Tag: Disease

Lament as Response to Suffering Part 1.

 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

                                                                         Ps 38:1

We had previously explored how suffering, specifically disease, has both a scientific and moral explanation.  These explanations are not logically contradictory much less mutually exclusive.  We learned that death and suffering exist because of evil and sin.  Creation was corrupted by our first parent’s disobedience and rebellion.  It is hard for us to accept a non-quid pro quo cause of suffering unless we understand the true power and evil of sin.  The depth of it is experienced in personal and corporate travails.  We come to appreciate the gravity of the transgression when we look to the Cross and see the proportionate punishment. 

How do we respond to such tragedy?  Abstract philosophical and theological exercises help instruct us but bring little comfort much less healing.  The Scriptural answer is the lament.  Laments can be individual or communal.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines lament as “a passionate expression of grief.” Biblical lament is more than just raw emotion.  It is a prayerful process wherein we turn to God with that grief and expect a response.  This most ancient and divinely prescribed way of grieving has much to offer us in this high-tech world.

Laments generally consist of five basic parts:[1]

  1. Address and cry for help.
  2. The lament – a description and expression of suffering.
  3. Statement of faith and trust.
  4. Petition for intervention and relief.
  5. Doxology – praise and often a vow.

There is sometimes a confession of sin and petition for forgiveness based upon God’s covenantal promises.  Not all laments have every feature, but they do have in common the basic cry for help, petition for intervention and statement of trust.  Exploring Biblical lament helps us understand how we seek help in our covenantal relationship with God.  It is through our praying laments that our Lord helps us.  We can use the liturgical laments available in scripture or compose our own.

Psalm 38 is attributed to David and the superscription notes that it is for the memorial offering.  The memorial offering was a burnt offering of grain done in remembrance of what God had done and to show thanksgiving, praise, and devotion (Lev. 2:1-3).  It was probably sung during on these occasions. 

Notice that David addresses God by his personal, covenantal name, YHWH.  This speaks of a relationship between persons and not some vague cry to an impersonal entity.  David cries out to someone he knows, is alive, empathetic and willing to respond.  YHWH knows David as the creator who “formed my inward parts” and “knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13).  That knowledge includes an understanding human anguish.  Incarnate God wept when he saw the pain surrounding the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35).  The writer of Hebrews can proclaim: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). 

God is our loving father who has the authority and power to answer our petitions.  His covenantal love consists of promises to that effect; promises we can claim and depend upon.  The delivery of Israel from the bondage in Egypt points toward a far greater deliverance of his children from death and corruption.  The Exodus was a fulfillment of God’s covenant just like his promise to hear and answer prayer. 

We need never fear, for God is always with us (Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:9; Is. 41:10; Mt 28:20; and Heb. 13:5).  So sure is God’s presence and faithfulness that Paul writes “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro. 8:38-9).

YHWH is our father who judges and corrects, therefore: “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you” (Deut. 8:5).  We should neither despise nor grow weary of this discipline (Prov. 3:11).  Chastisement leads the faithful away from sin and death (Prov. 5:23; 15:10; 1 Cor. 11:32).  God’s discipline is both loving and beneficial (Heb. 12:6-10) and is of “just measure” (Je. 48:28). 

David is crying unto God not to rebuke him in anger nor discipline him in wrath.  The Lord’s anger and wrath are penal and not necessarily corrective.  David is not asking YHWH to withhold fatherly chastisement.  Allen Ross phrases it “do not in your anger rebuke me” and “do not in your wrath chasten me.”  Here, God’s anger and wrath are the concern and not simply a rebuke or discipline.  David calls upon YHWH’s covenantal promises that include loving chastisement with the goal of repentance and forgiveness.  For David knows YHWH’s mercy as he proclaimed: “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man” (2 Sam. 24:14).

God’s wrath is poured out upon those who reject him and remain unrepentant.  They have rejected God’s mercy and grace.  They are punished without hope.  They do not cry out in lament but cry out in anger and “gnashing of teeth” (Ps. 112:10; Mt. 8:12).  They will not be heard for they broke covenant with God.  Jonathan Edwards preached that the only thing standing between such people and the pit of hell is God’s long-suffering patience.  The opportunity for repentance will pass and that time may be sudden. 

