When Pain is Real and God Seems Silent
“Psalm 88 is the portrait of a godly man crying to the Lord in great suffering—and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel”
Suffering illuminates the face of our true selves.
"Everyone is confused by suffering. Part of that confusion is a sense of uniqueness and isolation." (p. 10).
It is only natural to think, "No one knows what I am going through" when your situation feels dark and alone.
What do you do when the pain is real, and God seems silent?
Dr. Ligon Duncan at Together for the Gospel Conference
Dr. Ligon Duncan, in a small book with that title, exposits the most unlikely Psalms to read in discouraging times. Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 are infamously dark and at first appearances hopeless. They are penned by godly men who are in the pit of grief and sorrow.
Psalm 88:8b-9a "I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow."
I believe many of us can sympathize with these words. We have been shut in without escape. And just as we begin to see a ray of normalcy, our eyes immediately grow dim through a cloud of civil unrest.
100,000 dead and counting, racial civil unrest exploding, and no clear way out of the darkness.
Where is God?
As Duncan states in his concluding paragraph:
"The cross always comes before the crown" (p. 52).
This is week 21 of 52 in the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, and the assignment was to read a book written in 2020. I chose Dr. Duncan's short 52-page book When Pain is Real and God Seems Silent. I highly recommend this book, and the sermons which it was based on, to those wrestling amid suffering.
This book can be boiled down to Mark Dever's comment in the introduction.
"The very darkness of the experience provides a dramatic background for the reemergence of hope" (p. 11).
While Dr. Duncan offers four lessons for suffering well, I will just touch on the first.
God's Sovereignty in Suffering
The simplest answer to "where is God?" is right there in the middle of it.
God’s sovereignty in our suffering might not at first seem encouraging. If he is "sovereign" why doesn't he just end my "suffering"! While this is completely understandable, it is only logical if we assume God cannot receive glory from my suffering.
Dr. Duncan compassionately walks us through Psalm 88 and 89, which at first glance looks to be describing a hopeless situation where God appears to be silent. However, both writers profess a succinct understanding of the sovereignty of God in the middle of their pain.
Reality is often distorted by our perceptions. The pain is real. The injustice is real. The confusion is real. But the feeling of God's absence is not.
The Psalms read as if God has completely abandoned the author. However, the continued refrain is acknowledging and appealing to the authority of God over the situation. Dr. Duncan kindly walks us from hopelessness to the hope found at the cross, and why that hope provides us with meaning amid our suffering.
He says, "Christian when you find yourself in trouble… you are being granted by the Father just a tiny taste of what Christ endured for you to the full" (p. 30)
If God's own Son was not spared the full weight of suffering, what makes us think God will spare us? If God received glory from the sufferings of Christ, why do I think He cannot receive it from my suffering? The soverienty of God teaches us graciously to see our suffering as a sovereign opportunity.
"But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed" (1 Pet. 4:13).
Specifically, Peter is talking about suffering because of being a Christian. And yet, the same principle applies, that when we encounter suffering our hearts should seek to respond with Christlikeness and seek the glory of God.
"Praising God in the midst of pain is one of the most profound testimonies that a believer or a congregation can ever give to the Lord" (p. 40).
We tend to see only the moment in front of us rather than the faithfulness proven behind us. These Psalms remind us that God is loving enough to handle our honest expressions of uncertainty, confusion, and pain during suffering; and sovereign enough to work even the most incalculable circumstances together for good.
"Whatever catastrophe may end this world is merely a tool in God's hand to build the new heavens and new earth. Whatever you fear may cause God's promises to fail will likely be the very thing he uses to fulfill them" (p. 52).
Psalm 88 - Dr. Duncan
https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/in-the-lowest-pit/
Psalm 89 - Dr. Duncan
https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/a-psalm-for-adversity
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.