Suffering and the Heart of God

1. Trauma is the Pervasive Mission Field of Our Time

I think a look at suffering humanity would lead to the realization that trauma is perhaps the greatest mission field of the twenty-first century.

Global reality. The world is filled with immense suffering and trauma, from genocides and wars to systemic violence in inner cities and widespread abuse. These events produce traumatized human beings, living with tormenting memories that destroy sleep, relationships, and hope. The sheer scale of this suffering, often hidden or ignored, reveals a critical area for the church's engagement.

Hidden suffering. Many statistics highlight the pervasiveness of trauma, often in unexpected places. For instance:

• One in three females are beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in their lifetime.
• One in four women and one in six men experience child sexual abuse.
• Hundreds of thousands are raped in conflicts, with many victims under ten.
• Millions of children live on the streets, vulnerable to trafficking.
  This suffering is not "over there" but often sits next to us in our churches and communities, demanding our attention.

Call to action. The church is often numb to the horrific trauma beneath its "chapel" walls, much like the worshipers above the slave dungeons of Cape Coast Castle. However, true worship of God compels us to enter these "dungeons" of suffering, bringing light and healing. Refusing to see and enter in makes us complicit with the perpetrators, failing to reflect Christ's heart for the brokenhearted.

2. Confronting Evil and Sin is Essential for Understanding Suffering

Underlying all trauma, violence, and abuse lies evil, and the result of evil is always some kind of suffering.

Beyond pathology. While psychology describes symptoms like pathology, dysfunction, and aberrant behavior, Christians must delve deeper into the unseen reality of evil and sin. These are the destructive forces that shatter what God created in His image, and understanding them is foundational for true healing, not just symptom management.

The Enemy's work. We have an adversary, the devil, who is the father of lies and the author of sin, relentlessly seeking to devour souls. His power emanates from implacable malice, and he often appears as an "angel of light" to deceive. Recognizing this enemy should drive us to:

• Approach life and counseling with fear and trembling, relying on God.
• Cultivate humility and repentance, acknowledging our own capacity for rebellion.
• Avoid trying to "figure out" the Deceiver, focusing instead on God.

Sin's pervasive nature. Sin is not merely wrongdoing; it is "wrong being," infecting our thoughts, desires, and motivations. It is a "poison" that contaminates, spreads, and makes us call evil good. We are all "infested" with it, and it is the "worst thing in the world," distorting our character and polluting every aspect of our lives, leading to profound suffering.

3. Justice is a Divine Requirement, Not an Option

Neutrality [and I would add silence] always helps the oppressor, never the victim.

God's demand. Justice is a core attribute of God and a non-negotiable requirement for His people. Micah 6:8 states, "He has told you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" This is not a suggestion but a mandate for worship.

Complicity of silence. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity, folding us together with those who perpetrate evil. The Rwandan genocide, where churches became sites of massacre, starkly illustrates how the body of Christ can fail to be a refuge. We must speak truth about injustice and call evil by its right name, disturbing indifference and complacency.

Egocentricity's hindrance. Our deeply entrenched egocentricity often prevents us from pursuing justice. We tend to ignore suffering that doesn't directly affect us, judging the oppressed as somehow deserving of their fate. This mindset, which assumes all injustice is due to individual choices, contradicts the God who suffered undeserved injustice on the cross.

4. Suffering Challenges Faith, But God's Character Remains Unchanged

The Father who watches over them knows the sparrows. They cannot fall without his knowledge. And yet, they still fall. Falling hurts.

The dilemma of suffering. Suffering is an inescapable, universal human experience, from personal loss to global catastrophes. It often appears unreasonable, irrational, and unjust, challenging our understanding of a loving and omnipotent God. We struggle to reconcile "God and Auschwitz," as Elie Wiesel put it, often blaming the sufferer or even God.

God's unchanging nature. Despite the pervasive alteration of creation by sin and the presence of suffering, God's character remains unchanged. He is eternally good, loving, wise, just, and merciful. Our tendency to reason from creation's brokenness to God's character, rather than from His unchanging character to creation, leads to confusion and misjudgment.