Who do you cry unto?  Do you know the Lord?  Is he your father?  Is he your hope and comfort?  Who can deliver you?  Medicine or an operation my help today but you will face deaths door with certainty.  What lay on the other side for you?  Is it wrath or love?  This is what our Lord is teaching you through trials such as illness.  To know him, trust him and love him is to be able to say with Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).  Though ill and suffering, in life or death, Paul served and honored Christ knowing he will be with the Lord. 

Therefore, in illness and suffering the first thing is to take stock of your relationship with God.  Only children can cry to their father.  Are you a child or a stranger and enemy?  God asks that you bring nothing but your sin to him.  He provides all else including the faith and strength you need.  It is all of grace, a free and undeserved gift.  Repent and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Enter the rest of the Father.  For then, he will surely hear your cry (Ex. 22:23).

Next we will look at how David, a man after God’s own heart, seeks the Father. 

[1] Hays, J.D. & Duvall, J.S. eds., 2011. The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books

The Theodicy of Disease

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:1-3

The disciples’ question may seem odd in the 21st century.  Modern science has uncovered the various mechanisms by which we become ill.  Whether it is an infectious agent, a genetic mutation, the consequence of behavior, or from injury, we have accepted a pathophysiological understanding of disease.  Illness as a moral failing, divine retribution, or consequence of sin has been rejected by secular thinkers.  If anyone were to suggest that disease has its origin in sin they would be dismissed as superstitious, medieval, bigoted or mad.

Science is by nature descriptive.  Its methods do not address morality.  It can answer “how” but not the great philosophical “why.”  Science cannot tell you the great purpose behind such things though it can, in detail, describe the various chain of events by which the thing has come about.  Without a moral answer, science leaves patients as victims of an impersonal chain of causes and effects which serve no clear purpose and cause great suffering even unto death. 

We long to know why.  How often have we asked, “why me?” or ‘why she?”  When we ask “why” in the setting of great tragedy we are not content with mere scientific description but desire knowledge and wisdom that brings purpose, context and comfort.  It is for this we must look beyond science, even human understanding, for answers. 

Are the scientific theories of disease incompatible with the Biblical understanding?  Must we choose one or the other?  Does the one exclude all moral agency and responsibility or the other preclude using human knowledge to effect moral good as part of God’s Providence?

Notice the disciples are not asking Jesus if this man’s illness is due to divine retribution but whose sin was the cause of his illness.  The disciples clearly believe that illness (as well as other disasters such as war, drought and famine) are the result of punishment for sins committed by the victims and/or their ancestors.  The disciples lived in world where it was understood that tragedy, such as illness, was linked to human wrongdoing.  This view was prominent in Western culture until the 18th century Enlightenment.

Clearly there are numerous examples of God bringing disease and pestilence upon individuals and peoples.  Witness the account of the ten plagues in Exodus including the smiting of the first born.  The Lord punished Israel with pestilence after inciting David to number the people (2-Sam 24).  God afflicted the child David conceived in adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:14–15).  When God revealed his Name to Israel he said “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). In the NT, an angel of the Lord struck down Herod the tetrarch (Acts 12:23).

At the same time the Book of Job rejects a quid pro quo analysis of every specific sin and tragedy.  Therefore, it is perilous to attribute a specific ailment or tragedy to a person’s specific sin.  Scripture clearly states when God is punishing a person or group for their sins.  Further, God sends warnings through His prophets that they may repent.  For us to state that a city, group or individual suffers under specific divine wrath for specific sins is to presume upon God’s will and assume knowledge that may be hidden within the divine council.   

We are taught in Scripture that illness and death are the result of the Fall.  Paul writes as part of his discussion on Law and Grace: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).  This is not to deny that there are consequences of specific behaviors.  Smoking leads to cancer, obesity to diabetes and sexual promiscuity to sexually transmitted diseases.  These relationships are part of how our world is after the Fall.  They are epidemiologic and pathophysiologic processes that find their “how” in science and their ontological “why” in sin.  Therefore, we can rightly state that a drunkard who develops liver failure is a sinner who suffers the consequences of their drinking.

