This entry is in response to a question raised to my attention. I want to thank the individual for asking such a pertinent question and say that I hope I do well in responding to it! The question is: if God were to end suffering, would that limit his power?
Let me begin by stating how I plan to address this question. As with all entries on Living by the Logos, I am concerned with the biblical response to the problem of suffering. My goal here is not to show that if God does A, then B and C result. I am not concerned with the logical or philosophical problem of suffering, and it is not my goal to prove or disprove the existence of God. My aim here, instead, is to show how the Bible answers this question.
Does God intervene in our suffering?
The simple heart of this question is as follows: does God intercede on our behalf during hardships? Let us look to the example of Job.
When I read the question, the first example to pop in my mind was Job. Did God intercede on Job’s behalf? Absolutely! But that cannot be the end of the discussion (I am not a pastor, after all!). Let’s take an example from Job that really tugs at the heartstrings. We are told in the prologue that Job had seven sons and three daughters (Job 1:2, Complete Jewish Bible, Hendrickson, 2016). A short while after this cosmic bet between God and the satan begins (unbeknownst to Job), Job receives bad message after bad message from his servants. Fast-forward to 1:18-19, where a servant reports to him: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a strong wind blew in from over the desert. It struck the four corners of the house, so that it fell on the young people; they are dead, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.” He has already lost his livestock, crops, multiple servants, and now his children. You are probably familiar with his response:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will return there.
Adonai gave; Adonai took;
blessed be the name of Adonai” (Job 1:21)
Job did not, and could not, know the full picture. All for a mere bet, his children die painfully at the hands of God. Not one, all of them! Yet the man remains faithful, and even blesses the name of Yahweh. Pay close attention to the third line in that stanza.
Assuming you are already familiar with the story of Job, let us fast-forward once more to his restoration. Job 42:13 returns to the specific scenario we have just described: “He also had seven sons and three daughters.” How does that fill the void left in Job’s life by the death of his previous children? How on earth can that be considered restoration? It doesn’t bring them back; but what is argued here is that God did act to redeem Job’s suffering. This is what the Bible tells us.
Did God limit his power? No, because he was correcting his own actions. He inflicted Job (though he may not have been the direct agent), and finding Job to remain faithful under such a barbaric test, he intercedes for Job. Though as Philippe Guillaume and Michael Schnuck note, Job’s restoration is only partial, God works to resolve the suffering he has subjected Job to.1 Guillaume and Schnuck additionally argue that some of Job’s suffering, especially his physically ailments, are not addressed in his restoration.2 Why is it that God only partially worked in Job? That answer is open to interpretation.
Does God intercede in suffering? Yes. Does it make any sense how he goes about this? Absolutely not. But the Bible does believe that God intervenes. If so, where is he today? Central to my theology is that God is essentially done working in the world – for now, at least. Call it deism. Call it whatever you like. God would alter the laws of nature for ancient Israel, but he does not for his followers after the work of Christ. Why? That question I will leave to you to answer. Where is God in the darkness? Does he even care? Take these questions seriously. Ask them of yourself as you dig into the Scriptures.
Personal reflection
God’s power is not limited by choosing to intervene in the suffering of his creation. So, then, why doesn’t he? We may never know the answer. As I have mentioned, I believe it is because he has given up. I do not expect this to be your answer, and I hope that you will arrive at your own, custom conclusion as have I. Clearly, confirming Biblical Truth #1, God has the power of intervention without sacrificing his power. But when I look to the suffering of others, why do they not receive even the partial restoration Job did? It is not that he is incapable. Could it be that he is unwilling? I would like to conclude with a quote from Guillaume and Schnuck’s article: “In a book devoting an entire chapter to wisdom (Job 28), the possibility that YHWH may commit foolishness should be given some consideration.”3
1. Guillaume Philippe and Michael Schnuck. “Job’s Intercession: Antidote to Divine Folly.” Biblica 88, no. 4 (2007): 459. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42614801
2. Ibid., 457-458.
3. Ibid., 459-460.