Pain Without Suffering

Conversations, Gary Moon, Phillip Yancey, and Jan Johnson, The Problem of Pain

We are like children trying to understand the minds of an adult. Just as an infant cannot understand how an object can still be present in a room when it is hidden from vision, we cannot fathom how God’s love can still exist when it becomes concealed by tragedy. Evil is not a problem. Problems have solutions. Evil is a mystery. It defies solution through human intellect. Only faith can remove us from the dark dilemma.  (Gary Moon, Finding God in the Midst of Pain and Suffering)

Pain is directional, after all. It exists not to make us miserable but to force us to pay attention to something that needs changing. I see physical pain as the language the body uses to communicate a matter of urgent importance—and exactly the same principle applies to psychological or spiritual pain. (Philip Yancey, What Good Is God interview)

Spend less time and energy trying to clean up the culture around you—a task Jesus and Paul did not seem concerned about—and more time and energy creating a counter-culture that presents a compelling alternative while exposing the shallowness of its surroundings.  (Yancey)

First, I would say, don’t hold back. The Bible gives ample proof that God welcomes our honest expressions of emotion, even when they include profound disappointment and rage.  Further, I would say that suffering should come with a warning label: Do not practice this alone. (Yancey)

Jesus wept even for those who wanted to destroy him.  (Jan Johnson, A God Who Weeps)

Jesus "woes" to the Pharisees and his lament for Jerusalem (Matthew 23):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc8qOXeTsUQ#t=185m53s.

God does not have a problem with pain.  He comes into it through Christ.  He sees it through Christ.  He overcomes it through Christ.  Pain is not a problem in light of the the gospel.  This is the good news.

In itself, pain invites response and keeps people from growing too complacent.  As with other "natural" feelings, it has greatly increased with the Fall and has moved from mere pain to suffering and misery.  Change, growth, and healing do not occur quickly enough, so pain takes residence in my body and mind and creates suffering, much like anger can take residence and create rage or contempt.

God's solution is not one easily accepted.  Jesus did not seek pain, but neither did he avoid it exactly.  He accepted pain and addressed it.  He brought healing and comfort more than explanations.  When the time was right, when God's will was plain, he embraced pain and underwent suffering in order to overcome suffering with joy, peace, and love.  His victory did not remove pain, but defeated suffering and the outcome of hopeless, empty death.  No one need suffer or die alone anymore.

I am awed by the statement above that "Evil is not a problem. . . .  Evil is a mystery."  This shows that I cannot unravel the "problem of pain" on my own.  Mysteries are revealed.  Jesus's acceptance of and address to pain is a revelation more than an answer.  In him we find out not so much why pain and suffering exist, but how we are to deal with them.  Revelation comes through faith, that is, trust.  That is why the "answers" vary and fall short of universal truth.  They are pictures of journeys that other people have taken and reveal the kind of trust they had in God.

The "shallowness of [my] surroundings" encourages either glib or hopeless answers to pain and suffering.  What is needed is a community of faith, that is, a gathering of people dedicated to trusting God through pain and suffering.  This sort of community is not drawn and held together primarily by descriptions of what faith they have nor by what actions faith demands, but by lives drawn together by a trust in God through Christ that accepts and addresses pain in a walking friendship with God.

Such depth is evidenced through weeping and true sorrow.  Such sorrow does not have to be misery.  I do not think God is miserable because of suffering in and around him.  He is characterized by joy.  Only through faith, hope, and love can suffering be defeated and bring out love, joy and peace in my heart.  Such change comes through sorrow, which in Christ leads not to despair, but to change and growth and life.

Lord, may my tears come easily.  May they be real.  May I have the trust to accept and address pain instead of always denying it or running from it.  Such actions lack faith and lead to further suffering.  Calm my fear and reveal in me, to me, and through me your work in this world, especially in pain and suffering.  Amen.


I might say (very tentatively) that God has pain, but does not suffer.  I might say that although immutable in character, the love of God brings the reality of pain.  This would be all I could really say about God.  For myself, if growth is my destiny in God, then pain is also there.  Yet it may be a pain without suffering, a stretching and soreness from growth without the prolonged and mysterious pain of suffering.  This requires more thought and certainly more experience to understand.  May God's grace guide me.