Responding to Pain

My wife and I saw the new movie, Courageous, this weekend. Good movie. I recommend it. I highly recommend it to any dads or dads-to-be (at any time in the future). This is not a post about the movie. It is a post spurred by the movie.

In the movie (no spoilers here, so relax), there were various crises that various characters faced. Since the movie was made by Christians with Christian overtones, several of these events spawned crises of faith. You know how it goes. Bad things happen in life and we -- believers -- ask God, "Why?" We want to know where God is when unpleasant events occur. We're hurting physically or emotionally or spiritually and we often don't cry out to God for help, but for an explanation. And I'm not suggesting this is wrong. I'm just asking if it's rational.

Here's the thing. I'm speaking here only of Christians, believers, people who know that "God works all things together for good." I'm talking about those who have heard that we ought to "count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing this, that the testing of your faith produces patience." I'm referring only to those who know we have a sovereign God who works all things after the counsel of His will. Everyone else ... you're on your own. But for those of us who know all this, how does that standard response of "Why, God??!!" make sense? Oh, it makes sense from an emotional perspective. I get that. As I said, it's standard. But it doesn't seem reasonable in light of the truth that we have. When bad things happen to God's people, we have the absolute assurance that it will work for good. Not only do we know that it will work for God's ultimate good (for which we should rejoice), but we know that it will serve to move us toward perfection (James 1:2-4). This is good. So how does it make sense to have a crisis of faith over these events?

Now, don't get me wrong. I've had them. You will, or likely will. Nor do I think it's wrong to do so. The Psalms are full of people crying out in just that way. "Where are you, God?! I'm in pain!" I'm not suggesting that it shouldn't happen. In fact, it is when we ask these hard questions in these hard events that we seem to come to the most sure answers -- "evidence from a hostile witness", so to speak. So I'm not trying to be cold-hearted or judgmental. Here's all I'm asking. Do you ever get to the place that you thank God for these things? Mind you, I'm not talking about thanking God in spite of these things. A parent who, say, loses a child might, after the grief, get to the place where he or she thanks God for the time they did have with their precious child. That's fine and good, but it's not what I'm talking about. If we understand that these painful experiences are actually provided by a good and loving God for our best interests -- for good -- wouldn't it make sense that, after the pain has subsided perhaps, we would thank God for the good that He provided ... for that pain that He gave to improve our lives?