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Hi there. I am Dr. Gilbert Soo Hoo, welcoming you back for the sixteenth and final episode of our series of talks on the topic, “My Work, Career, and Vocation.” In the previous episode, we discussed belief in a good and all powerful God in spite of compelling evidence to the contrary in either our own lives, the lives of others, and in the world. Living with the tension of our beliefs and reality not aligning in any obvious or easily explainable way makes for awkwardness as we converse with others who ask us about the apparent contradiction and we try to respond. And in our own thoughts and feelings this contradict may gnaw at us and threaten to undermine our faith. The temptation to accept God’s goodness and not his sovereign power to provide good in the world or to accept God’s power and not his goodness represents the path of less resistance. It’s much easier to accept. It’s the problem of evil—if God is good, then why is there evil in the world?
Rabbi Harod Kushner addressed this very issue as a personal journey in trying to answer the question posed just a moment ago. When his son at the age of three was diagnosed with an incurable disease, he was shocked and left groping for answers. After the death of his son right after turning fourteen, he wrote and published, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” The book represents his search for answers and finding a solution that gave him peace and permitted him to face life with poise. His book has sold over four million copies, a New York Times best seller. He has helped many readers grappling with the problem of evil. His basic solution and the thesis of his book is that God is good and does his best in coming alongside of people who suffer. He has the best of intentions. He offers some help and comfort but, because he is finite in power, he cannot resolve all problems nor alleviate all suffering. God tries his best but sometimes his best is not enough. Hence, Kushner does not blame God for his son’s death. Instead, he applauds God’s efforts, although it comes short. He makes peace with God.
Enough people believe what Kushner has concluded but that does mean they’re right? They can accept suffering as a consequence for doing evil. But they can’t accept that for someone who’s innocent. But the portrait we find in the Bible presents God as both loving and all powerful. And the Bible faithfully documents evil in the world. Kushner mentions Job as the classic example of a righteous man who suffers.
After Job and his friends offer their interpretation of what has happen with Job maintaining his innocence and wanting a court date to dispute his innocence before God, God appears in a storm and rebukes Job for his insolence. Who is he a mere mortal to question God’s authority? God is the Creator and he’s a puny creature. But God never answers Job’s question as to why he suffered. What we conclude is that God answers to no human. His purpose may involve the innocent to suffer. We’re privy to the first of Job’s book that gives a glimpse of a heavenly scene to explain the cause of Job’s afflictions. We’re informed that God is not confined to exercise only retributive justice—the righteous are blessed and the wicked are punished. Sometimes it happens that way but sometimes it doesn’t.
We ask can what applied to Job applies to us in general. Can we though righteous suffer? The answer is yes. But we also learn that God is not answerable to any of us. He owes us no explanation. Even if we know, would we be satisfied and happy? We doubt Job would have been pleased had he learned of the cosmic competition between God and the adversary. Hence, we’re often not privy to the why of things including why good people experience bad things. We may assume God has his reason and that we might not like his reason should we learn of it. Hiding the reason for things shows our limitations. Then can we accept that and live within the boundaries God has set for us?
I recall my very first group supervisor, the person above my immediate supervisor when I just graduated from the university and began working. Whenever we gave a going-away party for someone leaving for another job, we’d go to a local restaurant. My group supervisor would consume alcohol. I didn’t give it much thought as this took place outside the office and some others also drank. But I noticed he would take a number of drinks, one after another. A couple of months later, I heard that he had been relieved of his duties because he came to the office drunk. He should have been fired but he was permitted to stay whereby he worked in a different department as a lowly staff member. One time I called his department and he answered. I recognized his voice but did not greet him. It would have been very awkward for the both of us. Instead, I asked for one of his coworkers who was absent. He answered, “There’s no one here but us chickens.” I felt bad. My former group supervisor categorized himself as a lowly chicken. He got what he deserved. This unfortunate situation we all understand.
Years later I worked at another agency when upper management decided to consolidate operations by closing an entire unit consisting of many departments manned by several thousand employees. The unit relocated to another region, necessitating people to find new homes or tolerate a long commute. As a consequence, many including me sought new jobs. Whereas a number of my colleagues found a new position, I was not so fortunate. I had young children in school at the time and I didn’t want to disrupt their lives by relocating the family. So I made the decision to drive the long commute and live in temporary lodging during the week and to return home on weekends. This situation had nothing to do with the quality of our work. I didn’t like it but could do nothing to prevent it. Some of us complained about the unfairness of it all. I certainly resented it. Was God behind this dilemma? If so, I couldn’t figure out his point. How did this advance God’s agenda whatever it was? It’s one of those regrettable predicaments that we try to make the best of.
To this day, I’m still uncertain why it happened. Eventually, I found another job and moved back home. I can’t identify any benefits of this incidence. It’s just one of those things that happened. In such cases, it takes faith to continue believing that God is good and watching over me and my family. Faith means that I accept his benevolence without tangible evidence to prove it. I may not be able to convince someone of what I believe. But I hold on the truth conveyed by the Bible which I take as sacred and authoritative. I try to live by its teaching and principles. Not easy at times.
From the perspective of several decades from which I can discern patterns, not immediately obvious in the short term, I see God’s benevolent intervention in my life and career. He guided me through the trajectory of several career moves. I worked in the corporate world for a period of my life. Then I was surprised by my transition into fulltime ministry as a pastor. It was not something I sought. In fact, I didn’t see myself as a pastor nor did my wife. I had a preconceived notion of what a pastor ought to be like. I didn’t fit the description. It took much prayer and consultation with my family before accepting the church’s invitation to serve as a pastor. Even then, I took the plunge with uncertainty. How would I fare? What fruit will I bear? Would I still be able to support my family especially as my children were about ready to enroll at the university with its daunting tuition demands?
Fast forward several more years and I am engaged in theological education, training future pastors, missionaries, teachers, and Christian workers. I’m teaching in a region of the world I didn’t anticipate. I made the big move in relocating and discovered that it was strategic if I wanted to maximize my impact in God’s service. As I review my multi-career journey, I realize that it was not the result of wise planning and making intentional moves that were timely and effective. I was not that wise. I could not conceive of such a progression. Each step was necessary for the next. In fact, I had no intention of becoming a pastor and thought it an ill-advised move. But it turned out to be essential for me to be an effective trainer of ministers because I needed the credibility of having been a minister myself for my students to accept and respect my insights and advice. Therefore, the most powerful argument for my belief that God is good and wise and powerful is the way he guided me step by step so long as I obeyed and follow his lead.
Questions and Comments
1. Have you struggled to reconcile belief in a good God and the evil in the world?
2. Did a work-related situation challenged your faith and trust in God?
3. As you review your life and career, can you discern God’s intervention and involvement?