Ep.308: Today’s Questions Answered Yesterday.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

To conclude our thoughts on the Book of Ecclesiastes, I want to ask the author a few questions.

1. First question. What do you think of Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign?
Ecclesiastes says,
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is unwise to ask such questions. (Eccl 7:10)

Hmmm. Didn’t expect that! And question #2:

2. Should we fear death?
Ecclesiastes says,
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens,
a time to be born and a time to die. (Eccl 3:1-2)

3. Next question. What do you think of prognosticators and pundits and podcasts, who pontificate about every topic under the sun?
Ecclesiastes says,
Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few. (Eccl 5:2)
I have spoken many words. Perhaps too many!

4. Another question: What do you think of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, owner of Space-X and Tesla?
Ecclesiastes says,
I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
or wealth lost through some misfortune.
Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone departs naked. (Eccl 5:13-15)

One day soon, it will be said of Elon Musk, “The emperor has no clothes.”

5. Question #5: What do you think of the Internet’s vast treasury of knowledge? And of Wikipedia and modern science and universities?
Ecclesiastes says,
The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone? (Eccl 6:11)

You may have heard about the scientist who said, “When I was in school they taught that a million monkeys typing for a million years would not compose a single Shakespeare play. Now, thanks to the Internet, we’ve proved that it’s true.” I think Ecclesiastes would agree. A million monkeys typing for a million years.

6. Next question. Do you believe the doctrine of original sin?
Ecclesiastes says,
This only have I found:
God created humans upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes. (Eccl 7:29)

7. And a question on meaning: In Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the computer Deep Thought calculates that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42. What do you think?
Ecclesiastes says,
I saw all that God has done.
No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun.
Despite all their efforts to search it out,
no one can discover its meaning.
Even if the wise claim they know,
they cannot really comprehend it. (8:17)

8. Ecclesiastes, do you believe in the law of cause and effect?
Ecclesiastes says,
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift,
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise,
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned,
but time and chance happen to them all. (Eccl 9:11)

9. And a final question: Is wisdom stronger than folly?
Ecclesiastes says,
As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. (Eccl 10:1)

Let’s pray.

Our father, Ecclesiastes tell us to:
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth. . .
before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl broken;
Before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Eccl 12:1, 6-7)

Yes, Lord, our lives often feel like a broken wheel bumping through life; like a golden bowl easily broken, like a pitcher soon to be shattered.

Yet you have set eternity in our hearts. You have put this treasure in jars of clay. As we live in our fragile and failing bodies, help us drink the water of everlasting life. Help us hold the treasure of righteousness and truth. Help us remember you, our creator, all our days.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.307: Confused Philosopher?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, I ask five questions, and listen to answers from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

First question: Is it better to hate life or to enjoy it? Ecclesiastes 3 says:
– I hated life, because the work I did was grievous to me (v. 17).
– It also says, A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. I see this too is from the hand of God (v. 24).

Second question: What makes human life meaningful as we journey toward certain death? Ecclesiastes 5 says:
– The fate of humans is like that of animals; as one dies, so dies the other . . . humans have no advantage over animals (v. 19).
– It also says, God has made everything beautiful in its time. And he has set eternity in their hearts (v. 11).

Third question: What’s better? Being dead or alive? Or is it better never to be born at all? Ecclesiastes 4 says:

– I declared that the dead
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.

But better than both
is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun (vv. 2-3).

– It also says, Two people are better than one
because they have a good return for their labor;
if either of them falls down,
one can help the other up (vv. 9-10).

Fourth question: Should we despair in the face of life’s injustices? Ecclesiastes 8 says:
– There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve (v. 14).
– It also says, So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days that God has given them under the sun (v. 15).

And a fifth question: Should we keep trying to figure life out? Ecclesiastes 12 says:
– Of making many books there is no end, much study wearies the body (v. 12).
– It also says, Here is a conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandment,
for this is the duty of all.
God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether good or evil.

Let’s pray.

