People often ask me how I can manage to write so many articles (this is my 6623rd piece on this site in case you are wondering). ‘Where do you get all the ideas on what to write about?’ they ask. I reply by saying it is quite easy: Between my morning Bible reading and my morning reading of online newspaper headlines, there is never a shortage of things to comment on. My main problem is having TOO much material to choose from.
So I am back in the book of Isaiah, and this morning I came upon the terrific text, Isaiah 63:9. It says this: “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (ESV). As is often the case with the Hebrew Bible, there can be some options to run with when translating a passage into English. So the ESV has this margin note: “Or he did not afflict”.
Other translations can be mentioned here. The NIV has this: “In all their distress he too was distressed”. And the NLT puts it this way: “In all their suffering he also suffered”. All three give the sense that God is not aloof from our sufferings and distress. He is actually with us when we are afflicted. He cares, and cares deeply.
That is an amazing reality. I am not aware of other major world religions that portrays God in this light. This is certainly not the god of Islam or the god of deism for example. Here is a God who cares so very much for us, and he actually enters into our hardships and suffering.
Of course this is not the only biblical passage that speaks to this wonderful truth. There are many other verses one can appeal to here. Consider just three of these, all from the Psalms:
Psalm 31:7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have known the distress of my soul,
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
But let me return to Psalm 63. The context for verse 9 is found in verses 7 to 14:
I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely.”
And he became their Savior.
In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
Then he remembered the days of old,
of Moses and his people.
Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his Holy Spirit,
who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
Like livestock that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So you led your people,
to make for yourself a glorious name.
Isaiah: The NIV Application Commentaryby Oswalt, John N. (Author)
As I often like to do, let me draw upon some key commentators to look a bit more closely at this passage. Their insights and wisdom can be quite useful. The words of John Oswalt from his NIVAC commentary are as good as any in giving us both the historical background and the theological significance of this passage:
After introducing God’s ability to defeat sin in all of its forms, Isaiah returns to a discussion of the human inability to do what is right (from 63:7 to 65:16). But this iteration of the theme (in contrast to the way it is presented in chs. 57-59) has more of an emphasis on the recognition that human failure will always be the case unless God intervenes. So there is not only a lament over the failure but also the question why God allows this condition to persist.
The groundwork for this question is laid in 63:7-14, and then the question itself is brought out in 63:15-64:12.’ The forceful answer from God appears in 65:1-5. In 63:7-14 the prophet begins the discussion by rehearsing the theological significance of the Exodus. He lays the emphasis on the elements of God’s character that were revealed in the Exodus events. His “kindnesses”‘ and “compassion” (63:7) were revealed, as were his “love and mercy” (63:9). He is One who does “good things” (63:7) in saving and redeeming (63:9) his people.
But the Exodus events also reveal the rebellious character of God’s people. After all God had done for them, the Israelites turned against him. Interestingly, Isaiah does not put this rebellion into either a legal or a royal context. That is, he does not say that they broke their covenant or they disobeyed their King. Rather, they “grieved [God’s] Holy Spirit” (63:10). That is the language of personal relationship, for the “Holy Spirit” is God’s personal presence among his people. Note too 63:14, where “the Spirit of the LORD” gave “rest” to the people (the language is reminiscent of Ps. 23). Clearly the “Spirit” here is a way of speaking about God’s personal involvement with humans.’
This atmosphere is reinforced by such language as “lifted them up and carried them” (Isa. 63:9; cf. 46:3-4). All this makes the rebellion more unthinkable. It is not a king or a judge who has been disobeyed or whose authority has been denied. Rather, it is a Father’s love, care, and concern that has been treated as worthless. The result is that their Lover became their “enemy” (63:10). Love and personal relationship do not invalidate the law of cause and effect.
But if the Exodus events illustrate both the undeserved grace of God and the shocking rebellion of the people, they also illustrate what older theologians called the “biddability” of God. For in spite of the rebellion of the first generation in the desert, God did not abandon his people. Although he would have been justified in wiping them off the face of the earth in response to their repeated breaking of the covenant, he did not do so. This is implicit in 63:11-14. Given God’s initial grace and his continuing patience, what of the future? Can God provide a new Moses who will be the “arm of the LORD” (63:12; cf. 52:10; 53:1) for a fallen people? Can he not deliver them from their persistent rebellion and grieving of the Holy Spirit?
And these words from Gary Smith as found in his NAC commentary are also quite useful:
Although the time of affliction is not specifically identified, the phraseology indicates that it happened “in days of old” (NIV) before he redeemed them, took them up, and carried them, all imagery that suggests this refers to the nation’s affliction in Egypt. It appears that this verse is communicating the idea that God suffers or is distressed (“he was afflicted”) when his people suffer affliction. This concept is known from Judg. 10:15-16, which states that initially God rejected the Israelites’ cry to be saved from their oppressors, but after they confessed their sins and got rid of their foreign gods, God “could bear Israel’s misery no longer,” so he saved them. Surely God’s emotional involvement with people who are unfaithful affects him with grief (63:10; Gen. 6:6; Ps. 78:40; Hos. 6:6; 11:8-9), and he delights and gains pleasure from those who honor him (1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 149:4; Isa. 42:1; 62:4).
