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<\/a><\/p>\nLately I\u2019ve been thinking about life. A lot<\/em>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also been thinking about the the line we tell people when they\u2019re going through sad chapters in life: \u201cWell, this is all part of God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n But is it, really? Is all this<\/em> part of God\u2019s plan? Looking back at the times people have said this to me in the midst of suffering, I find myself shaking my head that we\u2019d believe such a thing.<\/p>\n Not only does that line fail to bring me comfort, it also seems to impugn God\u2019s character. The idea that a loving God would have a \u201cplan\u201d that involved wiping out thousands in earthquakes and tsunamis, giving people cancer, parents losing children, car accidents, trauma, abuse, and all manner of pain and suffering, is an insane idea.<\/p>\n Think about it: if this is all \u201caccording to God\u2019s plan\u201d and every life event is being directed and controlled by him, he\u2019s really bad at making plans<\/em>.<\/p>\n In some of my saddest seasons of loss, people have come along side of me and said, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll never really understand God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n And every time I hear it, through my tears and suffocating sadness I just want to reply, \u201cNo shit, Sherlock.<\/em>\u201d How could a plan that involves so much heartache be understood?<\/p>\n Sure, I understand what we\u2019re trying to do when we say it. We\u2019re trying to make ourselves or others feel better, and trying to make sense of sadness and suffering. The best way we know how? Apparently it\u2019s to believe that our suffering was all planned by God, and thus must have some deeper, mysterious beauty we haven\u2019t discovered yet.<\/p>\n Sometimes we\u2019ll say God planned the suffering for our benefit. Other times\u00a0we\u2019ll be tricked into believing that God planned the suffering to chastise us for not measuring up. Yet, no matter how we try to rationalize or explain it, we end up at the same spot: if this is all part of God\u2019s plan, God is the author and cause of evil and suffering.<\/p>\n As well meaning or desperate for answers as we may be, trying to fit all of the tragedies and sadness of life into some supposed master plan that God has, creates far more problems than it solves.<\/p>\n I am convinced that any belief or worldview that makes God the agent of causation for our suffering, ought to be rejected. This includes the idea that God has a giant master plan where\u00a0everything that happens in life is divinely willed and ordained as part of it. In a world of such brokenness, this simply cannot be true.<\/p>\n Instead of saying that God has a \u201cplan,\u201d I am growing more fond of saying that God has a certain desire, a certain will\u2013 a certain heart. And that this will, this desire, and this heart, is always love. <\/em>It\u2019s\u00a0never anything but love<\/em>. This means that whatever God wills, and whatever God desires to bring into reality, is always beautiful and never evil.<\/p>\n God does not will our heartache and suffering. He doesn\u2019t will our losses, and the broken chapters we experience in this life.<\/p>\n Those things have nothing to do with God, and are so far outside of his will, his desire, and his heart, that it\u2019s indescribable.<\/p>\n Instead of trying to rationalize our suffering as being from the hand of God\u2013 thus making God an agent to be petrified of\u00a0instead of a creator\u00a0to be loved, I think we should be quicker to acknowledge that,\u00a0no, a lot of what we experience in life isn\u2019t God\u2019s plan at all.<\/p>\n And honestly, we really need to stop blaming him, because we pin some really horrible and tragic life events on him. I can\u2019t imagine it makes him feel good when we actually believe that he caused that car accident, sent the tornado, or gave the cancer in order to fulfill his own really twisted\u00a0\u201cplan.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, when we acknowledge that really hard and sad life events did not come from the hand of God, and were not in any way planned by or ordained by God, I believe we\u2019re invited to get to know a God who joins in our suffering instead of causing it<\/em>.<\/p>\n Because you see, if it\u2019s outside of God\u2019s heart and desires, God\u00a0grieves that loss and brokenness with us\u2013 because it\u2019s his hopes and dreams for our lives that end up getting smashed as well.<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how to have a relationship with a God who comes along side me in sadness and suffering and says, \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to trust my reasons for making your world explode.\u201d<\/p>\n But I am learning (I\u2019m trying Ringo. I\u2019m tryin\u2019 real hard<\/em>), how to have a relationship with a God who sits beside me and says, \u201cYeah, man\u2026 this whole thing totally sucks.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n Instead of this idea of God having a master plan that meticulously dictates and controls what happens in our lives (often referred to a blueprint theology), I believe that God has hopes, dreams, and desires for our stories. When those things come true, he rejoices and celebrates with us.<\/p>\n But when those hopes and dreams get smashed to bits, instead of saying \u201cOh, by the way\u2013 I actually did that,\u201d I believe God sits in the dark and mourns\u00a0those broken dreams with us.<\/p>\n And when the tears have subsided long enough to begin to hear his voice clearly, I\u2019m convinced he\u2019s also whispering, \u201cAnd I know this can\u2019t replace your loss, but when you\u2019re ready I\u2019d love to partner with you to try to make something good come out of all this.\u201d<\/p>\n Lately I\u2019ve been thinking about life. A lot. I\u2019ve also been thinking about the the line we tell people when they\u2019re going through sad chapters in life: \u201cWell, this is all part of God\u2019s plan.\u201d But is it, really? Is all this part of God\u2019s plan? Looking back at the times people have said this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1638,"featured_media":14772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,533],"tags":[166,3218,3237,3236],"class_list":["post-14771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adoption-2","category-open-theism","tag-grief","tag-open-theism","tag-suffering","tag-theodicy"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDr. Benjamin L. Corey<\/a> is a public theologian and cultural anthropologist who is a two-time graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with graduate degrees in the fields of Theology and International Culture, and holds a doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary.\u00a0He is also the author of the new book, Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith, which is available wherever good books\u00a0are sold. www.Unafraid-book.com.<\/a><\/p>\nKeep up to date with BLC! Visit his NEW<\/a> site!\n<\/h3><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"