O father, we live in tension:
– between present life and pending death
– between today’s decisions and eternity’s call
– between despair that nothing changes and faith that Christ makes all things new
– between working to build wealth and legacy, and pausing to enjoy the fruit of our labor

O father, Ecclesiastes the philosopher tells us there is no escape from these tensions. No way to resolve them. Teach us then with him to embrace life’s paradoxes. As he says,
Do not be over-righteous,
or overwise –
why destroy yourself?
Do not be over-wicked,
and do not be a fool –
why die before your time?

It is good to grasp one,
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes (7:16-18).

Yes, Father, help us embrace life with its tensions and paradoxes. Help us accept the evil within and around us, yet not give way to wickedness. Help us grow in righteousness and wisdom, without trying to be over-righteous and over-wise. Help us hear the whisper of eternity you set in our hearts. Help us live these fleeting lives with integrity and joy, as we journey toward eternity.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.306: Trudging Through Ecclesiastes.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In our last episode, we looked at Ecclesiastes’ shock jock style of presentation. We heard the author complain about the elusive, vapor-like quality of life. But then he showed us the other side of his personality. Not the shock jock, but the quiet, reasonable teacher who makes constructive suggestions about how to live.

The book of Ecclesiastes often stumps those who look for a single, consistent theme. That’s because if you listen when the author is shouting, if you focus on his tirades about life’s brevity, if you are shocked by his comparison that humans die and turn to dust like animals, you might miss what else he says.

True, life is a one way trip to the grave. Nothing new there. And you know that luck and circumstances often trump wisdom. But when the author stops shouting, he presents a reasonable question: What might make life meaningful? Not stuff we can’t control like health, wealth, success, or a memorable legacy. Rather, meaning is found in a warm and loving home life, in the simple enjoyment of good people, good food, good wine, and God’s good creation.

This positive theme is easy to underemphasize, or even miss entirely, because the book reads like a boy scout hike in the mountains. They trudge for 55 minutes, looking down at the rocky path, complaining about the heavy pack, aching muscles, dry throat, and tired feet. Then they take a 5-minute break for a drink and a snack. They see the awesome view behind them and the glorious mountains ahead. What’s not to enjoy?

That’s how Ecclesiates is written. A long stretch plodding through pessimism and despair, then a quick break for hope and light, then back to the trudging.

Let’s follow this pattern in chapters 1 and 2. The unhappy philosopher trudging on his rocky path opens Ecclesiastes with the complaint: “Meaningless, meaningless, it’s all meaningless” (1:2), or as I prefer to translate it, “Vapor, smoke, and mirrors. All of life is vapor, smoke, and mirrors.”

The trudging author recounts his search for something new. But there is nothing new to find. Been there, done that! He’s seen it all before. He thought wisdom would bring satisfaction, but it brought grief. He tried wine and folly, but no satisfaction there. He tried building a legacy of houses and gardens, but he realized a fool might get them and let his legacy rot.

So he turns up the volume on his complaint lamenting, “I hated life, because the work done under the sun is grievous to me. It’s all futile, chasing after the wind” (Eccl 2:17).

And then he takes a break. He looks around and catches the view. Completely changing his tone, he says, “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their work” (2:24), and he says, “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness” (2:26).

Don’t get hung up on the author saying he hated life. Yes, life passes like a vapor. Our work disappears in smoke and death. It’s an illusion that we can outrun the decay and win the race of life. That message is loud, and humbling, and realistic.

But the author tells us what to do about it. Focus on the simple pleasures God gives, not on the emptiness of life, he says. Food and wine, family and friends are sources of enjoyment, antidotes to existential dread, a cure for world weariness and despair. Don’t spend your time resenting the futility of life or trying to overcome it; instead, be present in the moment, enjoy what God has given you. Let go of your need to control.

Let’s pray.

O father, we live in fear as war destroys cities, as natural and man-made disasters wreak havoc on creation, as our bodies age and our possessions decay and the world we know passes away in smoke and vapor.

