Theodicy

This is a reflection on an entry titled "Theodicy" from Walter Brueggamann's 'Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes'.
I am becoming ever aware of the coldly logical constructs by which I have long attempted to bind God. It seems that the more I come to know Him the less He fits into my categories for Him. This has at certain times caused me to experience great existential tension, and pushed me to consider whether or not I actually believe God to be good, sovereign, and faithful. I confess that I have at times thought of God as a cosmic abusive father.
And yet, it is a definitively Western and metaphysical notion of God that puts such parameters on Him. He should be understood as He revealed himself – in a relational manner. The Old Testament does not deny that bad things happen to good people; in fact, it poignantly affirms this truth and cries out to God for understanding. This is illustrated most clearly by the story of Job. However, even in Job’s case God does not provide a rational for the things that occur.
In the end there exists for the human no answer to satisfy the rationally driven mind. And yet, for the individual dedicated to communion with God there exists such a relationship that as Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggamann says, “makes available God’s own engagement in the midst of inexplicable suffering.” This kind of relationship based on a covenant of mutual fidelity allows us to bring our legitimate complaints to and even against God with the knowledge that he will not only hear our cries but that He will comfort and sustain us through the pain that we suffer. It is nothing short of beautiful that the Sovereign of All would offer himself to us in such a way as to identify with us in the pain that we experience.
It is faith that allows us to dismiss this question of theodicy and respond to intense crisis; a faith that is based upon the historic nature of God’s provision. Or as Brueggamann has more deftly put it, “The practice of faith in all its dangerous commitment provides a way of responding to the inexplicable mystery of evil.”