As a volunteer firefighter, I’ve been to a number of fires where civilians have died.  I’ve never been to a working fire where a brother firefighter has died.  Once, however, we did come as close as you can to losing one of our own.  Two of our members were operating on the first floor of a house.  Fire was raging in the basement below.  Without warning, the floor collapsed, plummeting them into the well-involved cellar.  The firefighter who first witnessed them plunge into the fire below kept screaming: “They’re burning up!  They’re burning up!”

That collapse set off a frantic rescue effort that, thank God, worked.  But for the roughly five minutes it took before both were safely removed from the basement, I was absolutely convinced we were going to their funerals—it was that close.  The main reason they survived is because another firefighter made a gutsy move to get into the basement with a hose-line, knock the bulk of the fire down, and then locate and help remove them.

Later, I was talking with this firefighter (who is a good friend) about the incident.  In the most unassuming way, he told me that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t get those guys out of there.  Either he was going to get them out or die trying.

My friend is one of the best firefighters I’ve ever seen.  On top of being daringly heroic, he is also incredibly intelligent.  He’s so smart that I trust his instinct at fires over mine.  Even when I’ve thought he was mistaken, when I’ve read the situation differently or thought about making another move, I’ve always deferred to him.  He’s always been right!

Because this is who he is, because this is his true character, I would follow that man into any fire.  I would trust him with my life.  And I have.  I know he would never leave me behind, even if it cost him his life.

So, how could a loving God allow suffering? 

I don’t know.  No one does.  No one can explain why God allows a child to die from cancer; or allows a tsunami to wipe out thousands of people in a matter of minutes; or allows one maniacal dictator to send millions of people to their deaths.

We don’t know why.

But we do know God. 

As long as Jesus is God—and all the evidence independent of this question makes the odds pretty overwhelming He is—then we know God’s heart.  His character.  And God’s character, revealed in Jesus, is supremely trustworthy.  Even when we can’t understand His ways, even when we can’t comprehend His purposes, we can always trust His heart. 

We’re so familiar with the story, we usually miss how utterly astounding it is.  Think about it.  In Jesus, God has taken on human flesh.  As God, He lacked nothing.  He knew nothing but never-ending joy.  He exercised unlimited power.  He experienced (in the Trinity) infinite expanse after infinite expanse of perfect love.  But he gave all that up for us.  He emptied Himself of all these divine prerogatives for us (Philippians 2:6-11).  He chose to become fully human—to go hungry, get sick, be rejected, feel loneliness, struggle to be understood, know betrayal, experience sorrow, grieve the loss of loved ones; in short, to make Himself vulnerable to all we have to go through and more. 

Then—incredibly—He died for us.  And in the most extreme way.

Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion depicts the bloody horror of the Cross.  It’s hard to watch.  But in reality, crucifixion was far worse.  The pain was so unique, so indescribably torturous, that they had to invent a new word to capture it: excruciating.  And for Jesus, this wasn’t the worst part.  In order to save us, He bore the weight of the world’s sin on that cross—all the pain and suffering sin has created throughout the ages; past suffering, present suffering, future suffering.

The infinite sacrifice God made in becoming human is mind-blowing.

The enormity of Jesus’ suffering on the cross is utterly incomprehensible.

The Cross is the furthest extent to which God’s love could go.  As Jesus Himself says, “There is no greater love than this: that someone should lay down their life for their friends.” (John 15:13)

Is suffering proof that a loving God can’t exist?  Not in the shadow of the Cross.

Even in the face of incomprehensible suffering, the incomprehensible suffering He endured for us on the Cross proves, once and for all, that He loves us.  On that cross, in that moment, God proved once and for all the depth and extent of His love for us.  No matter what we suffer; no matter how perplexing it is, a God who does this, who dies such an excruciating death for you and me, has to be supremely loving.  For all eternity, this is His true character.

My friend’s willingness to lay down his life for his brother firefighters makes him eminently trustworthy.  How much more trustworthy is Jesus who has laid His life down for us!  There is nothing more God could do to prove His love for us.  Absolutely nothing! 

We can’t understand why God allows suffering; but we don’t need to. 

In Jesus, we can know God—and this is exceedingly better. 

While the mystery of suffering may torment us in this life, there is absolutely no question that, in Him, we have a loving God.

Jesus gave up all the glory of Heaven for you.  He died for you.  He made the ultimate sacrifice for you.

That’s how, no matter what you’re going through, you can be absolutely certain He loves you.

There truly is no greater love!

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