Today I got an e-mail from super-author Andrew Klavan, directing me to this column on his blog, in which he gives me a nice plug.
Novelist Lars Walker — a friend of this blog and an insightful reviewer of some of my own novels — makes a trenchant comment in the Elizabeth Smart post below. I know it’s trenchant because I was about to make basically the same comment but Lars beat me to it! In the comment, he makes a delightfully concise reference to “the Osteenian view that suffering is always a sign of God’s displeasure.” This, of course, refers to popular preacher Joel Osteen, who has been promoting his new book at the Blaze and other places. He basically preaches that God wants wonderful things for your life and you only have to open yourself to God’s will in order to receive those blessings.
He was particularly pleased, he said, by my use of the adjective “Osteenian,” meaning theological ideas in line with Joel Osteen’s preaching. He seems to think I may have coined it, though I find it hard to believe nobody’s used it before.
In any case, this counts as a good day.
that suffering is always a sign of God’s displeasure ignores the Psalms and ignores Jesus’ life and teaching, if not every word in Scripture.
How close is the Osteenian view that suffering is a sign of God’s displeasure to the idea that suffering is a sign of unconfessed sin that was promulgated so long ago by the Friends of Job Society?
After the above comment I went and read Klavan’s entire column. It reminds me of a local celebrity who has recently suffered a personal trauma. I heard him say on the radio today, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” I heard the same thing recently from a parishioner who was struggling to deal with grief.
My first thought when the parishioner said that to me was, “I don’t recall ever finding that statement in the Bible.” But that wouldn’t have comforted my parishioner so I kept the thought to myself. But I mulled it over during the next few days. I came to the conclusion that what I find in the Bible is that God almost always gave people more than they could handle. If I can handle everything life throws at me in my own strength, then I don’t need God. But what the Bible tells me is that, “When I am weak then He is Strong.” Overwhelming circumstances force me to call upon God for strength, for instruction, for encouragement.
Osteenian theology leaves no room for James 1:2, “Rejoice when you meet various trials.” It’s not that trials are enjoyable, but they produce steadfastness. Peter tells how they leave us with a faith that’s been tested. Through suffering we grow more confident, not in ourselves, but in our heavenly Father.
Yes, that’s very good. In fact, if we could already handle our struggles, we wouldn’t talk about God not overwhelming us. We would just take it in stride.
Where is taking up one’s cross, if it isn’t in pain and suffering?
Thanks, Greybeard, that’s extremely insightful. I’ve always assumed that the “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle” idea comes from an interpretation of “God is faithful; he wil not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Cor. 10:13) But that’s a question of temptation, which is a somewhat different matter, and even then I think your principle applies.
Hi Lars-
I’m the guy who provoked your “Osteenian” comment on AK’s blog. . Just to set the record straight, I agree with you. It wasn’t my intention to present the all-suffering-is-due-to-your-bad-actions view, which I find pretty Bible-ignorant. You went through abuse and are still working through that, and I was not cured of a life threatening disease despite all kinds of prayer and anointing with oil, until I found a second chance at life via a skilled surgeon’s scalpel. And, BTW, I was accused of lacking faith to be healed- as if. I still wonder why I got so sick, as you no doubt wonder why God put you through all that crap. One thing I do know, brother. We might sort of limp our way through this place, but there is perfect justice- it’s just that looking for it here is a bit of a mug’s game. And that God enables us to function more or less normally after great trauma is a bit of a minor miracle, right? All I wanted to say about AK’s comments on Elizabeth Smart is that I can indeed believe that she has been healed, unless she’s brilliant at suppressing all that stuff. Which also is a form of healing, I suppose.
Anyway, bless you, and good strength, as the Greeks say.
Thank you. It can be difficult to express what we actually mean in a discussion such as this.
God doesn’t give us more than He can handle, and hopefully doesn’t give us more than He will give us the grace to handle.