With the author of Ecclesiastes, we leave these big problems to you. We refresh ourselves with food instead of worry, with wine instead of angst, with pleasant conversation instead of fear, with trust instead of world-weariness.

O you who created it all. Teach us in our fleeting lives to enjoy our time in these bodies of clay, to rejoice in our circle of friends and family, to love this planet that spins in your universe. And when our journey ends, may we find the forever home you promised.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.305: Biblical Shock Jock.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Have you ever listened to a shock jock? A disc jockey with outlandish opinions, offensive commentary, and melodramatic exaggerations? I think the author of Ecclesiastes may be part shock jock.

Life is random, he yelps. Meaning is elusive, boys and girls! All ya get outta life is to die!

Perhaps, like me, this author got tired of being told that everything works out for good. Maybe he felt his readers had fallen into mindless optimism. Perhaps he just enjoyed being contrarian.

Whatever the motive, Ecclesiastes emphasizes a tired-of-life philosophy: negative and pessimistic. Seen it all before, he says. Nothing new under the sun.

But the author states another point of view. One that doesn’t jump off the page and slap or shock us. A quieter message, more positive and hopeful. He introduces it with the phrase, “There is nothing better for a person than to do this. . .“, and then he tells us what to do.

If you are studying Ecclesiastes to find the author’s single consistent message you will probably pick those shocking negatives. But not so fast. Don’t miss the affirming positives like this: Eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this fleeting life that God has given you under the sun” (9:7-9).

When my brother was dying of cancer, and his days were fleeting, he and his wife celebrated the small joys of life and they used their best china every day.

That’s the spirit Ecclesiastes encourages. Don’t waste time and energy moaning about life’s unfairness, the lack of progress, or an inability to leave a legacy. The author says, Life is fleeting, but it can be good. Enjoy your work. Dress up occasionally. Celebrate with food and wine. Enjoy your family and friends. Use your best china now and then.

Get a life!

Let’s pray.

Our father, we envy those who are happier, healthier, wiser, and more successful. We resent the shortness of life, the difficulty of getting ahead, the confusion trying to understand what to do.

Thank you for Ecclesiastes’ advice. For its warning that disappointment follows those who work too hard, study too diligently, and plan too incessantly.

Thank you for the encouragement to be quietly present to the good gifts life gives. To joyful relationships with imperfect people. To work that gives simple contentment. To food and wine that offer brief but satisfying pleasure.

O father, our life is fleeting, its meaning is elusive. Help us in our years under the sun to live wisely and to enjoy the gifts you give.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.304: Evil and Madness.

Ep.303: Evil and Madness.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Last week we looked at Ecclesiastes’ comment about randomness. “Not to the swift is the race, nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happen to them all” (Eccl 9:11). Indeed. Sometimes luck trumps speed and strength, sometimes evil overcomes good, sometimes our best plans fail.

But it’s not only time and chance that make life random. One outcome is certain: We all die. However many breaths we breathe, however much stuff we collect, life will soon end and we will lose everything.

Remember that bumper sticker? “The one with the most toys when he dies wins.” Perhaps. But what, exactly, has he won?

Ecclesiastes says,
The fool and I share the same fate.
Neither will be long remembered;
Both will be forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise die too. (Eccl 2:15-16)

And all we’ve worked for, all we’ve won, all we’ve collected, all we’ve built–we leave it all behind (Eccl 2:17-21). After my father died, we cashed in his little coin collection and used his stamp collection to mail letters. My small library means a lot to me, but will my family care? Value Village, here we come.

The famous poem from Ecclesiastes says:
There is a time for everything
and a season for each activity:
a time to be born and a time to die (Eccl. 3:1).

But later, the author expresses regret at the leveling effect of death: “Surely the fate of human beings is like the fate of animals. Humans have no advantage. All come from dust, to dust all return.” (Eccl 3:20).

We die, we are buried, the worms eat us. A dog dies, it is buried, the worms eat it. Who wins? Man or dog?

Hardly an optimistic philosophy, you say? No, but realistic. As Ecclesiastes summarizes, “People are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead” (Eccl 9:3).

