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Faithfulness And “How Long, O Lord?”

Let’s get right to the point: Is it acceptable to ask God to end our suffering, even though God shows us the true nature of everything through it?

Good question.

I say yes. Physical pain is a reminder of death in a groaning creation. It is—rather inconveniently—the result of original sin. God uses everything for our good, including suffering and death. But He doesn’t grant a goodness in itself to either of those things. We’re not dualists. We don’t want the proclamation of God’s goodness and wisdom to confuse us.

We must endure suffering, but there need not be a necessity in itself for suffering. And if you think about it some, it makes sense. He couldn’t promise to wipe away every tear from our eyes, if sorrow had some inherent value. Death, thirst, every other privation, is not necessary, strictly speaking. God’s will gives it purpose, and thus, direction.

Therefore, I am a spiritual being whose hopes and desires ought to reach to the highest Heaven, but I am also a creature trapped in finitude, unavoidably aware that here, I suffer. And that too near an awareness of that suffering could trap me in it.

The very good news is that crying out to the Lord of meaning, the Master of purpose, cannot be a mistake. If He couldn’t elevate us, we couldn’t be elevated.

I’m not trying to steal Aaron the Roofer’s thunder, but he started it! Exactly what a brother should say. It’s God’s thunder, anyway.

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