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So I went to see The Shack.

If you’re unfamiliar, The Shack is a movie starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer, adapted from the novel by William P. Young.

The Shack tells the compelling story of Mack, a husband and father whose young daughter is abducted and killed in a shack during a family camping trip.  Mack receives a letter in the mail from God inviting him to meet God at the very shack where his daughter was murdered.

I was excited that the film would create space to consider those deep life questions we all ask.

For years though, I’ve heard many Christians challenge some of the theological implications of the novel.  So, I admit that I went into the movie expecting some biblically and theologically erroneous answers to those questions.  I was wrong.  The movie was even better than I expected and spoke more accurately about the nature of God than I anticipated it would.

I’m not writing from the perspective of addressing the novel.  I haven’t yet read it, although now after seeing the movie that is at the top of my list of things to do.  There may be some theologically flawed conclusions in the book that I wouldn’t endorse as biblical and there may be some, I’m sure, that I would endorse.  I’ll have to tell you more about that after I read the book.  I also think it’s important to that we not treat a work of fiction as if it should be a work of perfect theology, but rather appreciate it for the story and the way it can prompt us to consider theological truths.  So for now, let’s talk about the movie.

The story of The Shack addresses one of the most commonly misunderstood concepts of God’s character that it’s key to understand whether you are already a Christian or not.

Where Is God In Suffering?

Where is God in the midst of suffering?  If God is real and He’s good, why does He allow evil and pain to exist?  It’s the overarching question of The Shack, and one of human existence.

Mack wrestled with this question as he processed the tragedy of his daughter’s death.   It’s a question you and I wrestle with everyday as we live our lives and observe the world around us.

There’s a powerful scene in the movie in which Mack has a conversation with Wisdom personified about whether humans are a better judge than God of good and evil, and about who deserves punishment and who doesn’t.  Wisdom makes the point that all of us are broken, the “best” and “worst” of us and asks Mack a pointed question. “Doesn’t the legacy of brokenness go all the way back to Adam?”

The answer is yes, it does.

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world.  Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone for everyone sinned.  (Romans 5:12)

God didn’t create people or this planet for the destructive sin, evil and tragedy that is experienced every day.  He created everything in this world, including humans, as good.  He created people with the intention that they would know Him personally, obey His commands and live in His goodness without the knowledge of evil.

God also created humans with a very important choice.  Remember, the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?  (Genesis 1-3) Maybe you’ve heard the story in Sunday School or watched a cartoon about it as a kid.  God placed two trees in the garden and told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree called the knowledge of good and evil.

They disobeyed God’s command and caused a breakdown in His design.  From then on the destruction caused by sin-disobedience to God-affected everything.  From that moment forward every person born, and creation itself, became broken and flawed.

Why would God give a choice with such ramifications?  He wants people to love and obey Him of their own free will. He wants genuine relationship with His people and that can’t happen without choice.  Real love and real relationship can’t be robotic or forced.  Unfortunately, with the ability to choose to love and obey God comes the ability to choose not to obey God, which opens up the world of brokenness and consequences we live with in the world today.

Papa (the character portraying God the Father) put it really well in The Shack: “As long as there’s free will to choose not to follow God, evil can find a way in.”

Suffering, sin, pain all happens because God’s progenitors of the human race, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God and passed that disease and it’s consequences on to all of us and the world we live in.  It’s not God’s fault.  It’s because we live on a planet that is fallen from God’s original design and we are a people fallen from God’s original design.  Redemption for this fallen state is only found in Jesus.

God doesn’t cause our pain.  He wants to heal it.

Throughout Mack’s time at the shack, God walks Mack through several conversations about His character, good and evil.  God takes Mack on several journeys helping him process his pain, his anger at God, his tough questions and his unforgiveness.  It reveals a powerful truth about God.  God doesn’t cause our pain. He wants to heal it.

One of the main accusations against God is, “why doesn’t He do something about the bad things happening in the world?”  God is actually doing something about the bad things happening in the world.

• God comes alongside us to heal our pain.

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

Sometimes the greatest comfort is not in God alleviating or preventing suffering but in knowing that He cares and is with us in it.

God is safe place for us to confide our emotions-good, bad and ugly.  He strengthens us. He helps us forgive.  He assures us of His love.

You don’t have to process hurt or anger on your own.  You don’t even have to sugarcoat your feelings with Him. (If you don’t believe me, read the book of Psalms in the Bible.)  God can handle your honest emotions and He wants to give you His comfort.

• God can work good out of tragedy.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)

Here’s another favorite quote from Papa’s character: “I can work incredible good out of incredible tragedy.  Doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies.”

God is able to take things that happen in our lives that are not good and work them out for good and for His purposes.

God is powerful enough that even if bad things happen because of the free will of people or the brokenness of our planet, He can bring good and purposeful things out of what seems to only be destructive.

• God will cleanse the earth of evil and suffering one day.

 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Jesus has promised to physically return to earth one day and when He does He will cleanse this world of all sin and rebellion against Him, pain, evil and suffering.  He will set up His Kingdom and rule forever in peace, righteousness and justice.  Evil and suffering will not have the last say, Jesus will.

For those who have rejected Jesus and His Good News, they will have to face the eternal consequences of their rebellion against Him.  (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

However, for those who have received forgiveness and salvation by putting our trust in Jesus, we have the hope of looking forward to that day, knowing that the trials and tragedy we experience in this world will one day give way to a joy we cannot even fathom.

Having the hope of eternal companionship with Jesus and of eternal life marked by the goodness, righteousness and peace of His leadership is as simply as putting your faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Savior.  It’s as simple as turning from sin to follow Him with your life instead.  Then, sin, evil and suffering won’t have the final say in your life either, Jesus will-for eternity.

God allows the free will to follow His ways-and thus the free will not to follow His ways-to persist because He is giving people time to repent (turn from sin to God) and come to know Him.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish eternally.  He wants everyone to be saved and come to know the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9)

There are real implications of that fact right now, in that people can choose evil and that impacts our world in real ways, but God’s apparent slowness in getting rid of evil and suffering is actually because of His patience and kindness.  He’s giving more people time to find salvation through Him now, so they don’t have to be separated from Him forever.

Drawing Near In Suffering

I encourage you to wrestle with these concepts in studying the Bible and in raw conversation with God.  Don’t just wrestle with the intellectual part of it but with the way it affects your heart, how you view God and how you’ve processed suffering in your own life.  It’s a vital conversation with God.  No matter where you are in journey of faith, this life will present you with so many opportunities to become angry with God and push Him away because of suffering. God, on the other hand, wants you to draw close to Him in suffering and walk through it with Him.  He’s good and He can handle your pain and questions.  Draw close to Him today.  

Watch the trailer for The Shack  below:

Let’s Talk: Have you thought about the tension of God temporarily allowing evil to exist while still being good?  What did you learn through this post?  Discuss this post in the comments below.

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