Even if that wasn’t the plan.
I regularly volunteer with a local religious organization that serves teenagers with mental or physical disabilities, including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and childhood cancers. Everyone involved is incredible, from the leaders to the teens they serve, who are affectionally called “friends.” Over the past ten years, I have seen innumerable examples of people giving and receiving love from our friends. I’ve also seen the leaders and supporters give their time and money to help our friends. Through my involvement, I’ve seen a genuine example of people working together toward overall well-being. This community has touched me and, hopefully, made me a better human.
At a recent fundraising event for this organization, it was said of our friends, “God loves you and made you just like he wanted you to be.” Although I wholeheartedly affirm that God loves my friends with disabilities, I don’t think God desires them or any of us to suffer. I don’t think God “made them” to have disabilities and suffering.
God is the most powerful and loving force in the universe, but God doesn’t and cannot act alone. God always seeks overall well-being. However, because God is love, God cannot coerce others, including people, nerve cells, and atoms. It is unloving to force another to do anything. Instead, God calls all creation toward overall well-being and flourishing in every moment. God wants every being to be whole, but because creation has freedom, it sometimes doesn’t follow God’s lead. Sometimes, spinal cells don’t follow God’s lead, and Emma develops spina bifida. Sometimes, brain cells don’t follow God’s lead, and Aidan develops autism. Sometimes, DNA divides atypically, and Olivia develops Down syndrome. Sometimes, brain cells mutate, and Ethan develops brain cancer that leads to intensive treatments and disability. God wanted well-being in these situations, but other factors led to illness and disability.
Even in our suffering, God sees and understands reality. God sees and understands what happens in every situation that creates suffering, disease (dis-ease), or otherwise falls short of well-being. In those situations, God judges. This judgment is a judgment of understanding, compassion, and empathy. In these moments, God doesn’t say someone or something was wrong. Instead, God sees and judges that someone or something failed to choose the path to overall well-being in that moment. And God’s judgment is immediately accompanied by love. When God judges the moment that just passed, God immediately responds with love and points to the possibilities of flourishing in the next moment.
God doesn’t want children to suffer from spina bifida, autism, Down syndrome, brain cancer, or any other physical maladies that our human bodies sometimes experience. God can’t cause or prevent these afflictions. But when they happen, God is in the middle of the suffering and discontent. In those moments, God continues to offer a way forward toward good despite the suffering.
Jewish scripture tells the story of Joseph and his brother’s jealousy that led to his enslavement in Egypt. His years of enslavement eventually led to false accusations and imprisonment, completely isolated from his family for many years. The way out of Joseph’s suffering came after he found favor with the Pharoah by interpreting dreams. He found his way to a high leadership position and led a famine preparation effort that saved many lives in the entire region.
Years later, when Joseph reunited with his siblings, he reassured them he didn’t seek revenge. He said, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”1 Joseph’s brothers could choose how they handled their jealousy, but they chose poorly. Their decision caused Joseph’s isolation and incarceration, their father’s grief, their anxiety over possible retribution, and, ultimately, the enslavement of the Israelite people in Egypt. The Hebrew word translated as “intended” is chashab, which means “to plan, devise, mean.” Joseph’s brothers planned to do harm and cause suffering. God responded to the suffering by planning to use the suffering to lead to something much better overall.
God doesn’t want to see children born with disabilities that cause suffering. When they are, God loves them in their situations, just as they are. God’s love has many aspects. It is kind, merciful, steadfast, and empathetic. It is self-giving, others-empowering, uncontrolling, intentional, relational, and aimed at overall well-being. Because God is love and loves all of creation, we all experience this divine love. God sees us where we are, has mercy on us, and gives us grace in new possibilities that lead to flourishing.
God loves you just the way you are, even if that wasn’t the plan.
- Gn. 50:20 (NRSV). ↩︎
image: pexels – marcus arelius
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