• The Bible Studies for Life lesson for July 14 focuses on 2 Kings 17:7-15, 18-20
When bad things happen in our world, it is difficult to discern God’s judgment as opposed to the consequences of living in a broken world. At times, God’s judgment is manifested in physical brokenness and physical acts of discipline.
In 2 Kings 17, God sends his people into exile because they continued to sin against the Lord. The exile served as a disciplinary act and also as a wake-up call for them to repent and return to the one true God. God has the power to discipline and judge in any way he sees fit.
But we also see situations in Scripture where bad things happen and people suffer, but they are not God’s specific judgment in response to sin. Job suffers more than anyone, and we know he was “blameless and upright” (Job 1:1). Paul spent his post-conversion life serving Christ and his church, and we know he suffered greatly in prison.
Be careful
Scripture shows us people who suffer as they are disciplined by God and others who suffer because of their faithfulness to God. We have a responsibility to look closely at our own lives to discern God’s judgment, but we must be careful when we start pointing fingers and attributing cause to other’s grief and suffering.
We are all familiar with Westboro Baptist Church and the physical and vocal ways they take a stance in regard to suffering in our world. They have pointed to natural disasters, soldiers’ deaths and freak accidents and called them God’s judgment. They call out specific groups of people and specific sins to explain some of our world’s most heartbreaking tragedies. They picket the funerals of strangers, and their words sting with hatred and judgment. Even if God is judging our world in these specific sufferings, is this the way Scripture directs us to deal with our brothers’ and sisters’ sinful lifestyles?
God’s power to discipline
No doubt, God has the power to discipline and judge as he desires. In my life, I see his judgment of my sin in more subtle ways. First, I can see God’s judgment in the consequences that affect my relationships with family, friends and coworkers. Some sinful choices cripple my relationships with others. If I am unfaithful in my marriage, if I gossip about others and if I lie to my parents, my relationships are strained and are marked with hardships of various kinds.
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Second, I see God’s judgment in physical ailments in my body. When I choose lifestyles that eat away at my inner organs and steal years from my life, my body suffers. Finally, I see God’s judgment in the way my sin hinders my personal relationship with him. When I live in repetitive sin patterns, my heart becomes hard and the Holy Spirit’s voice often sounds very quiet amidst my loud desires. My sin creates spiritual distance between the Holy God and myself.
On the other side of the coin, I have suffered relationally, physically and spiritually in this life when it had nothing to do with God’s judgment. Sometimes our suffering is a direct consequence of others’ sin or just the fact that we live in a broken world. A baby gets cancer at 18 months. A drunk driver kills a mother. Or a tornado wipes out an entire town.
A broken and confused world
We live in a broken and confused world. The truth and light in the midst of it is the assurance God is God and he always is with us. As we live and move through our suffering, may we be quick to take inventory of our own hearts and choices. May we respond with repentance and a genuine turning towards Christ.
When the suffering around us confuses us, may we turn to God and ask him to help us live out his truth and light in the midst of it all. We do not have to be the ones to identify God’s judgment or consequences of our broken world. God never commanded us to find the reason behind it all. He has called us to seek his face, no matter our circumstances.
Many of the people I know who have loved the deepest, served most sacrificially and spoken about Christ with utmost boldness are the ones who have suffered the most in this life. Every time I am tempted to discern or identify God’s judgment on people around me, I am reminded he has called me to live a life of sacrifice and love.
When I suffer on behalf of Christ and what is right, I am blessed (1 Peter 3:14). There is not much time to be given to speculating about God’s judgment on those around me, for there is not time enough to complete the work to which I have been called.
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