As one who claims a Christian faith, I have long struggled with the justice of God in the face of the world’s evil. I am most certain that I am not alone in this. The questions for me truthfully began at eight, shortly after leukemia took the life of a cousin who was only a couple of months my elder. Death became real. Suffering was suddenly more than boredom and skinned knees. Suffering was loss, deep loss. This was the first time that a ‘why?’ went unanswered by the adults who were supposed to know. So I did what children and psalmists do well, I lamented. I raged at God for creating a world where this could happen…
My own lament was reflected back to me tenfold as I sang at a funeral years later. The front row was filled with the deceased’s immediate family: a young husband, a teenage daughter, and a son who could not have been older than ten. As the pastor delivered the sermon the young son, crying into his own hands, gradually looked up at the pulpit and began to yell, “No!!! Don’t say the words!!!! No!!! Don’t say them!!!! No!!! She’ll be gone! You can’t take her! Why don’t you shut up!?!” I was grateful to see that the pastor continued to speak and the family allowed the son to grieve and lament, only now his father was holding him. There were no theological platitudes that could calm this boy. Nothing to stand between his hurt and God. He was exposed. I could not help but to join him in this lament. Why God?
This boy’s lament was displayed millions of times over in the earthquake that ravaged Haiti a year ago. Why God? This is a very good question and one to which there are no easy answers. Those who claim to know why are lying and kidding themselves. Usually those who claim to know why this sort of deep suffering happens are driven more by political motives that reduce the gospel to empty moralism than by sincere and humble theological reflection and the sort of love for which God Herself has suffered. Still, this does not mean that Christians can remain silent. If God is God for the Christian, we must be willing to be open and honest about how our faith is feasible in a world of suffering. We can neither claim to speak for God nor remain silent. So, we can begin by lamenting. Lament acknowledges that God is God. God is powerful enough to have stopped suffering, even if God does not always work magically in the world to intercede. Lament is calling upon God to act in power in a way that we believe to be consistent with God’s character. There is nothing wrong with that! (Though God often responds by expecting us to care for each other-what could the world of Christians have done to lessen the suffering in Haiti? God really believes in God’s people!) Moreover, lament admits that we humans are human. We do not understand and we need answers! Why God? Especially in the case of natural disaster (even when it is complicated by moral chaos and human failing as in the case of Haiti) the process of lament is important. It is healthy when the natural order, acting within its created nature in an indifferent fashion, harms humans and takes lives (which is then interpreted as evil).
Along with lament, we can make some claims and affirmations in response to the why questions that I believe are consistent with God’s character and work in the world. What is God’s role in suffering? Was the Haiti earthquake God’s will? I would argue that God’s will is for life and that such innocent suffering is against the will of God. God was not the direct cause of each individual’s suffering. God was not mad at Haiti. To claim the opposite of these statements is to make some rather anthropocentric claims. Moreover, God’s will is not omni-causal, that is, God does not will each moment and event into existence. No, God has created a free world full of free beings. Indeed, God has created a free world that God loves. This world is made up of tectonic plates that, when acting within their very God given nature, move against one another, causing great quaking of the earth beneath our feet. This created nature is not murderous or vindictive, but largely indifferent toward human life. And the scary and wonderful affirmation of faith is that God loves this free world! This is obviously no attempt to get God off the hook. God has created a world full of horror. Yet, God has also created a world of love, beauty, and goodness. So, it is entirely within reason on this anniversary of the tragedy in Haiti to turn to God in lament, asking why and whether this freedom, love, and goodness is worth such horror and suffering. And it is entirely within reason to turn to God in trust. For the God who has created the free world is the God who loves and who has promised that death will not have the final word. With this assurance, Christians can lament and exist totally with and for the suffering world without despairing completely. This further allows Christians to work hard to love as we are loved in the face of the world’s evil and chaos.
