The meaning of suffering
This morning I read the most profound post on the Orthodox Convert list, written by Silouan about the meaning of suffering. I'm clipping it here because I want to think about this some more...

David wrote:
> If God is in charge then somehow he is responsible... How shall we
> view the God that just allowed 1,000 people to die in the Red Sea
> do to a ferry accident?

Hi David,

This makes me wonder why anyone would think those people are dead?
God is the God of the living, not the dead. Those people are still
alive and conscious after being separated from their bodies and
called to judgment. And God surely has the right to do that at any
time, doesn't He?

It always sounds strange to me when we call it evil and bad that a
man dies at forty, and everybody has to go through moral contortions
trying not to blame God for allowing this horrible thing to happen -
but when a man dies at age ninety nobody bewails the evil God has
permitted to occur. God decides when He'll call any of us to
judgment. We've all known times when a friend (or we ourselves) ought
to have been killed in an accident or sickness - but beyond
expectation we survived. We probably muttered "God must not be done
with me yet". I don't think anybody surprises Christ by being killed
before He was ready to bring them to judgment.

Trials, suffering, and temptations are permitted to come to us to
shape us. In Hebrews I just read that discipline is how a child knows
he's a son and heir, not illegitimate, because a father disciplines
every son he loves. And no discipline seems pleasant at the time but
afterward it yields fruit: God's character. As a child we hated being
constrained - early bedtimes, strict rules, can't have the candy we
want - and as adolescents and adults we probably took on disciplines
that actually *hurt* - like bodybuilding, long-distance running,
working all day in harvest season. All those disciplines built us
into men and women. So when hardships come, of course we say "I hate
this but it's for my salvation. So I'll thank God for reminding me
I'm a son and heir, and pray that I won't waste these trials by
whining and scheming to get away." After all "longsuffering" is a
virtue in the Bible.

As for sins that people commit against us - The demons can only
suggest things, and their judgment is already known. It's humans who
always have the freedom to act on suggestions; it's humans who by our
own choices build the chains and passions that constrain us to evil
or selfish acts. We can't blame God for our own free choice to sin,
unless we want to blame Him for making us in His image, with our own
will. The worst that people do to one another isn't God's choice.
There's a judgment seat where we'll all stand accountable for the way
we used the freedom God gave us. In the mean time, since nothing
surprises Him, God is able to put the sinner where his choice will
damage as few people as possible, and to make the suffering they
receive be for their salvation.

Our culture teaches us all suffering is bad and evil. Our culture
wants to return us to the state of infants, endlessly consuming what
industry produces and markets to us. The Gospel message that
suffering is not necessarily evil is counter-cultural. But by God's
mercy we have the Church to form a Christian mindset in us, so that
we can escape the broken thinking that our culture tries to program
into us.