Psalm 102:9-10

Psalm 102:9-10

Can God be blamed for suffering?

It’s very hard to provide positive, uplifting and life-affirming comments about Bible verses that are so doom-ridden and full of woe! To imagine anyone having to eat ashes is frankly obnoxious, this man has sunk below the behaviour of a normal human being, he has become like a wild animal grovelling in the dirt with no refinements or sophistication, his life is no better than a foraging beast. Instead of living water, the poor man knows nothing but the salty flavour of his own bitter tears as he drinks at the bowl of intense suffering. It’s hard for us to imagine just how low it is possible for a human to sink; in today’s world we would probably be drugged and anaesthetized against such awful torment.

The Psalm goes on to point the finger at the cause of all this anguish, and the perpetrator is deemed to be the Lord God who has poured great wrath on our victim and picked him up and thrown him aside! The big questions for us are, “Would the Lord bring such horrors on any individual? Is God to be blamed when our lives are wrecked by afflictions? Is suffering a demonstration of God’s wrath against us? Or is this a moment of self-pity and blame caused by the intensity of the suffering?” In truth, the arguments are not straightforward or simple and they go to the heart of the question that so many ask, “Why does God allow suffering?” He has written another book in the Bible that investigates all of the complex sides to this question, the book is called Job. It’s worth a read! 

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