Week Two - Day Two: Doubting Our Doubts
“My doubts are very, very personal. If there is a God who is good and all-powerful how could He let this happen? I’ve heard that argument before – and believe me, right now I buy it completely.”
This complaint came from someone sitting in my office and they declared their doubt through tears. This declaration wasn’t made triumphantly, as if the person had won some argument. It was made despairingly. This was a heart that wanted to be wrong. It wanted, not only to believe in a good and all-powerful God, but who wanted to see that God in action. Unfortunately, they had personal evidence of the lack of action. God had not come through. It seemed to them as if evil had triumphed! Their suffering felt pointless and profound.
What do we make of the presence of suffering?
The philosophical argument behind this doubt has been made countless times. Here’s the synopsis. If God were good and all-powerful, then there would not be pointless evil in the world. But because tsunamis kill hundreds of thousands of people, God is either:
- not good and doesn’t care, or
- He’s not powerful enough to do anything about it, or
- He doesn’t exist at all.
Some have argued that He’s not good; in fact, “He” is nothing but an impersonal force. Some have argued that He’s not all-powerful. There are things about the universe that He cannot do anything about. And, of course, some have argued that He is a figment of our overactive imaginations.
Honestly, most of us don’t have the time or energy to have this argument with ourselves or with anyone else. We may not even think that this particular doubt is very much a part of our spiritual landscape. But I want to challenge that assumption. I suspect that almost every time we experience grave disappointment with life/circumstances, we are also, at least in part, disappointed with God. I suspect that every time a “why me?” cry bursts from our hearts, it really amounts to an accusation against God, at least in part. I suspect we really are bothered by this doubt – and we’re bothered by it far more than we imagine.
Of course, we don’t have time to give this a full treatment in one morning exercise. Plus, giving this particular concern a full treatment would really involve some serious heart-work, wouldn’t it? This is far deeper than an intellectual exercise. This doubt usually grows out of intense and very personal pain.
A quick answer to the presence of pointless suffering
Having said that, let’s take a quick swipe at it this morning. And if you need to do more work in this area, I suggest that you do so. This kind of doubt can smolder for years. And if we allow it to do so, it will eventually burst into the kind of flame that can burn up a whole forest of faith.
So let me repeat, with this particular doubt we challenge how a good and all-powerful God could allow pointless evil. Notice how I put emphasis on the pointlessness of it. I think that’s only fair. After all, if we saw the point, we would not be questioning what happened, right?
An illustration might help. Whenever I have tried to lift weights, I have experienced a suffering of sorts. But I don’t question it. I know its point. In fact, I invited the suffering precisely because I know the point of it. So, let’s take a swipe at what seems like the pointlessness of our suffering. Again, let’s look at a Tim Keller comment.
“This reasoning is, of course, fallacious. Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one. Again we see lurking within supposed hard-nosed skepticism an enormous faith in one’s own cognitive faculties. If our minds can’t plumb the depths of the universe for good answers to suffering; well, then there can’t be any!”
Keller offers an illustration from philosopher Alvin Plantinga that serves the point here. Plantinga muses that if we were camping in a pup tent and someone asked us to look for their missing dog – a full-grown St. Bernard – well, if we did not see the dog in our tent we could very well assume that she wasn’t in the tent. It’s hard to hide a St. Bernard in a pup tent. But if someone asked us to make sure there were not any no-see-ums in the tent, you could not make a similar assumption. You could not guarantee that there weren’t any no-see-ums by simply looking in the tent, because, by definition, you could not see them even if you looked.
Plantinga suggests that we sometimes believe that if there were good reasons for evil occurrences, then we would be able to see them like the St. Bernard. But why is this necessarily the case? Why is it a given that we would be able to know the reason behind all occurrences? Maybe the reasons behind some of our sufferings are as inscrutable to us as no-see-ums in a pup tent. But ask any camper who has been attacked by a swarm of no-see-ums and they will testify to their very definite existence. Maybe all suffering has a very definite point, but sometimes that point is a no-see-um to us.
A helpful perspective
More than once, when facing this kind of doubt personally, I have been confronted by the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. If you know this story, you know what I mean. I say “confronted” by this story because it presents a perspective on life that I am slow to acknowledge when I’m in the middle of a “why me” cycle, so my immediate response is usually not to be comforted. It usually feels like a confrontation. But Joseph’s perspective is the right perspective nevertheless and it is a perspective that has kept my heart from eventually running off of its tracks on such occasions. Let’s end our morning by doing some work with Joseph’s story.
Before You Start Your Day
- Look at Genesis 50:15-21. This incident occurs after Joseph has been very badly treated by his brothers.
(15) When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" (16) So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: (17) 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
(18) His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.
(19) But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? (20) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (21) So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
- Why do you suppose Joseph wept at the end of verse 17?
- Our usual response to conflict is fight or flight. This becomes especially tricky when our conflict is with God. Look at Joseph’s response in verses 19 through 21. How does this response avoid both fighting and flying?
- What does this dialog say about Joseph’s understanding of himself? What does this dialog say about Joseph’s understanding of God? How would Joseph address the doubt we’ve discussed this morning?
- Pray.
- Talk to God about your history of disappointment with Him.
- Ask God to show you the “no-see-ums” of suffering from your life. Listen for His response today. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to hear Him. He knows how to speak to you. But be aware that He may not answer this request.
- Ask Him to help you doubt your doubts.
- Especially pray for someone you know who may be in the heart sick place of doubting God today because of His apparent inactivity.
- If something new occurs to you today (about faith or about doubt or about pain), you have to share it with someone – you have to!
Subscribe to RSSMost recent posts
- Week Twenty Six - Day Four: End of Day
- Week Twenty Six - Day Four: 5pm Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Four: Noon Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Four
- Week Twenty Six - Day Three: End of Day
- Week Twenty Six - Day Three: 5pm Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Three: Noon Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Three
- Week Twenty Six - Day Two: End of Day
- Week Twenty Six - Day Two: 5pm Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Two: Noon Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day Two
- Week Twenty Six - Day One: 5pmText
- Week Twenty Six - Day One: End of Day
- Week Twenty Six - Day One: Noon Text
- Week Twenty Six - Day One
- Week Twenty Five - Day Four: 5pm Text
- Week Twenty Five - Day Four: End of Day
- Week Twenty Five - Day Four: Noon Text
- Week Twenty Five - Day Four
Question # 2 asks: Why do you suppose Joseph wept at the end of verse 17?
Multiple choice:
a.Because he knew his brothers were lying
b.Because he just then realized his power over them
c.Because he just then realized God’s bigger plan
d.Because he realized he had ALREADY forgiven them
e.All of the above