Suffering is not good, but God redeems it. While suffering is not inherently good—death, abuse, and cruelty are wrong—God is capable of redeeming the deepest agony into something that brings life and glory to Him. The cross, though a place of immense suffering, demonstrates God's power to transform pain. We are called to fight against suffering, not passively accept it, but our ultimate goal is God's glory, not merely the absence of pain.

5. The Cross Transforms Shame and Trauma into Glory

He despised shame and sat in glory. We are shamed and glory disappears. He faced shame and transformed it into glory.

Shame's destructive power. Shame is a "soul-eating emotion," a sense of the self as defective, worthless, and degraded. It causes us to hide, cover, and avoid exposure, threatening relational bonds. Trauma, especially chronic abuse, inflicts deep shame, leading to feelings of weakness, incompetence, and being "less than human."

The cross as ultimate shame and glory. Jesus, the embodiment of purity and glory, willingly became shame itself on the cross. He was stripped, taunted, cursed, beaten, and humiliated, enduring mankind's most shaming instrument of torture. Yet, in this ultimate act of shame, He "despised" it, considering it worthless, and transformed it into eternal glory.

From shame to glory. The cross is where our seemingly irreconcilable realities of sin, shame, and God converge. It is the cosmic crash where the greatest garbage met purest beauty, and beauty triumphed. Through Christ's sacrifice, our shame is exchanged for glory, allowing us to behold Him "with unveiled face" and be transformed into His image, from glory to glory.

6. Healing from Trauma Requires Voice, Relationship, and Purpose

To heal from an atrocity, one must learn to speak the unspeakable.

Reversing trauma's dynamics. Trauma silences, isolates, and renders victims powerless. Healing requires a reversal of these dynamics through:

• Talking: Giving voice to the unspeakable, acknowledging the truth of what happened, and honoring the memory. This is a slow, repetitive process, often starting with non-verbal expressions.
• Tears: Expressing the deep, painful emotions (fear, anger, grief, despair) that accompany trauma. Tears are a sign of life and healing, acknowledging the wounds of the heart.
• Time: Recovery is a journey, not a quick fix. It takes time for words to come, for feelings to be processed, and for the mind to integrate the trauma without being overwhelmed.

Rebuilding life. Beyond processing the past, recovery involves actively re-engaging with life by cultivating:

• Loving relationships: Choosing to love, care, and connect again, defying the trauma's isolating effects. Every act of kindness or forgiveness reclaims dignity.
• Work or purpose: Engaging in productive and creative activities, whether paid or unpaid, restores dignity, meaning, and a sense of impact. It counters the helplessness of trauma.
• Faith: Reconciling the trauma with a trustworthy God, understanding that Christ endured all suffering. This is a struggle, but it's a fight against despair, choosing life and hope.

7. Ongoing Trauma Demands Adapted Care and Community Support

You cannot ‘get over’ something that is still happening.

The challenge of continuous trauma. Traditional trauma recovery models assume the trauma is in the past and safety is established. However, millions live with ongoing, relentless trauma—in war zones, refugee camps, violent inner cities, or abusive homes. Attempting standard trauma therapy in such contexts can be re-traumatizing, as it demands vulnerability without safety.

Adapted responses. When trauma is continuous, the focus shifts from "getting over it" to managing, containing, and surviving with dignity. Care must prioritize:

• Protection and containment: Helping individuals develop strategies to protect their hearts, minds, and bodies, with "talking" focused on safety planning rather than deep emotional processing.
• Community building: Fostering ongoing connection, shared purpose, and communal lament. This counters isolation, meaninglessness, and despair, which are exacerbated by continuous trauma.
• Resilience through action: Encouraging practical tasks, education, and shared rituals, even in minimal ways, to restore dignity and a sense of impact. This "bends the will toward living" amidst death.

The "rat children" example. The "rat children" living in Cairo's sewers, born into chronic trauma with no memory of anything else, highlight the need for creative, community-based interventions. While full "recovery" to a pre-trauma state may be impossible, fostering hope, purpose, and connection can prevent soul death and enable life-bearing in devastating circumstances.

