When given a choice I see the glass half full. I usually look for lessons. How God might be working in this situation? What God might want me to let go of so that I can trust God again. For the most part, this openness serves me well. But I realize that theology does not deal with many of the monumental questions we all face as people of faith, especially during the Season of Lent. We are fast approaching the most painful time in our Lord’s life which raises so many questions about how God could ask the cross of his Son? How do we respond to all the pain and suffering in the world? Is God really among us or not?
Recently I heard a woman say, “I believe on some level that when something bad happens to me, I have done something wrong, I am being punished. Call it karma, bad luck or lying in the bed of my own making. Now I think that is a very common belief. We think, if I am going through this difficulty, this illness, this heartbreak, this stress, on some level, I did something to cause it. Now I need to say right up front, I do NOT believe this. But our Old Testament lesson helps us understand where this belief comes from. Repeatedly the Israelites would complain to God when something bad happened: they are enslaved, without food, lost in the wilderness. And each time, God responded, God provided, God saved. But that led to this belief that if something bad happened, like it did in our story today, then God is no longer with them. Their water had run out; they were dying of thirst. They questioned it might be better to be slaves than to die in the wilderness. They asked a very real question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” This quarrelsome wilderness generation makes an assumption that seems quite natural and universal. When they have what they need and want, they believe that God is with them. But in times of hunger, thirst and affliction, they deem themselves abandoned or betrayed. Is God among us or not?
One commentator put it this way. “Moses taught this theology of sufficiency, and God seemed to play along. In the previous chapter, the lack of food prompted complaints about Moses and Aaron. God responded by providing manna and quail. Leading Moses and Aaron to assure the people that these things prove that it was indeed the Lord who brought them out of Egypt” (Feasting on the Word A1, page 74). During this time of the formation of God’s people, if there was a problem, then God would fix it. This process gives rise to their question that the formation of the problem was caused by the absence of God. Is the Lord among us or not?
Now I realize I have introduced two different ideas. First, questioning the presence of God and second the idea that in some way I have done something to bring about this problem. But I think these are intertwined. Faithful people asked, “Where is God in all of this?” And the person without faith or doubting faith, just simply blames themselves for the problem.
But all of this begs the question, who caused the pain in the first place? Who caused the War in Iran? Did God create the cancer in my body? Who caused all the suffering for the thousands of the Epstein survivors? Is God responsible for troops on our streets, deportation, and family separation? Earthquakes, sudden deaths, climate change? How do we as people of faith withstand such pain? For some, they disavow God. They say, “God there is so much suffering in the world, I cannot believe that you are a loving and faithful God.” Pain turns them away from God.
Before I moved back to California, I visited my brother and his family. Over dinner one night, he asked me to tell his kids why I believe what I do. So, I did. I told them my faith story and how when I went through the pain of the death of my father and grandmother, the church helped me cope and the seeds of faith were planted. But then my brother shared something very painful for me. He said that when our father died and he watched his pain and suffering, he walked away from God. He still admires Jesus as a remnant of his faith, but he no longer believes in God because he felt so hurt, so abandoned. The same painful event, the death of our father, with two very different theological responses. I drew closer to God in the pain, when I felt lost and abandoned. For my brother Brad, suffering and pain pushed him away from faith and God.
But if you believe that God caused the pain, how in the world can you believe in such a God? That is the question of theodicy, which asks the question, “Is God just?” “Theo” means God, and d-i-k is the root of the word “just” in Greek. So theodicy asks, how in the world can a just God allow such suffering? When our nation goes to war without a good reason we have to ask is God paying attention? When ICE agents round up people for no other reason than the color of their skin. Is the Lord among us?
Do you remember a few years back when there was an earthquake in Japan that caused a tsunami warning here, one that affected boats in the harbor? A wave moved across the entire ocean to roll through the boats in Santa Cruz Harbor. Tragically the devastation in Japan was made so much worse because of the water. Had the earthquake alone happened, surely there would have been more survivors. But the water shattered that hope. Water played an important role in both of our passages. The lack of water, people’s thirst, made them test God. While God’s provision of water helped them feel God’s provision and care. Don’t we wish we had a rock with flowing water, or a tangible response from God for our need and pain? God’s provision helped to solidify the relationship between God and the people. Our relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. Our faith in the one who lived, died and rose again transformed our understanding of God. But one thing has not changed, our communion with God who does not and will not abandon us.
When we are hurt, devastated by loss, angry and confused, we ask the probing questions. Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in all of this? The theologian Stanley Hauerwas reminds us, “Our hope lies in whether we can place alongside the story of pointless suffering- like the suffering of a child, the story of suffering that helps us know we are not alone or abandoned. Christ’s death on the cross is that story- the one we hold alongside our pain and suffering. Because God gave his Son, so that we would never feel alone.
Faith is knowing that no matter what, God is with you. Faith is not an insurance policy against hurt and pain, but rather a blanket of assurance that God will be with you no matter what you encounter. We are called to have faith that God is not absent when we suffer but is right there with us. A friend told me about an extremely painful time when he cried out to God, “Where were you when my son died?” He said that somewhere within a quiet, gentle voice seemed to say, “I was in the same place I was when my Son died.”
God knows the pain of a child dying and people being taken from the street. But it is our relationship with Jesus Christ that opens the valve to living water. The Samaritan knew pain -the pain of being a second-class citizen as a woman, the pain of being a Samaritan being looked down upon by the Jews, the pain of having had five husbands with the social condemnation that brought. Jesus also knew thirst and fatigue from a long journey. But once Jesus and the woman met, Jesus eradicated her isolation and pain. Jesus shared who he was with her in a rare self-disclosure admitting he is the Messiah. The woman opened up to Jesus and revealed her shame for having five husbands. In this exchange a relationship was forged, the woman was known and Jesus revealed, with Jesus known as the Savior of the world. Our relationship with Jesus helps us to know God is with us. Helps us to trust that we can share our pain with our risen Lord. Helps us to tap into the wellspring of living water that emanates from God.
If pain has led you to doubt God, hold tight to your faith in Jesus your risen Lord. The same Jesus who died on the cross for your sins, is reaching out to you asking for water and is more than willing to give you living water in return. Allow God’s living water to pour over you, saturating your pain but also giving you a way to eternal life. For you are not alone. Jesus is right there with you. Drink from the well of salvation and be at peace. (Let us pray)
God of life, God of compassion instill in us the unshakable belief in your abiding presence and love so that no matter what comes our way, we will cling like Job to our faith in you. Honestly bringing our petitions and cries but always trusting in your abundant love and constant care. Minister to us when we feel abandoned and bring us back into Your Grace. We are never alone. You are always with us. Amen.