Once again, what an amazing God we serve. He loves us too much to leave us in our sin, but even when affliction may come from his hand, he is afflicted in that as well. We are meant to learn from ancient Israel, and the mistakes they made. But sadly, Christians are just the same. Like them, we need daily the grace of God.
Like them, we rejoice that he is distressed over our distress.
So God is distressed when we lose a loved one to cancer. Why then does a loving God create cancer in the first place? The same question can be asked about the many other afflictions that humans suffer.
Don’t tell me “whole libraries have been written about theodicy etc.” as is your usual response to hard questions. Such answers are nonsensical “making excuses for God”.
Perhaps the real answer is that there is no God. Unpalatable, but it has to be considered.
Most people understand Roger that there ARE complex and deep questions that do deserve whole libraries and real thought and discussion, not just cheap bumper sticker cliches that the misotheists so much prefer. That is why we have millennia of important philosophical and theological reflection about such things.
And the standard atheist line – to accurately paraphrase Dawkins – that ‘crap just happens, so just get used to it’ is hardly going to give anyone any comfort, help or hope. Indeed, such answers are nonsensical “making excuses for atheism”.
The biblical view that there IS a God who cares deeply for us. He has intervened in the most important sense by coming to earth and living among us, dealing with the sin issue. And he will one day return to deal with all remaining evil and suffering – that is indeed a tremendous hope.
And I always gotta laugh when folks come along pretending to be experts in Christian theology. It is of course the case that God did not create cancer. He created a good world with people meant to be in loving, personal relationship with him. But people have preferred instead to shake their fists at God and pretend that they are the centre of the universe. THAT is the explanation for the mess we now find ourselves in.
Perhaps the real answer is that there is a God. Unpalatable, but it has to be considered.
“We are meant to learn from ancient Israel, and the mistakes they made.” Quite right. Or just to be even briefer “we are meant to learn…” We are meant to learn from what happens to us, both good and bad. The saddest thing is that so few in this world, both in the past and the present, fail to learn. Why? They close their hearts to God’s goodness and grace. What they “learn” is what they already think they know; it is a confirmation of their own beliefs about the meaning and purpose of life — to attain wealth, power, prestige, pleasure. But these are all fleeting things that do not bring real happiness or lasting peace of mind. And perhaps they fall into total despair, wanting in their heart of hearts to cry out, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” They want to cry out, but are unwilling, or too full of pride, or too fearful to do it. Let us assume for a moment that Roger (who commented above, and I hope you are reading this, Roger!) is sincere in his questions. If so, he has perhaps fallen into this despair. Friend, do cry out — or even whisper! — and God will hear you.
Thanks Bill, the Bible says ‘My people perish due to lack of knowledge.’ Did God create cancer?’ Is like asking ‘ did God create thorns or other diseases?’ No, everything was good at the beginning of creation. It was when Adam and Eve followed Satan’s advice rather than God’s advice that the whole of creation went biserk and now we have thorns, hardship, diseases etc and eventually die.
But I’m blaming the medical profession Bill for not examining other forms of treatment for cancer etc as most universities teach evolution as if there is no God and so they haven’t found the reason for cancer as their eyes have been blinded by evolution and other teaching so that they haven’t sort other remedies for cancer like X39 Lifewave patches for example that I’ve just come across that says they ‘activates stem cell production, encourages apoptosis of cancer cells and discourages metastatic cancer cells. Using X39 people report better sleep, plus pain and inflammation down.’ Selenium is also good for overcoming cancer – our soils are deficient of it so best to use a supplement but don’t overdo it.
Bill, the Lifewave patches are a marketing scam and the company flogging them is in serious legal trouble. The key promoter Suzanne Somers died last year from breast cancer that spread to the brain. They certainly didn’t help her.
Please don’t allow your site to be used to promote quack medecine.
Thanks Lynette and Edward. I never heard of them before and know nothing about them. So I cannot comment at the moment as to who is right or wrong here. But my above article stands, despite what commentators may or may not say.
I am afflicted yet like my biblical namesake God’s grace is sufficient. So I can live with my afflictions and still feel God’s presence and still feel the need to speak out against the world and the evil there in. I have to take more frequent breaks now than before but I am not leaving the battlefield just retreating to a more rearward position temporarily. I have learned with age you see things that have been more clearly than at the time they happened.