Many diseases are not that straightforward.  For example, say a child suffers from a disease caused by a rare genetic mutation and science teaches us that this mutation happened because of genetic recombination which normally produces variations resulting in humans who are different and unique.  In this case, the recombination process generated genes that cause suffering and perhaps death.  Scripture teaches that all people are sinners, at the very least born into sin as children of Adam.  Yet science cannot explain how sin gives rise to such an illness.  Who sinned, the child or the parents that he was born with this disease? 

Jesus does not deny that the blind man or his parents sinned.  Nor does he deny that their sins deserve punishment.  Rather, Jesus reveals a third answer.  The reason this man was born blind is that God would reveal himself through a miraculous healing and not only display His power but give authentication to Jesus as the Messiah.  There are times and places where God performs works to authenticate his word and the messenger who brings that word.  God uses evil to effect good.  He permits evil for purposes that are most often too high for us to fathom.  Suffering here may lead to salvation there.

This man’s malady has become the subject by which God brings a message of salvation to those who were present. In this way, the man’s blindness was used by God to bring this message to countless others through the witnessed account recorded by the Apostle John.    

The word translated as “works,” ἔργα (erga) is from the root word εργον (ergon).  We derive our English word ergonomics from this Greek root.  When used of God, ergon refers to His creative and redemptive acts that flow from His covenantal faithfulness/loving-kindness (חֶסֶד, hesed) and His covenantal love, אַהֲבָה (‘ahabah).  God’s hesed was manifested by his mighty acts of salvation for Israel.  In the New Testament, such acts are understood to arise from God’s Love, ἁγαπή (ag-ah-pey).  

Here faithfulness and love are not separate from act.  The tragedy of illness is used by God to do a great good and to point to the greatest good, Himself.  God is not the author of confusion (1-Cor 14:33) nor does he tempt us with evil (James 1:13).  Rather God created what was good (Genesis 1:31) and evil befell the world when man sinned (Genesis 3:14-24; Romans 5:12).  Paul writes “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22).  We, who believe, also groan as we await God’s new creation free of evil, corruption and suffering.  This is our true hope, our faith in Christ, for he is our hope (1-Tim 1:1) as we surely share in his resurrection. 

God created us as moral agents who experience the consequences, reward or punishment, of our actions.  God’s justice, righteousness and holiness cannot abide sin and demand its punishment.  God’s grace, mercy, love and kindness call for forgiveness of transgressions.  It is at the Cross where these are perfectly satisfied as Christ bore our sins and the punishment they deserved whilst his righteousness is imputed to those who trust in him.

God has a grand purpose for the salvation of man and the creation of a new heavens and earth for us to live in eternal fellowship.  This includes the resurrection of the perfect spiritual body into a new world that knows no sin and decay.  It is better than Eden where man was tempted and fell.  There will be no temptation in the new creation, and we will not ever fall.  Those who believe will live in security and harmonious bliss.  Yet until that time we wait patiently, wondering “how long,” and praying for the grace we need to persevere. 

We also are God’s chosen instruments to display that grace and to bring the Gospel to others.  This is often done in suffering.  For we are commanded to suffer with our Savior and take up our cross (Lk 9:13, 14:27; Mt 10:38, 16:24; Mk 8:34).  When we suffer, we do so for Christ’s name’s sake (Acts 9:16, Phil 1:29).  We are to do so gladly (1-Peter 1:6) knowing who is with us and sustains us (Ro 5:3) and that it is for just a season (1-Peter 5:10; 2-Cor 4:17).

The Cross is the answer to theodicy (lit. God-justice) wherein God is vindicated for his tolerance of evil.  It is in this context that we suffer illness, tragedy and death.  It is in this hope that we suffer with an eye to the future and with love for those God reaches through us.  We suffer for God and others as Christ suffered for us. Our suffering is always just, and our redemption is a free gift of grace.  Those who refuse the gift by rejecting Christ are without this hope.  These are hard truths. 

Scripture gives us instruction how to persevere in such trials.  It is found in the laments and is grounded in our knowledge that comes through faith. It is effected by the Holy Spirit through God’s Holy Word and with the love and support of the church.   We do not suffer alone.  Therefore, when we suffer, we cry out i to the Lord and seek is face.  When we see others suffering, we come to their aid and comfort them.  In all these things we glorify God and praise Him for what he has and will do.