In the nursing home where my mother resides there is a lady who is loudly verbally abusive of the people who so lovingly care for her. I am amazed how very patient are the caregivers. They take it with a smile. Last evening as I came by her door I heard her yell, “Hey God, what are you doing up there?”
At first I remembered Elijah on Mt. Carmel mocking the priests of Baal. Because they could not get a response Elijah asked them if Baal was on a journey or taking a nap. As a child I thought that was very funny. But I grew up and learned the people on their way to the death camps during WWII wrote on the walls of the cattle cars, “Where is God?”
And so it has been throughout the ages, men have struggled to answer the question, “If God is loving why does He allow such pain?” I along with you have heard many preachers bravely try to defend God with a variety of reasons.
Perhaps the only thing that we can say for sure is God decided to bear it with us. In Isaiah 53 we read, “Surely he has born our grief and carried our sorrows. With his stripes we are healed.” No one can ever say, “God you don’t understand.” He was here. We tortured Him to death. He knows the pain. And He promises when this is period of sin and death is over He will make all things new. Sin and death will be no more. It’s a promise worth clinging to.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 14, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453