The only question is in the Brave New World that is coming to America, and probably the West as a whole, will the afflicted be deemed “life unworthy of life” like in the 3rd Reich??? Perhaps the GREATEST test of faith is yet to come for many. Many can withstand affliction but can they withstand potential martyrdom???? Some will choose their lives. We know the Ultimate BNW will be under the Anti-Christ in the tribulation some think, thanks to so many spy movies, they can be a secret agent for God under the Antichrist’s rule. Deny God, take the mark and secretly spread the gospel. “… strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
So God is distressed when we lose a loved one to cancer. Why then does a loving God create cancer in the first place? The same question can be asked about the many other afflictions that humans suffer.
Don’t tell me “whole libraries have been written about theodicy etc.” as is your usual response to hard questions. Such answers are nonsensical “making excuses for God”.
Perhaps the real answer is that there is no God. Unpalatable, but it has to be considered.
Most people understand Roger that there ARE complex and deep questions that do deserve whole libraries and real thought and discussion, not just cheap bumper sticker cliches that the misotheists so much prefer. That is why we have millennia of important philosophical and theological reflection about such things.
And the standard atheist line – to accurately paraphrase Dawkins – that ‘crap just happens, so just get used to it’ is hardly going to give anyone any comfort, help or hope. Indeed, such answers are nonsensical “making excuses for atheism”.
The biblical view that there IS a God who cares deeply for us. He has intervened in the most important sense by coming to earth and living among us, dealing with the sin issue. And he will one day return to deal with all remaining evil and suffering – that is indeed a tremendous hope.
And I always gotta laugh when folks come along pretending to be experts in Christian theology. It is of course the case that God did not create cancer. He created a good world with people meant to be in loving, personal relationship with him. But people have preferred instead to shake their fists at God and pretend that they are the centre of the universe. THAT is the explanation for the mess we now find ourselves in.
Perhaps the real answer is that there is a God. Unpalatable, but it has to be considered.
“We are meant to learn from ancient Israel, and the mistakes they made.” Quite right. Or just to be even briefer “we are meant to learn…” We are meant to learn from what happens to us, both good and bad. The saddest thing is that so few in this world, both in the past and the present, fail to learn. Why? They close their hearts to God’s goodness and grace. What they “learn” is what they already think they know; it is a confirmation of their own beliefs about the meaning and purpose of life — to attain wealth, power, prestige, pleasure. But these are all fleeting things that do not bring real happiness or lasting peace of mind. And perhaps they fall into total despair, wanting in their heart of hearts to cry out, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” They want to cry out, but are unwilling, or too full of pride, or too fearful to do it. Let us assume for a moment that Roger (who commented above, and I hope you are reading this, Roger!) is sincere in his questions. If so, he has perhaps fallen into this despair. Friend, do cry out — or even whisper! — and God will hear you.
Thanks Bill, the Bible says ‘My people perish due to lack of knowledge.’ Did God create cancer?’ Is like asking ‘ did God create thorns or other diseases?’ No, everything was good at the beginning of creation. It was when Adam and Eve followed Satan’s advice rather than God’s advice that the whole of creation went biserk and now we have thorns, hardship, diseases etc and eventually die.
But I’m blaming the medical profession Bill for not examining other forms of treatment for cancer etc as most universities teach evolution as if there is no God and so they haven’t found the reason for cancer as their eyes have been blinded by evolution and other teaching so that they haven’t sort other remedies for cancer like X39 Lifewave patches for example that I’ve just come across that says they ‘activates stem cell production, encourages apoptosis of cancer cells and discourages metastatic cancer cells. Using X39 people report better sleep, plus pain and inflammation down.’ Selenium is also good for overcoming cancer – our soils are deficient of it so best to use a supplement but don’t overdo it.
Bill, the Lifewave patches are a marketing scam and the company flogging them is in serious legal trouble. The key promoter Suzanne Somers died last year from breast cancer that spread to the brain. They certainly didn’t help her.
Please don’t allow your site to be used to promote quack medecine.
Thanks Lynette and Edward. I never heard of them before and know nothing about them. So I cannot comment at the moment as to who is right or wrong here. But my above article stands, despite what commentators may or may not say.
I am afflicted yet like my biblical namesake God’s grace is sufficient. So I can live with my afflictions and still feel God’s presence and still feel the need to speak out against the world and the evil there in. I have to take more frequent breaks now than before but I am not leaving the battlefield just retreating to a more rearward position temporarily. I have learned with age you see things that have been more clearly than at the time they happened.
The only question is in the Brave New World that is coming to America, and probably the West as a whole, will the afflicted be deemed “life unworthy of life” like in the 3rd Reich??? Perhaps the GREATEST test of faith is yet to come for many. Many can withstand affliction but can they withstand potential martyrdom???? Some will choose their lives. We know the Ultimate BNW will be under the Anti-Christ in the tribulation some think, thanks to so many spy movies, they can be a secret agent for God under the Antichrist’s rule. Deny God, take the mark and secretly spread the gospel. “… strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”