Why Me?

So I am speaking this Sunday at Image on the topic of suffering (i.e. "Why Me?"), and have been doing lots and lots of reading, listening, studying the Bible, etc. It never ceases to amaze me how many *different* reasons people have for why there is suffering (speaking specifically of Christians here), when the Bible seems to be so clear as to what the underlying reason(s) actually are.

Don't get me wrong - it isn't that God gives us all the details in each and every case. In fact, I believe he rarely does this. In most cases we end up suffering knowing some general truths (God will use this for our good, in our suffering we realize our dependence upon God, in the end God will receive glory, etc.) but we don't get to know the specifics as to *how* God uses any given instance of suffering to accomplish these things. This tends to frustrate me to no end. How about you?

We seem to be constituted in such a way that knowing *all* the details, from A to Z, somehow makes suffering easier to manage. The problem with this is twofold. First, as I mentioned above, this rarely if ever happens. Second, when it *does* happen, it takes our focus off of where it should be - God. In effect, it undermines much of what God intends to accomplish in us during our suffering, namely a realization of our utter dependence on his grace for all we have.

My mom was sharing with me the other day regarding some suffering she and dad are going through in their lives, and passed to me this little nugget of truth found in Proverbs 25:2.

"It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out."

The Hebrew word for "glory" here is kä·bode', which has the typical definition of:

a) abundance, splendor
b) honour, splendor, glory
c) honour, dignity
d) honour, reputation
e) honour, reverence, glory
f) glory

So perhaps what God is telling us here is that a lack of knowledge on our part (for why we are suffering, or just in general) brings glory to God because the alternative would cause us to think we had it all figured out - in essence, to think higher of ourselves than we ought. And isn't that the basic problem with sin in the first place?

-- Brian