May 17

Suffering for the Glory of God
John 9

Why do we suffer?  Of all philosophical problems this is perhaps the oldest and most difficult.
The theory most common in the time of the New Testament is displayed here.  You suffer because someone sinned.

  • The most likely sinners were held to be the parents.  Having a child born blind is certainly grievous.  But this seems unfair;  why should the child suffer for the sins of the parents?
  • A theory of the time was that the child had sinned, somehow, in the womb, before birth.   This theory was the one the disciples wanted to know about.
The modern rationalist, of course, has a scientific explanation for the suffering. Here it would probably be a medical one.  But that is not the answer to the question asked.  Science can tell us what caused the suffering - but not why we (in particular) are the ones to suffer.  The question is not, "Why?" but rather "Why Me?"
Christ gives us a different answer here:  that the work of God might be displayed in his life.  The phrase, "the work of God," is a curious one:
  • In the Old Testament this was a phrase of great power.  For example, it was used to describe the writing by the finger of God on the tablets giving the Ten Commandments.
  • The Old Testament also teaches us that the "work of God" was beyond the comprehension of man, too high for him to understand.
  • The New Testament reveals a new thought:  the work of God is that we believe in Jesus Christ.
Combining this, we see that this man suffered that he and others might come to believe in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.  Suffering for the glory of God is an old thought, though not much preached in our day.  We refuse to see that this could be the case.  But consider Job:  God never explained his suffering to him.  His friends were so sure that he was a sinner they never considered anything else (judge not, my friends).  But his suffering brought glory to God;  the "patience of Job" is still a virtue in our day.
Suffer you shall.  But all things can be done to the glory of God, and suffering most certainly can.  The question is, will you give God the glory as you suffer?  So that others might believe?