Let’s pray.

Our father, Ecclesiastes relentlessly describes the problem of life: Evil and madness reign, then we die. And where are you in this troubled story? Do you supervise time and chance and death? Are they your servants?

Teach us to value life, though it is temporary and random. Teach us to live rightly, not madly. Teach us to think soberly about death. As we journey briefly in this world, as our bodies decay, as we submit to time and chance–teach us to hope in your promises.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.303: Time and Chance Happen to Them All.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Last week, we looked at Ecclesiastes and the meaning of chess. To humans, chess is a game. To a computer, it’s just another program. The author of Ecclesiastes programmed himself for maximum wisdom, pleasure, and wealth. But nothing satisfied.

Part of his disappointment was discovering that time disintegrates what we build and the randomness of life sucks the joy out of success.

The author says, “I hated all the things I toiled for under the sun, because I have to leave them to someone. Who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet, they will control the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill.”

Picture the writer building his legacy: houses and land, lucrative investments, a book on his habits of success. But how long will his legacy last? What if some fool takes over his business, and runs it into the ground? His book may be briefly popular, but it will soon go into the bargain bin, followed shortly by the blue recycling bag.

The author feels pain at life’s randomness, the chances he can’t control, the unexpected events that make or break his plans. Ecclesiastes says:
The race is not to the swift
nor the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all (Eccl 9:11).

Yes! There’s the element of dumb luck that contributes to everyone’s outcomes.

The author also says,
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them (Eccl 9:12).

People sit long hours at gambling tables, hoping time and chance will favor them. But it’s not only gamblers who roll the dice. Life itself is a gamble.

Our best laid plans run amuck. Amazon and Netflix stock surged in two years of pandemic, and now they are falling down. Under Bush, the Taliban were evicted from Afghanistan; now they’re back under Biden. A friend’s parents planned a lovely retirement–but one of them got Alzheimers.

Time and chance happen to all of us. There are no hot tips in life’s horse race, no sure-fire medicines, no safe harbors for my finances.

What to do? Should I factor luck and the clock into my life plan? Or is there a better way of going about living?

Let’s pray.

Our father, we hoped you would control the randomness of the world for us, that you would stop the tsunamis and protect your people from war and make us free to serve you. But time and chance happen to us all.

Teach us to be patient with ourselves, with others, with the world around us. Help us lose our overwhelming need to control. Help us go with the flow in good times and evil.

Teach us how to live in this world you have given us.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.302: Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Chess.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today we continue our series on the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Last week, I questioned the New International Version’s translation which says, “Meaningless, meaningless, it’s all meaningless.”

Today, let’s think about meaning by asking, What’s the meaning of chess?

It was a big deal in 1997 when IBM’s Deep Blue chess program beat Garry Kasparov, the reigning world champion. It was a major victory for artificial intelligence, and a huge win for IBM’s technical skills. But many chess players resented IBM’s arrogant intrusion into their favorite game because chess is a human game. The goal isn’t just to capture the opposing army. If all I want is to sacrifice pawns and kill the king, I can pitch my opponent’s pieces in the fire.

Chess is a game, a microcosm of human civilization and war. It evokes the emotions of a thousand years of knights and castles, of medieval bishops, queens, and kings. Chess asks me, “Am I a pawn in this game of life? Will the church and politicians and army sacrifice me for their bigger aims?”

Chess is recreation, a mental challenge, a battle of wits, an opportunity to develop skill. It is also a spectator sport.

Computers that play chess don’t understand that. They have no memories of love and war, of victory and defeat. They just process information and execute a programmed strategy.

Computer chess reminds me of a satellite navigation unit I had. Whenever I made a wrong turn the unit said with an annoyed tone, “Recalculating, recalculating.” I was on a journey, but my GPS wasn’t enjoying the trip. All it cared about was the math.

So what does this have to do with Ecclesiastes and meaninglessness?

The author of Ecclesiastes applied his “mathematical” mind, his computer mind, to the search for meaning.

