Walking in Faith Through Unexplained Suffering

Psalm 44 is a good picture of how Christians, saved by grace by our loving God who is a good Dad who loves his kids, live by faith. The psalmist demonstrates four ways in which a person who knows and loves God responds to him through all manner of difficulties in life. In the psalmist’s case it was national affliction by neighboring enemies. In your life and mine, these struggles and afflictions take different forms: struggles in personal or family relationships and friendships, work issues, school stresses, or real issues with physical illness or pain. Many times these things come not as a direct result of our own stupidity or wickedness (though often they do) or of someone else’s (though often they do), but they just happen, unexpected and unexplained. The question is, “How should we respond to these things if we are truly Christ followers who know and love God the Father?”

Remembering & Rejoicing

In Psalm 44:1-8, the psalmist reflects on who God has been for Israel in the past. H e remembers and retells how their fathers told them (in obedience to Deuteronomy 6:20-25) how God loved Israel and delivered them from Egypt and drove the nations out from before them and established Israel as a nation in Canaan in their place.

Verse 5 notes how God has historically made them prosper and have victory in war, and verse 6 is clear in stating that the psalmist’s trust for strength and success is in God and not in himself. He is looking back on God’s good character and nature has has known in the past and trusting in his promises for the future. This has given rise to much faith and rejoicing in their faithful God, which he says will continue “forever.”

These verses show the psalmist remembering and rejoicing in the past grace of God, which fuels trust in him for future faithfulness and grace.

Honesty About Your Pain

The next main thing we see the psalmist doing in Psalm 44 is simply being honest with God. He feels that God is not being faithful to them. They are suffering much pain as God’s people, and verse 12 even says God has sold them for cheap. Now Israel is “a byword” and “a laughingstock” among the peoples.

This kind of honesty in prayer is good for us. Sure, it can become murmuring and complaining if we aren’t careful. But if we can and should be honest with anyone about our pain, it should be God. If anyone knows about pain and can empathize with us it’s God. Jesus bore the most intense pain and rejection of all—and not just bearing the cross and the beatings he endured. He took our sin on himself and bore the very wrath of God that was meant for us. But since that is the case, we can, as Hebrews says “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The main question here though is “Why?” Why are they so afflicted? Why does God permit such adversity for his people? The text does not say, but it does argue that it certainly can’t be one thing that would explain it.

Affliction Despite Their Faithfulness?

The psalmist is deeply perplexed at their suffering, and God’s apparent distance from them in it. He says in verse 17: “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.” They had not been covenant-breakers. This is a fitting response from an ancient Israelite, for God had clearly threatened them concerning their covenant keeping, promising curses upon them if they were disobedient and unfaithful. These promises are found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. A few of these curses are found in this psalm:

• Deut. 28:25 (cf. 10-11): “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them.”
• Deut. 28:37 (cf. 13-14): “And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.”

So it’s appropriate that he sees what is happening to them as from God, and is eager to defend Israel saying that they have not been unfaithful to the covenant. The funny thing is that we often do the same thing with God, though without the same warrant. We experience pain and difficulty and frustration and think, “Ah! I must have done something to offend God! He must be angry at me and now I’m getting what I deserve.” But this is inconsistent with our faith in Christ. The gospel says to us that God has no more wrath for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). We are forgiven and cleansed and our sin is covered by the blood of Jesus. Paul says in Colossians 2:13-14, “And you who were dead in your trespasses and sins, God made alive together with him having forgiven all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with it’s legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Plea for a Faithful Rescue by the Faithful Rescuer

Finally, the psalmist simply prays for rescue. Verse 26 says, “Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” The psalmist reaches out once again in prayer, but this time not in explanation of pain, but it a confident plea to God, trusting in his goodness and faithfulness, believing that his God is a loving and good Dad who loves his kids and who will not be far away forever. He is essentially saying, “Yes, we are experiencing much pain, but you are God, so for your sake we endure this. We don’t understand it or why this is happening, but we trust you. We believe you’re out for our good and that you are working good in us and for us!” He makes his plea on the basis of God’s character and on his desire to defend and uphold his own glory as Deliverer.

We, too can and should look to God in faith of who he is, knowing that he wants good for us and that he is always working in us to conform us to the image of Christ. Often he will even use pain and unease to do that, not because he is wrathful, but so we look to him in faith through our unexplained and unexpected suffering. John Piper, from whom I’ve learned much about faith, gives a helpful definition of patience in his book Future Grace. He says of patience:

“It’s a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience—to wait in his place, and go at his pace. And the key is faith in future grace.” (Future Grace, 171)

This post has not been largely about patience, but there is a sense in which it is a very needful thing to grow in during times of unexplained suffering, and cultivating such patience will also help to grow our faith in the God who controls our unexplained sufferings.