God and Grief: How Timeless Love Meets Tragic Loss -

God and Grief: How Timeless Love Meets Tragic Loss

cross, crucifix, jesus, crucifixion, church, faith, religion, architecture, christianity, christian, statue, christ, sculpture, figure, jesus christ, art, figure of christ, spiritual, stone figure, son of god, black and white, monochrome, cross, cross, jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus christ

Table Of Contents

God and Grief: How Timeless Love Meets Tragic Loss
- Snapshot
Introduction
God Outside of Time
God and the Knowledge of Suffering
Bring It Together
My Hesitancy
Identify With the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Conclusion
What Now?
- Want to read more?

Snapshot

How do you reconcile belief in a good God with that of deep suffering? This is my journey of theological formation through the journey of losing six children. Through suffering and pain, we can find the doorway to deeper communion with Christ as He suffers with us. Suffering finds meaning in the cross of Christ and the attributes of God. Ultimately, the cross becomes the lens through which suffering is not minimized but is given meaning.

Introduction

I have often been asked, “How do you reconcile a good God with such great evil and sorrow in the world?” This has been a question that I have wrestled with for the last three years to a greater degree than any other time in my life. I went to seminary and completed seminary with a Master of Divinity, and afterwards, my wife and I lost six different children. Suffering often causes a person to change their theology, and I wanted to ensure mine changed for the better, rather than drifting towards unorthodox views. Therefore, I enrolled in seminary again to get a second degree and to ensure that I continue to grow spiritually. Basics of Christian Doctrine has helped me to experience Christ in a new way, as I have found purpose amid pain. The purpose of my pain has been found in suffering and the pain of the Trinity, as we have a God who suffers with us. To understand how God suffers with us, it is important to recognize who God is in relation to time. To then understand how God suffers with us, we look to the cross and find meaning to our suffering.

alarm clock, the summer time changeover, time change, wintertime, summer time, pointer, time, clock, clock change, minute hand, hour hand, clock face, nostalgia, antique, alarm clock, clock, clock, clock, clock, clock

God Outside of Time

Believers, according to classical Christianity, believe that God always is. God always has been and always will be. He is not dependent on anything outside of himself, including time. The Hebrew name for God, Yahweh, means “I am” which seems to suggest that God simply “is.” The implications of God being outside of time mean that God can view the entirety of time as if it were now. It makes sense that God is outside of time because if time is over him, without limiting himself to time, then he would not be God, as something greater than him exists. God, being outside of time and experiencing all of time at once, caused me to start questioning pain, suffering, and loss. William Dembski’s book, The End of Christianity, challenges readers to think of suffering differently in light of God being outside of time. Ultimately, Dembski helped me to realize that God is outside of time and therefore brought new meaning to experiencing the pain and suffering I had been experiencing.

God and the Knowledge of Suffering

The crucifixion of Jesus is thought to have only lasted around six hours. Yet, God is outside of time, so how long did God experience the crucifixion of His own Son? God is all knowing, but there are different kinds of knowledge. As Dembski points out, there is a difference between “knowledge by description [and] knowledge by acquaintance.” The difference between these two forms of knowledge is simple. Knowledge by description is the equivalent of knowing the details of Mount Everest and cognitively knowing it would be difficult to climb to the top. On the other hand, knowledge by acquaintance would be that I climbed Mount Everest and experienced that difficulty. I have often thought of God’s knowledge, regarding suffering, as that of description and not of acquaintance. Now I realize that I was mistaken. When Jesus becomes man and experiences death, God would have knowledge by acquaintance and not merely knowledge by description.

Bring It Together

Considering God is outside of time, and his son experienced death and suffering, it would logically follow that six short hours of human suffering is a lot longer of suffering for God. Dembski recognizes that Scripture says one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day, and he applies that to Christ. He claims that for God, one day is 365 million years, and that is why six hours of Jesus on the cross means that God truly has experiential knowledge of suffering beyond that of all humanity, as the time on the cross was much longer in the mind of God.

My Hesitancy

At first, I was hesitant to accept this view of the suffering messiah. I wondered how God could function and feel anything other than sorrow if he had experienced the death of Christ for much longer than 3 days. Then I realized, in the suffering, there is a plurality of emotions depending on the perspective. God could focus on the pain for all eternity, or maybe, just maybe, he focuses on the good that the suffering is bringing about. I have learned this with the loss of my children, as the pain never goes away, but I do learn how to carry it better and ultimately have a plurality of emotions. Not only that, but through the suffering, something good comes out of it. I have a choice in my suffering. I can look at the loss of my children and be sorrowful for what has occurred, or I can focus on how God is bringing about good amid my suffering. As Christians, we are called to join Christ in his life and death. To join in the life of Christ also means we experience the suffering Christ did as well as participate in the resurrection.

easter, passion, faith, christianity, stones, symbol, resurrection, resurrection, resurrection, resurrection, resurrection, resurrection

Identify With the Death and Resurrection of Jesus

For the first time, I think I understand what it means to have a high priest who sympathizes with my weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). The church finds its identity in the cross of Christ, as we are found in him. Christ joins us in our suffering, which he can do. After all, he has experienced all suffering, because he is outside of time. We join with Christ in his death and will also be raised to life with Christ (Romans 6:5). I find it interesting that we were joined with Christ in his death. This would seem to indicate that, in some sense, we have joined in his suffering. Christ’s suffering has meaning in light of the resurrection. Maybe my suffering is the same in that I should look at it through the lens of the resurrection and the world to come.

Conclusion

My theology has been shaped and formed through suffering. I am grateful that I have a God who truly understands my suffering. Possibly, my suffering is actually so that I can more accurately understand and identify the depths of pain he endured on the cross. I was told by a friend after the loss of my second child, “The pain will never go away, but you will learn how to carry it, and you will get stronger.” The pain Jesus endured will never go away, but it does lead to an even deeper joy. I know I have a God that is outside of time and has endured the greatest suffering, and that his suffering led to joy and victory. I do not yet fully understand my suffering, but I hold on to the hope that God will lead it to joy, victory, and goodness.

What Now?

Create a journal on what Christ has done for you.
Reflect on times you have suffered. As you pray, thank God for what he has brought you through and the pain he endured to save you.
Reach out to someone you know who is suffering and give them a word of encouragement.