SCRIPTURE & SUFFERING
People, religious or not, try to find meaning in everything, especially in suffering and in things that are unfair. Kids are sensitive to what is “fair” or not, and they will latch onto careless explanations that they hear from each other and from adults. They see kids and people that are “made different” or that don’t have it the way they do. The differences both fascinate and scare them, and it all seems unfair. Both kids and adults want some assurance that "it" probably won’t happen to them, and that it was, somehow, earned or deserved by the other, and thus can be dismissed or avoided. Unfortunately, I don't think faith is meant to be a bridge over troubled water, but a path through it.
The Bible offers many of these paths. The psalmist often asked God to “come back,” not because God actually abandoned him, but because he truly felt abandoned by God (i.e. Psalm 13:1). Even though he's always there, when things are going badly for me, I often wonder, “Where are you God, when I need you?” I can relate to what the psalmist was feeling and saying. The "truth" is reflected in how that biblical psalm allows and helps me express that feeling to God and others. I can feel heard and understood.
When things are going badly, I will sometimes wonder, "Why are you doing this to me?" God probably isn't doing anything to me at that moment, except listening to me complain. He isn't the one hiding my car keys or putting me in the hospital.
The Bible is the conduit for God's Living Word to engage with us. God's living Word speaks through scripture in great and powerful ways, especially when you trust that this living Word resides in, through and beyond these written words. God's Word includes the entire process of the events, the writing, reading, interpreting and applying of Biblical stories, lessons, and prayers to his peoples' lives.
The central goal of the Bible is to point beyond itself to a living and true God, who is merciful and loving, a living God, beyond words.
