wasted no time in taking up her case with God. She says unto the Christ, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (11:21).
Doesn't she sound like so many today? "If God had been there," or, "If God existed... He would not have allowed my husband to die." "If God were with me then I wouldn't have lost my job." If God this, or, if God that. On and on people will question God and even their own belief in God. But now notice Jesus' response, and Martha's response as well.
Martha continues, "I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee" (11:22). She expresses faith in Jesus. He then answers, "Thy brother shall rise again" (11:23). Now notice, the idea of a resurrection at that very moment was not something that Martha could really wrap her head around. She does not say, "That sounds good Lord, raise him." No, she looks forward to the final resurrection. "Martha said unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (11:24). She had the idea that some time, somewhere, some day, Lazarus would be raised, but she had not a thought in her head about her brother coming out of the ground that very moment. "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (11:25, 26). I find Martha's answer very interesting. She does not answer His question directly. Christ says, "Do you believe this?" And she responds, "Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world" (11:27), in essence, "I believe in YOU Lord."
We find that a strange response to suffering, but I suggest that it is the only proper response to suffering. When bad things happen, the only recourse we have is to say to God, "I believe in You Lord. I trust You God. I hope in You."
Consider the account of Job: after Satan strips Job of all of his possessions and family (save his nagging wife), Job turned to the Lord, worshipped, "And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (1:21). In the midst of his suffering, Job expressed his faith in God by saying, "Blessed be the name of the LORD." This hardship did not shake Job's faith in the character of God; he still considered the Lord to be "blessed," and the Bible says that "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (1:22). Well, I suppose that wasn't enough for the Old Serpent. He wants more, and God allows it. Satan is now allowed to touch Job's body, and he does so. Job, having been struck with boils, is besought by his wife to "curse God, and die" (2:9). There is not a more beautiful expression of faith in all of the Bible than is found in the following verse: "But he said to her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10).
O, how easy it is to express trust in God when things are going well. When we are happy, when the economy is good, when we get promoted, when our family is healthy, we can so easily say, "Praise God! He is a faithful and trustworthy God. Things are as they should be." But do we trust God when things are not as we think that they "should be"? Has God changed? The same God that we trusted was doing things properly when things were "as they should be," do we now think that He can no longer be trusted to govern the universe properly? Do we now charge God with wrong doing? Or even injustice? Do we say to God, "This ought not to be happening?" We should all strive to have the same faith in God that Job did when he said, "We trusted God when things were going good, shall we not also trust Him when things are going badly? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" What faith! And it doesn't stop there. As bad as things got, Job still clung to the God of heaven, saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (13:15).
This is not to say that Job made no mistakes. There were times when he behaved just as many of us, I'm sure, would behave. He wanted to argue with God and do his best to prove that these things "ought not" be happening to him. Job says, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me" (23:3-5). But even in this, even though Job did not necessarily agree with God concerning the way things "ought to be," even then, he was able to say, "He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (23:10). He trusted that God had a plan and a purpose, and that God was ultimately in control.
The ending of the book again illustrates what our answer to suffering ought to be. God eventually appears to Job. One might expect that now, finally, God will explain to Job why he has been suffering, but such is not the case. God, throughout four chapters of the Bible, presents Job with questions that he could not possibly answer. Why? Because God is impressing upon Job how little he knows and how much greater God's wisdom is than his own. We might summarize God's message this way: "Hush little child. You could not possibly understand. Just. Trust. Me." We see it again. The same message. God is wise, He is loving, He is powerful, and He is in control. Job listens, and responds. "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee...I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (42:2, 5, 6). "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job...So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (42:10, 12). The message of Job, from beginning to end, is a simple one: even when we don't understand, God is worthy of our trust. Trust Him.
It would do us well to consider also the apostle Paul. Paul was afflicted with a "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). Now, I don't know what his thorn in the flesh was, but I know this: it was unpleasant enough for him to beseech the Lord three times to remove it (cf. 12:8). What is God's response? "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (12:9). We should not be surprised by this. Over and over God's answer is the same, and friends, I'm convinced that God's answer is just the same today as it was then.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people, that's just the way things are. The fastest man does not always win the race. The strongest man doesn't always win the battle. The wisest man doesn't always get rewarded. The most talented person does not always get the recognition. "Time and chance" happen to us all (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:11). And when these bad things happen, when things do not go the way we think things "ought" to go, what should we do? God is the answer. When we say to ourselves, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?" What is the answer we receive? "Hope thou in God" (Psalm 42:5).
Trust God, and all is well.
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