Haiti and the problem of suffering

I've seen many quotes recently about "Why did this disaster strike Haiti." You've probably seen some of them too. Many of us recoil at them, knowing instinctively that they are a poor attempt at explaining something that boggles the mind. One self-proclaimed Athiest put up a Youtube video claiming that the earthquake was proof to bible believing Christians that their faith was self contradictory. Either the loving God allowed the quake and disaster, or he caused it, or could have prevented it and did not. Either way, he was to blame for it, so there's no God, and you are all deluded.

I just finished reading the book of Job. Job, by all accounts a good, righteous man, is afflicted as a result of what could only be called a bar bet between God and Satan. The bet is that man worships God only when he is blessed, and a man in poverty and sickness will turn against God. Job loses his family, his wealth, his reputation, his social standing, and his health. His four "friends" tell him to find what he's done wrong, and confess it to get his state restored, but he refuses to plead guilty to something he did not do.

Finally, God shows up to answer Job's questions -- and what is the answer? God says "Where were you when created the world, the stars, the crocodile? " It's not much of an answer, yet Job says "I had heard of you, but now that I see you, I repent". Just seeing God was the answer to suffering for Job.


Interestingly, just today I ran across this quote from CS Lewis that echoes, I believe, the same sentiment:

"I ended my first book with the words 'no answer.' I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words."
— C.S. Lewis

Haiti is tragic, but is just a macrocosm of what happens to people around the world every hour of every day: accident, disease, and death do not take a holiday, they are part of our lives. This is just what happens all the time, except a lot of it at once. For those who seek an answer to "why" I would say, seek the face of God. And while you're at it, pray for the people of Haiti.