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| Straits Times Illustration: Miel |
'Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?' Job 2:10
Who takes responsibility for the Covid-19 pandemic? In the anniversary of the pandemic it has devastated public health, hospitals and economies around the world. By 14 Mar 2021 it has claimed 120,033,813 victims and 2,658,861 lives. There were plenty of blame - countries blaming countries, people blaming governments, citizens blaming each other. Was it a failure of public health? We are all playing the blame game.
The modern world seems unable to accept disasters. We see ourselves as being able to improve the world, able to control its destiny. We see God as being obligated to arrange things for the good of this world to everyone's benefit. Hence when things go wrong some blame God. Every new major tragedy evokes the same kind of public questions and challenges to faith; questioning God and even blaming Him in the face of the disaster.
It may be easier for many of us who are bystanders to the Covid Pandemic to just become oblivious to it although we may realise that it has changed society and the way we live. But for those who were infected or who have lost loved ones, the suffering is real.
Considering the experience of Job, Charles Swindoll (ref 1), wrote
- There are days too dark for the sufferer to see light
- There are experiences too extreme for the hurting to have hope
- There are valleys too deep for the anguished to find relief.
No wonder people lay blame for their difficulties and some blame God.
The disastrous experience of Job and his family, evoked Job's wife to enter into the Blame Game. She said to Job, "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!" Job 2:9
The self righteous friends of Job posited that Job's suffering was his fault, Job was not right with God.
Job replied to these accusations with a profound question, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Job 2:10. The suffering was so hideous that Job came close to blaming God and he questioned His Maker but he eventually refused to lay any blame on anyone, least of all on God.
But the whole world will still ask questions of this plague and finding fault.
In the book 'Walking with God through pain and suffering' (Ref 1) Timothy Keller introduced the position of Peter Berger that every society and culture must make sense of the suffering and disaster inflicted on them.
Peter saw in the Bible two ways of resolving this inner and eternal struggle:
- The Suffering of Job. Here we have the most difficult and severe truth, that in the face of disasters and suffering in this world we cannot question God. When Job, attempting to find a reason for the calamity, asked God to explain the sorrows and griefs that had come upon him, God's response was Job had no right to pose the question in the first place.
- The Solution of Christ. Against the harsh reality of Job's experience which many would be unable to understand nor withstand, there is a second position, Jesus Christ who came to suffer for all. In this suffering, Christ provided empathy, sympathy and comfort for all subsequent sufferers so that we can withstand and understand the disasters that may befall us.
Timothy Keller wrote, 'The book of Job rightly points to human unworthiness and finitude and calls for complete surrender to the sovereignty of God. But taken by itself the call might seem more than a sufferer could bear. Then the New Testament comes filled with an unimaginable comfort for those who are trusting in God's sovereignty. The sovereign God Himself came down into this world and experienced its darkness. He personally drank the cup of suffering down to the dregs. And He did it not to justify himself but to justify us, that is to bear the suffering, death and curse for the sin that we have earned. He takes the punishment on Himself so that someday He can return and end all the evil (and plagues) without having to condemn and punish us. God voluntarily become weak and plunges Himself into vulnerability and darkness out of love for us.'
God is with us in this pandemic. How Great Thou Art!
Lionel
Ref 1: Charles Swindoll. Job, A Man of Heroic Endurance. Thomas Nelson 2004
Ref 2: Timothy Keller. Walking with God through Pain and suffering. Hodder and Stoughton 2013
