This week in seminary a familiar question came up in class, a question that comes up often from my students, and is perhaps one of the questions that causes the most distress for God’s children in this world, the question: “Why doesn't God intervene to relieve the suffering of his children?" I have responded to this question in many ways, and there are many answers that provide perspective into this question. Recently the Spirit gave me some perspective related to this very important principle from a surprising source, my math instructor, but before I tell you how, I suggested that we examine the question from another angle? Let’s reframe the question so that we might discover a more intricate function for suffering in God's plan. What if we asked the question this way: "What functions of the Plan of Salvation might be damaged if God were to intervene to stop our pain and suffering?"
Let me give you some background into how my math class might have inspired a new way of looking at suffering in God’s plan. I've been taking a math course that is teaching me how to teach my son math in a way that will help him to discover the principles of math through independent problem solving. This method of math instruction requires a very different approach than the one most often used in a math classroom. Instead of a direct instructional model where a student is shown in detail how to come to the answer for a particular problem and then practices that method in repetition until they become proficient. The discovery method presents a student with a problem to be solved after discussing basic principles of a math concept, such as division, then challenges the student to solve the problem independently. The student must first discover a method for solving the problem and test it out. This process has the natural result of causing the child to struggle to discover a method while learning a concept they have not mastered. It is much slower at first than the direct instructional model and results in an uncomfortable struggle, but this “more difficult” method allows a child to develop much stronger problem solving skills. You can probably imagine that one of the more difficult parts of this teaching method is training the teacher not to swoop in when the student is struggling and help the student find the answer. It was at this junction in my training that an insight into suffering in God’s plan became clear to me.
The aim of my most recent training session was to teach us what to do when our children struggle. My teacher started by getting us to think about the principle of struggle. She demonstrated that our culture has a negative view of the role struggling plays in learning and progression, she said that we often look at a person struggling and interpret the struggle as weakness. She taught us that this negative view of struggle has serious consequences for how we view learning and progression as well as how we view ourselves and others. If we view struggle as a sign of weakness then we begin to believe that only non-smart (substitute talented, righteous, strong, etc.) people struggle. What follows is that we develop unrealistic expectations for ourselves and others because we tend to believe that we should be immediately proficient at the things we attempt to do, and then we shut down, telling ourselves “we can’t do it” as soon as it gets hard. We say to ourselves, “If I could do this it wouldn’t be hard.” This results in avoiding things that are a struggle for us and destroys our confidence to do hard things.
I was struck by the gospel parallel in this view of struggle and how it relates to the human tendency to look at pain and struggle in this world and see it only as a reflection of weakness and dysfunction. In this frame many of us struggle to understand why a God that is perfect, that created a perfect plan, could have allowed for so much imperfection. Some even come to believe that God is indifferent to our suffering or that he simply doesn’t exist at all, they say, "Surely a loving God would reach down and solve these problems and relieve the suffering of his children."
I was reflecting on these ideas as my math instructor said that we, as teachers (and mothers since this class was for homeschool mothers), needed to change our view of struggle as it related to math. She taught that struggle is essential to growth. In fact she sited brain science studies that show that in order for the brain to develop the new neuro-pathways essential for developing a new skill it must struggle, without the struggle the new skill cannot be acquired. Other studies in human development have shown that when parents or teachers swoop in to solve problems rather than letting kids struggle and fail that they steal away from the child important opportunities for personal growth. Adults can rob children of their self-confidence and make them dependent on others when they don't allow children to struggle and even fail. Struggling gives the child the opportunity to develop what it takes emotionally to resolve problems by pressing through the difficulties and eventually succeeding.
Not only does this principle apply to the development of independent math thinkers, it applies to every discipline of human endeavor, including developing the skills we need in order to grow into spiritually mature beings. Our Heavenly Father's understanding of these principles is far more expansive than ours but the answer to the question, "Why doesn't God intervene to relieve the suffering of his children?" or "What functions of the Plan of Salvation might be damaged if God were to intervene to stop our pain and suffering?" May be as simple as understanding that struggle is opportunity to progress. Take that away and the primary purpose and function of God's plan, for his children to progress, is destroyed.
Now, that was not the end of what the spirit taught me during this lecture on math instruction. The teacher continued the lecture by giving us tools for how to help our children go through the struggle and inspire them to keep working till they solved the problems. She recommended lots of encouragement, letting them make mistakes and identify them, prompting them to explain their thinking, asking them to review the meaning of the concepts they have been taught, and asking them thought provoking questions to help them discover the answers to their problems.
While these principles were given in a class designed to help mothers teach their children to succeed at solving math problems on their own, the Spirit brought to my mind specific examples from my life when my Father in Heaven has used each of these strategies to help me through my own struggles. I thought about the many times when in heartbroken prayer I have felt the gentle push of the Spirit prompting me not to give up and to try again. I thought of times when the Spirit helped me in identifying my mistakes and receiving clarity on how to correct them. I remembered a specific conversation with my Father when through the Spirit this question came to mind, “Tell me what you think,” and how just having the opportunity to explain how I was thinking helped me figure out the answer to my problem. I recalled the many times that reviewing the principles of truth I already knew had helped me find answers to questions I was struggling with. I remembered a time when I was pondering and praying over a perplexing problem I was having as a mother when my Father in Heaven began a conversation with me through the Spirit by asking me a thought provoking question, over the days that followed I was able to find the answer to my problem through a series of questions the Sprit brought to my mind coupled with my answers and my study of the scriptures.
So you see, our Heavenly Father doesn't just sit by and watch us suffer with an indifferent eye, but quite the opposite; he reaches out to us continually, encouraging us, comforting us, prompting us, and openly communicating with us if we but seek him. He will help us identify our mistakes, examine our thinking, review the principles of truth we understand and ask us thought provoking questions that will lead us through our struggles here on earth and transform those struggles into a classroom of progression.
The truth is that suffering in the world isn't inconsistent with the idea of a loving God. The truth is that we need the struggle, the suffering, the opposition, the trials, and yes even the great tragedies of this world provide opportunities for us to demonstrate that we have what it takes emotionally and spiritually if we but trust in Christ, act in faith, and press forward through the struggle. My math teacher is right, we need to look at suffering in a different way, to see it in a positive light. We need to believe that struggle is opportunity to grow, to become stronger, more confident, and more joyful.
No comments:
Post a Comment