8. Beware Narcissistic Leadership and Systemic Deception in the Church

Such a leader is self-installed, not God-ordained, and we are easily seduced by his trappings, his deified gifts, fed by our own hunger and longings.

Narcissism's allure. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is characterized by grandiosity, lack of empathy, and an insatiable need for admiration. Narcissists are often charismatic, articulate, and capable, appearing as "saviors" who promise bigger, better, and grander outcomes. Depressed or superior-minded systems (families, churches, organizations) are vulnerable to this illusion.

The system's complicity. Systems can be seduced by narcissistic leaders, deifying their gifts and aligning with their grandiose visions. This "vicarious narcissism" leads to:

• Prioritizing external success (numbers, reputation) over internal integrity.
• Ignoring or covering up sin to protect the "work of God" or the leader's image.
• Exploiting vulnerable members to feed the leader's ego or goals.
  This creates a culture of deception and abuse of power, where truth-tellers are silenced and victims are re-victimized.

Godly leadership vs. narcissistic leadership. Christlike leadership is diametrically opposed to narcissism. It is:

• Descending: From glory to dirt, serving others in humility.
• Heart-focused: Conquering the heart, not external kingdoms.
• Cruciform: Requiring self-sacrifice and death to self-aggrandizement.
• Regressive: Going back for the poor, broken, and captive.
• Nourishing: Feeding on Christ to pour truth and grace into hungry souls.
  We must guard our hearts against the seductive promises of narcissistic leaders and remain rooted in Christ's example of humble, sacrificial service.

9. Caregivers Must Prioritize Self-Care and Spiritual Grounding

You cannot do the work that you do under the circumstances in which you live and not at least sometimes get emotionally overwhelmed.

The cost of empathy. Caregivers, especially those working with trauma, are susceptible to burnout, secondary traumatization (ST), and even PTSD. Empathic engagement with another's trauma can transform the helper's inner experience, leading to overwhelming feelings, emotional shutdown, helplessness, and challenges to one's faith.

Contagion of garbage. "Trauma is contagious." Repeated exposure to human evil, cruelty, and suffering can saturate a caregiver's person, leading to a "smell of garbage" that permeates everything. This can result in:

• Numbing or denial of the realities witnessed.
• Loss of ability to recognize evil for what it is.
• Becoming blind to one's own "garbage" (pride, bitterness, cynicism).
  Without safeguards, caregivers risk becoming victims of the very tragedies they seek to heal.

Essential safeguards. To endure and remain effective, caregivers must prioritize:

• Self-care: Attending to physical needs (food, sleep, exercise, medical care) and engaging in recreation.
• Supportive relationships: Cultivating connections with others who can bear witness and offer care, whether through peer supervision or personal friendships.
• Spiritual grounding: Deliberately seeking out good, beauty, order, safety, connection, worship, and hope in God. This is the antidote to the poison of the work, allowing Christ's comfort and healing to flow through us.

10. Beauty and Hope Emerge from the Cross in "Garbage City"

It is at the cross that we have the answer for Garbage City. It is at the cross that we have the answer to my plea—show me beauty in Garbage City.

Life in "Garbage City." We live in a world saturated with "garbage"—unspeakable suffering, evil, and sin, both around us and within us. This reality can be overwhelming, leading to discouragement, hopelessness, or a loss of the ability to see beauty. The challenge is to hold both the reality of garbage and the possibility of beauty simultaneously.

The cosmic crash of the cross. The cross is the ultimate "Garbage City," a place of intense evil, death, decay, and abandonment. Yet, it is also where the purest, loveliest beauty—Christ incarnate—was crushed. This "cosmic crash" transformed decay into glory, death into life, evil into holiness, and hell into heaven. It is the definitive answer to suffering.

Hope for transformation. The cross offers hope for both the "Garbage City" within us and without. If garbage can be transformed into beauty on such a scale, then it can happen in our small lives and in the lives of our clients. Our work as caregivers, though difficult and exposing, is a privilege to participate in God's redemptive work, witnessing His patient, slow healing of what evil has shattered. We find the "treasure in the darkness" at the foot of the crucified Christ, who endured all suffering to bring hope, light, and resurrection.