Due Diligence
The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He. Deuteronomy 32:4 NASB
All His ways – “‘When a person suffers afflictions, he must express gratitude to the Holy and Blessed One. Why? Because it is his afflictions that draw him to the Holy and Blessed One.’ Indeed, the Torah cannot be acquired except through affliction.”[1]
Is this true? Does human suffering draw us closer to God? You might be inclined to say “Yes.” You think of the 9/11 terror attack and the crowds that went to church afterward. Maybe you have a personal experience of pain that drew you to Him. But there are other events, aren’t there?
The Holocaust. The killing fields of Cambodia. Stalin’s gulags. The history of Jewish pogroms. Man-made, you say. But what about the Plague, Krakatoa, the Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Maria? All of God’s ways?
Moses’ declaration sounds like something from Abraham Heschel:
“Love of affliction flows from love of the Holy and Blessed One, a love that brings with it both fortune and adversity. Both come from God, from Whom no evil emerges. What may be regarded as evil by earthly creatures is, in the divine scheme of things, good.”[2]
“Afflictions are precious, and the righteous do not rebel against them—to them whatever God does is precious and beloved.”[3]
Heschel draws a conclusion about love:
“It is likely that Rabbi Akiva sensed that it was impossible to achieve perfect love of God except through suffering, for a person cannot truly taste of the love of God until he is prepared to mock death itself for the glory of God’s great name. From this standpoint, the greatness of afflictions is not only because they cleanse a person’s sins, but because within them here is human participation in the afflictions of heaven. No one truly understands the meaning of love, nor does one even know whether he is in love, except through affliction.”[4]
Perhaps we should rewrite John 14:15. Rather than, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” it should read, “If you love me, you will suffer for me.” Maybe keeping the commandment is the same thing. The Rabbis were fond of saying that no man can understand the Torah until he has been seared by it. “The virtue of Torah is exceedingly great, but there are times when a person cannot draw near to the Holy and Blessed One except through afflictions.”[5]
If I believe this, why do I try to avoid pain and suffering? Is it really God trying to reach me? What would my life be like if I didn’t complain about my woes, if I didn’t try to run from my struggles? Would I become more spiritual? More psychologically whole? Do you suppose God is disappointed with us when we run away from life’s trials?
I want to believe Heschel—and Moses. But it’s just too much for me right now. Do I think all of God’s ways are just? Well, I believe Moses believed that. In order for me to believe it too, I guess I have to know what he meant by “all His ways.” Is that everything or just the things that He does?
Topical Index: all His ways, evidence, disasters, afflictions, faith, Heschel, Deuteronomy 32:4
[1] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations, p. 132, citing Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob.
[2] Ibid., p. 133.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., pp. 134-135.
[5] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations, p. 132.
