Bringing Sanctification to Bear

I’ve known people who have suffered at the hands of another and whose souls have been damaged. Why would God allow that sort of thing to happen?

I like what philosopher Peter Kreeft has to say:

Imagine you’re walking in the woods and come across a bear with his leg in a trap. You want to help him, but he thinks you’re out to get him, so he fights you every time you get close. Finally, you shoot him with a tranquilizer gun. Now he really thinks you’re out to hurt him!

Then, to get his leg out of the trap, you first have to push it deeper into the trap to release the tension on the spring. If the bear were still semiconscious, he would be even more convinced you were out to hurt him. But he would be wrong! He can see the situation only from his limited perspective, so he wonders, Why are you making me suffer?

Now, how can you be sure it’s not like that with us and God? I believe God does the same to us sometimes, and we can’t understand why he does it any more than the bear could understand what you were doing. As the bear could have trusted you, so we can trust God.

Can we really trust God to work all things together for our good? Or do we trust in our own tactics and strategies? For example, if you were sinned against in a relationship, perhaps you're determined never to let anyone harm you again. You're committed to self-protection. Simon and Garfunkel capture it well:

I’ve built walls / A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain
I am a rock / I am an island ...

I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room / Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock / I am an island
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries.

But for the Christian, this kind of selfishness – this declaration of independence, this self-absorbed interest in keeping intact – is not an option. God calls us to love selflessly, not to build a fortress around ourselves.

Perhaps God allowed us to suffer so that we would cry out to Him and become dependent upon Him for the ability to love Him and others.

What should you do if you're not loving God or your spouse or your friends? Repent. Allow God to use your past suffering as a tool for your sanctification. Sure, you were sinned against. That person meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

The Heidelberg Catechism teaches that God rules the world in such a way that everything comes to us "not by chance but by his fatherly hand." Just as that bear could have trusted you, so you can trust God.