June 01, 2005

Where is God when it hurts?

"How can there be a God, if we have to suffer so?"
"How can God let this happen?"
"Where is God when it hurts?"

Sometimes it's hard to believe in God, and that he loves us, when we see so much suffering. Not just the major events such as wars, earthquakes, floods, and fires, but issues that are personal to us, such as loss of a loved one, loss of a job, having a car accident, or getting sick.

There are two problems here: one is understanding the nature of God, and the other is having correct expectations about what God can and will do for us.

Like a perfect parent, God wants us to be able to look after ourselves and grow to be responsible adults. If he rescued us every time we got into trouble, we would soon become completely dependent upon him and we would not be able to live our own lives. God has given us the freedom to make our own choices in life, and we need to experience the consequences of those actions so that we learn to make better choices in future.

Simple error correction is much different than profound pain, of course. It would be much better to just have the light go on so that we'd say "Okay, should have done that differently." Instead, we truly suffer. We experience ongoing pain, and emotional torment, as well as deep grief, sadness, guilt, despair and hopelessness.

Far from being pointless, our darkest emotions reflect our humanity and connect us to each other. Because we all experience the pain and trials of life, we can empathize with each other. God wants US to help each other during our times of hardship. That's why, in most cases, he doesn't step in immediately to rescue us from our problems.

Being able to help someone else is a blessing that we all can experience. No matter how low you feel, you will get a positive boost if you reach out to help someone else. That act of kindness benefits you as much, or more, than it benefits the person you helped. A study by Stephanie Brown of University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research found that people who helped others were healthier and lived longer than those who were not as inclined to assist someone else.

When we do an act of kindness for someone else, we are fulfilling the mission God gave us, and he is indeed present in that act. He is also present, even in our darkest hours, as spiritual comfort if we just seek that solace in prayer. When we ask God to help us during our hard times, he does hear that plea. He may send someone else to assist us; he may give us comfort so that we can bear up under our burdens somewhat better; or we may feel the burdens lessen because we have turned over some of that responsibility to God.

We may be tempted to blame God for our troubles or for not being there to help us when we are hurting. Instead of wasting energy on that, do an act of kindness for someone else. It will help you forget your own problems for a short time, and raise your spirits. Accept the help someone else may want to give you. Turn your troubles over to God and ask for his help as well. Then, just keep pushing forward, doing what you can do with faith that this, too, shall pass. Ultimately, you will find that God isn't that far away at all.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Powered by Blogger