God is not far away...A brief theology of suffering explained through rap music and a Swiss Reformed theologian...Yes, those two do relate.

We showed a great music video in chapel at By The Hand today by the Christian rap group "Lecrae" (yes, I do listen to Christian rap sometimes...who would have thought).

They wrote a song called "Far Away". The song talks about how sometimes God seems like He's far away. The video is set against the backdrop of Haiti, and Lecrae's message is that in the midst of struggle, disaster, and tragedy, God is not far away. Scripture says that God will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5, Deut. 31:6). View the video here.

Psalm 16:8-11 says:

⁸ I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

¹¹ You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

I know it's easy for me to sit here in my comfortable living room with my great roommates while planning fun wedding events and talk about how God is not far away. I do not have the slightest idea or understanding of what those in Haiti are going through. I cannot imagine the destruction, loss, suffering, and devastation that exists there and in so many places throughout the world.

Where is God in suffering? God is in the midst of it, suffering with us just as his Son suffered for us. He is not far away. God is promising that he will redeem all of humanity, creating a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21:3-4 says, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

We have hope in the day that the old order of things--the suffering, the pain, the loss, the devastation--will pass away and all things will be made new. We have hope in the new creation, when God will restore the earth and we will be able to spend eternity with him. We can have hope that this life does matter, but this life is also not all there is.

Karl Barth, a famous 20th century Swiss Reformed theologian wrote, "If we fix our eyes upon the place where the course of the world reaches its lowest point, where its vanity is unmistakable, where its groanings are most bitter and the divine incognito most impenetrable, we shall encounter there--Jesus Christ. On the frontier of what is observable He stands delivered up and not spared. In place of us all He stands there, delivered up for us all..." Understanding the depths of the suffering of God in Jesus Christ reveals the character of God.

God suffering with humanity is an essential theological theme to grasp if we are to wrap our heads around the suffering of the world and the suffering of Christ. The suffering God is the loving God. The suffering God takes up the broken state of humanity and fixes it. He does not remain distant but rather relates so deeply to the human condition that he became human. He addresses our suffering in reality. He relates to our suffering in time and space, in a way we can understand. He defeats suffering through experiencing it and overcoming it in the resurrection. "Christ alone can speak here as he along addresses the kind of suffering which ruptures language and meaning--not as the one who suddenly introduces meaning into stark meaninglessness but as the one in whom God enters into and takes to himself the very God-forsakenness of men and women, the very depths of Hell and the absence of God" (Torrance, "Does God Suffer?"). Divine suffering does not imply imperfection, instability, or weakness. Divine suffering implies a God who relates completely to his creation, heals the broken relationship between God and humanity, and remains ontologically and consistently love in Father, Son, and Spirit.

God is not far away.

Watch the Lecrae video here.

*For one (among many) helpful article on this topic, see Richard Bauckham's article "Only the Suffering God Can Help: Divine Passibility in Modern Theology". I have many other helpful books and articles if anyone hasn't fallen asleep by this point in my blog entry and is still interested. If we are to have hope in Christ, understand his death and resurrection, and live and minister in the midst of a suffering world, we MUST develop a doctrinally sound and practical theology of suffering.