Although we are currently (in North America) enjoying the light sum­mer months, there is room and reason for a topic which is somewhat "heavy." I write this partly in connection with Sally Gleason's interesting article on "Special Children" and partly also as an addendum to the editorial on "euthanasia."

Many people feel that euthanasia is justified because "suffering" is sense­less and worthless. They feel that those who are wasting away through a debili­tating disease or a terminal illness should not have to go through the process of extreme pain. Similarly, it is felt, those who are severely handicapped should not have to lead a useless, nonproductive life. People who are in a coma should be eased out of "life." The sense of suffering is not seen at all; to suffer means to be degraded. Therefore eutha­nasia is increasingly considered to be a worthy and responsible solution!

There is another aspect here. There is much suffering which is more emo­tional or spiritual than it is physical. There is the inner pain of loneliness, despair, guilt, and defeat. There are many episodes of depression and des­pondency in our lives. Here I speak already in more general terms: What is the sense of all this suffering? Why must we go through it?

God and Suffering?⤒🔗

I once counselled a young man who had lost both his wife and child in an automobile accident. Understandably, he was suffering greatly from a deep grief. He was convinced, however, that God had nothing to do with his loss; it was the work of the devil! He could not imagine that God would cause such suffering to come over him!

Many people feel this way. Modern theologians have told us that God does not really want anyone to suffer, but He is powerless to prevent suffering. God just suffers along with this world. Ac­cording to these scholars, it was a sign of God's solidarity with man that Christ came to suffer in our flesh. It was a sympathetic but not very effective ac­tion. We learn from it only to be brave and courageous, but nothing more!

This kind of "theology" denies the relationship which exists between suffer­ing and sin. If man is not sinful, why should there be suffering? How can one then still understand the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ? Christ suffered that He might atone for our sins! (See, for example, Isaiah 53.)

Our human suffering is a result of the fall into sin and the curse which has since then come from God over all crea­tion. The LORD brings severe judg­ments upon the earth and its inhabitants. He also in love chastises His own people that they may seek Him more and more. Here lies the key to the understanding of the necessity and the sense of suffering.

It would be foolish to state that God has nothing to do with our suffer­ing. We shall not ascribe our trials to chance. The prophet Amos already warned Israel, "Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it" (3:6)? We must see also in suffering the sover­eign and wise hand of the Lord, our God.

We confess in Lord's Day 10 of the Heidelberg Catechism that "all things come not by chance but by (God's) fatherly hand." This also in­cludes the suffering which comes upon us on our way in this life. We believe that God can avert all evil or turn it to our benefit. But we should never deny that God allows and uses suffering in our lives to lead us on the way of Life!

No Making without Breaking←⤒🔗

Dr. M.R. de Haan, a medical doc­tor and preacher who founded the Radio Bible Class, once wrote about the prin­ciple that we need to be broken before we can be made.¹

He writes, "Before a thing can be made, something must be broken. Before the house is built, the tree must be broken down. Before the foundation can be laid, the rocks must be blasted from their quarry bed... Before there can be life, there must be death..." And he refers to the principle set forth in John 12:24, "Truly, truly I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." De Haan speaks then of the principle: there is no making without breaking.

It is true that the natural pride and haughtiness of our human soul must be broken down. We must learn to walk humbly with our God. We must grow in love towards our neighbor. In order for this to happen, we do need "a broken spirit" and "a broken and contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17).

We must come to appreciate that in all the trials and sufferings which we may go through in this life our heavenly Father is realizing a breaking and mak­ing process, shaping and renewing us according to His will. Those who ap­proach the suffering of God's children from this Scriptural angle will not easily promote euthanasia!

The Purpose of Suffering←⤒🔗

It is no my intention here to write an exhaustive survey on the purpose of suffering. But in light of the current trends to consider suffering as useless, some positive remarks must be made.

On the one hand, we cannot ade­quately fathom the direct reasons for our suffering. It is always difficult to answer the question, "Why me?" The ways of God are inscrutable and are higher than our ways. On the other hand, the Lord in His Word does teach us what the purpose of the suffering of His children is.

The main purpose of suffering is, as touched upon above, that the Lord in this way shapes and molds us to seek everything outside of ourselves in Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 12 we learn that the Lord disciplines us for our good. Impor­tant in this respect is verse 12: "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." It is God's discipline of love which we face also and especially in our trials!

The trials of life are nothing less than a process of refining and purifying, so as to produce the finest metals (Psalm 66:10). The purest diamond is produced only under the greatest pressure. Through this we become more and more what we are: children of God, who look to Him alone and depend on His strength.

It is in this way that suffering pro­duces perseverance. In Romans 5:3 and 4 we read, "...suffering produces endur­ance, and endurance produces charac­ter, and character produces hope..." It is in this way that a child of God longs more and more for the perfect commun­ion with God and for the day when all things will be made new by the power of God! Through a suffering that is filled with the Word and grace of God, Christian character is shaped and Chris­tian hope waxes strong.

Training in Grace←⤒🔗

For the Christian, life is a training in God's grace. We must learn to humble ourselves before the Lord, be­cause of our sins, and rejoice in His grace in Christ. We must learn not to rely upon ourselves, but only upon God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9). We must look to God more and more for all help and strength. In the end, we must relinquish all earthly things and be satisfied only with the grace of God!

To us also comes the Word of God, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Lord does not always take our suffering away, but in all trials grants us His wondrous grace.

We must be trained in the grace of God. Broken and restored by God's Spirit! This is, for us, a most difficult process. It does not lie in our nature to walk humbly with our God and kindly with our neighbor. The most humble, kind, and grateful people are often those' who have come through great trial and affliction.

Perhaps in this way we can better understand what David wrote in Psalm 119, "It is good for me that I was afflict­ed, that I might learn Thy statutes." It was not easy, but it is good. Only in this way did David truly learn to accept and enjoy the grace of God and to walk in the ways of the LORD.

Society without Suffering?←⤒🔗

The world which has rejected the notion of sin, also wants to make a world without suffering. Therefore the unwanted, the handicapped, and the dying really have no place. Abortion and euthanasia are presented as humane solutions.

By this approach, the world in fact increases the suffering that already ex­ists. It refuses to face the reality of sin and to bend under the righteous judg­ments of the Lord. The only comfort both in life and death is not found. It is a sad and vain attempt to build a society free from suffering apart from God.

A Christian will come to accept suffering and to progress through it. Not in bitter resignation, but in the power of faith. In his suffering, he may glorify God and show forth the Lord's strength in the victory over Satan and death. Through this suffering, a Christian will become appreciative of God's work in Christ, dependent on the grace of the Lord, patient and sympathetic, humble and contrite, seeking the Lord unceas­ingly in prayer. How often through serious and terminal illness have these things come out so clearly to all who witnessed the grace of God at work!

We also look forward to a society without suffering. But it will not come through euthanasia. It will come only as a fruit of Golgotha, where Christ under­went the extreme anguish of hell. This society is the New Jerusalem, of which it is said,

Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them; He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.Revelation 21:3 and 4

So we do not lose heart.