The Test: There are any number of texts that speak of God as someone who tests people’s faith by bringing suffering or evil into their lives to see how they will respond and/or to make their faith stronger. This response is built on the notion that the true sign and strength of faith lies when it is challenged and perseveres despite. As is said by so many, “No pain, no gain.” People who go through these tests of faith testify to how much their faith has been strengthened by having endured their pain and yet continued to believe. Martyrs of the faith are seen by many as having endured suffering, evil and even death for the sake of maintaining their trust in God. We must concur that for some people “the test” works. But not for everyone. First of all, how can we tell when we are being tested and when we are suffering for another reason? And why is it that some who are tested do not come through well, but rather lose their faith? Finally, why do some seem to be tested constantly while other s live most of their lives with very few if any tests? “The test” seems to be a contrived explanation that excuses God from taking care of indiscriminate and unjustified suffering and evil. The test works and it does not work.
The Plan: This may be the most popular response given in the Biblical text. The impression given is that everything that happens, happens for a reason. It is part of the plan of God. This response goes on to explain that we may not understand why a particular pain, suffering or evil is occurring but we should be assured that it is all part of God’s mysterious plan. We are further assured that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. We cannot understand the greater, larger, deeper, more wonderful meaning of the event but rest assured God is in control. Many people believe in this response because they believe that God is a mystery and acts in mysterious ways that we, with our smaller minds, cannot understand. We must admit that this response works for some. Human beings are comforted by the sense that whatever is happening to them, be it cancer, a heart attack, war, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc . . .is somehow ordained by a mysterious deity and there is nothing they can do. They should surrender and endure because after all, it is the will of God and his will be done. And the Biblical text itself seems to live in the tension between, on the one hand, depicting human beings as creatures with free will and at the very same time, depicting God as in control of history.
The problem with “the plan” comforting as it may be, is that it makes God into an arbitrary monster. Under “the plan” God sits in the sky handing out diseases and accidents of all sorts, wars, natural disasters, broken legs, and absurd suffering and evil. God supposedly does this because God has the plan which supposedly will eventuate in some grand outcome we cannot perceive nor understand. But, why should we worship a God who, as part of his plan, decides that millions of people must be killed? A God who commits evil in the name of a secret plan no longer deserves our worship.
The far more serious problem with “the plan” is that ultimately it is not true to the Biblical text. In the Bible, everything that happens is not the will of God. God is pictured as fighting against evil and suffering. God is pictured as being frustrated by human decisions. God, sometimes, has to modify his plans because humans have made certain decisions. Death, suffering and evil are part of life but they are, for the most part, not depicted as being the will of God. People who are sick and suffering are healed of their diseases. Yes, it may be that God has a purpose but he is not pictured as having planned out every bit of suffering and evil that befalls us. The Plan works and it does not work.
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