He tried gaining wisdom. But he discovered that “In much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge increases pain” (1:17-18).

He tried maximum pleasure: wine, music, dancing, women. But he found no lasting satisfaction, no meaning there (2:1-9).

He became obscenely wealthy and he used his money to build houses and vineyards and gardens and parks (2:4-7). But his life continued to fail the test of meaning.

The problem was that the author played life like a computer program plays chess, like my GPS goes on a journey. He defined the goal played to win, but when he did, he didn’t know what the game meant.

Let’s pray.

Our father, we are players in this game of life. How often we have computed that better health, more money, better social connections, or more wisdom would give us a richer, fuller life. And maybe, just maybe, answer our nagging questions about meaning.

But now we confess with the author of Ecclesiastes that a meaningful life is not gained by strategy and design. As the author discovered, all our accomplishments and all our experiences can leave us empty and dissatisfied.

Teach us then the true source of meaning.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.301: Meaningless?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

When I was growing up, I was fascinated by the opening words in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

That was the King James Version. Today’s New International Version puts it, “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.”

That’s a harsh philosophy of life. Everything is meaningless? Does the Bible really teach that nihilistic philosophy?

One graduation requirement at my Christian high school was to preach a ten-minute sermon in chapel. I wasn’t an active Christian back then, but I did want to graduate, so preaching the senior sermon presented a dilemma.

I solved the problem by taking my theme from Ecclesiastes. As I followed the author through his search for meaning in work, in wealth, in leisure, and in learning, I agreed with him that, yes, it was all rather meaningless. Today, as a committed Christain, still searching for meaning, that theme of Ecclesiastes keeps coming back.

These days, I’m pretty sure I pointed my senior sermon in the wrong direction. The Hebrew word for meaningless is better translated as vapor or breath.

The author is not asserting that everything is meaningless, but that everything is transient, unsubstantial, passing. Like smoke and vapor. Like the morning mist the sun disperses.

I worked in computing for 28 years at Alberta Motor Association, on three different membership systems. The first was a home-built system we retired before the year 2000; the second was leased from a vendor, and the third was an off-the-shelf system that morphed into an expensive custom development. And now that I’m retired, they’re replacing that system too.

That’s what Ecclesiastes tells me. It’s smoke: three decades on transient computer systems. It’s vapor: no one remembers me or the systems I supported.

Ecclesiastes says the same about other parts of life. Years of scrimping and saving built my small investment portfolio. But what will happen to my savings? Will the stock market crash, will inflation chew them up, will health expenses deplete them? My health insurance contract covers the first $200,000 of lifetime medical expenses. After that, they’re finished with me. I can solve my own problems.

That too is part of Ecclesiastes. Success is not guaranteed in the things we do. And as we do them, we grow old and die and leave it all behind. Like smoke in the wind or mist on the water.

Fortunately, that’s not the whole message of Ecclesiastes. Stay tuned to hear more of the story next time.

Let’s pray.

Our father, we pray with the poet of Psalm 90:
The length of our days is seventy years,
or eighty if we have the strength,
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass and we fly away (v. 10).

Our wealth and health and pleasures fall under the shadow of age. We bury the friends of our youth, and our zest for life diminishes. O Lord, draw us closer to you and to those we love and to the home you are preparing for us.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.300: God Suffers.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

This is our last episode on the problem of evil. Today we consider our suffering God.

My daughter, talking to Muslim, asked, , “Would Allah come to earth, be born in a stable, and grow up as a human?”

“Never,” was the response. “Allah is great. There’s poop and dirt in a stable . He wouldn’t become a human baby.”

This points to a difference between Islam and Christianity. The Christian God became human in Jesus. He got down and dirty. He washed his disciples’ feet. He gave himself up to torture and suffering and death.

Jesus is key to answering the question of evil and suffering. God, not content to be a distant and dispassionate observer of his hurting world, got personally involved in the mess through Jesus. He shared his life with sinners. He handled money inscribed by Caesar. He suffered and died under Pontius Pilate.

In every part of the Bible, God suffers. Before the flood, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become. . . . He regretted making humans. His heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:5-6).

Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks . . . but you were not willing” (Mat 23:37).

God was grieved by human violence and sin, by rejection of his love. But his suffering went further. On the cross, Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, felt that God had stopped being with him. And then he died.

Let’s pray.

Our father, we lay all the world’s evil and suffering at Jesus’ cross. Wars, torture, endless diseases, petty sins of petty people, genocides of tyrants. Is there room for all of this at the cross?

Thomas Aquinas thought so when he wrote:
     Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran–
     Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
     All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
(Adore Te Devote, trans. Gerard Manley Hopkins)

“All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.” Yes, the cross is big enough and strong enough to bear the sin and suffering of the world.

So we bring the problem of evil and suffering to you, our God, and to Jesus on the cross. Not asking why you permit it, not raging against injustice, not trying to fathom your logic.

We come as sufferers who find in Jesus a fellow sufferer. The crosses we bear find meaning in his cross. Our sins are washed in the river of his pain. Our diseases are healed in the flow of his blood. In our death, we hope in his death and resurrection.

With the dying thief who shared his last day with Jesus we say, “Remember us when you come into your kingdom.”

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.299: Causes and Cure of Suffering.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

For our fifth episode on the problem of evil, we ask, “What might help people who suffer?”

Scripture is full of sufferers and those who helped them. Let’s look at three.

Job, the second most famous sufferer in the Bible, had comforters who tried helping him with theology. They said, “God rewards good people. God punishes bad people. If you’re suffering, you must be bad. Confess your sin! Change your ways.”

When Jesus met a blind man, the disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Their mindset for dealing with suffering was, “Let’s find someone to blame.”

When Jonah and shipmates were terrified in a huge storm, Jonah provided the solution: “Throw me overboard!” he said, giving another helpful model for managing suffering.

How often, as in these stories, comforters don’t comfort and sufferers aren’t helped. God rebuked Job’s friends, telling them their favorite theology was wrong. Jesus squashed the disciples’ blame-game by telling them neither the blind man nor his parents were at fault. Throwing someone overboard, a strategy much favored by politicians today, solved the sailors’ problem. But scripture doesn’t elevate this solution to a preferred model for helping sufferers.

However, the Bible does offer some helpful suggestions for sufferers and those who comfort them.

First, scripture points out that suffering has many causes.

Jonah’s storm was a consequence for his disobedience. Job’s troubles were initiated by Satan to resolve an argument with God. Jesus said the man’s blindness wasn’t because someone did something bad–it was an opportunity for God to show up and do something good! Yes, suffering has many causes. Don’t trust simple explanations that suggest only one cause or one solution for suffering.

Second, scripture shows various ways to deal with suffering.

Job, for example, found it helpful to shout angrily against his comforters and God. Suffering helped Jonah think clearly about obeying God. Jesus, the Bible’s most famous sufferer, patiently endured torture, crucifixion, and death. Paul told us to rejoice in our sufferings, because they teach us to hope in the future God has for us (Rom 5).

Those are some of the options for dealing with suffering. So don’t trust those who have only one strategy and one message for everyone who suffers.

Third, scripture discourages us from making unkind theological comments on other people’s suffering. Job’s comforters made things worse by accusing him of sin. Jesus’ tormentors said, “He saved others, himself he cannot save”; but they had no clue about the cause of his suffering, or what kind of help he needed.

Let’s pray.

Our father, we do not understand the causes and cure of suffering. Yet, we believe you are present with all who suffer.

Teach us, like Jonah, to take responsibility for our actions and to reverse our bad decisions.

Teach us like Job, to rage at injustice and evil, and to hear your voice in the storm.

Teach us to be like Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.

O father, lead us through the thorns that infest our world, through the pain around us, through the evil within us, until we love you truly and follow you faithfully. Bring us at last to that holy place where you banish suffering forever, and dry our tears, and cure our fears.

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube