{"id":41541,"date":"2025-04-08T22:31:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=41541"},"modified":"2025-04-08T22:53:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:53:40","slug":"trusting-gods-sovereignty-amid-suffering-and-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/trusting-gods-sovereignty-amid-suffering-and-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope is Found in the Unseen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a letter to his father, Jordan Peterson describes the book he was writing\u2014later published as Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief<\/em>\u2014as \u201can attempt to explain the psychological significance of history\u2014to explain the meaning of history.\u201d[1]<\/a> He elaborates on the core discoveries behind his work: most cultures record history mythologically, focusing on the psychological significance of events rather than their objective, empirical details; despite surface differences, all cultures develop along universal lines, shaped by shared neurobiological and psychological structures; and mythological renditions of history, like those in the Bible, are just as \u201ctrue\u201d as the standard Western empirical renditions, just as literally true, but how they are true is different.[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Peterson observes, \u201cThe known, our current story, protects us from the unknown, from chaos\u2014which is to say, provides our experience with determinate and predictable structure.\u201d[3]<\/a> He argues that myths typically begin with a depiction of a stable, idealized state\u2014whether a paradise or a tyranny\u2014into which an anomalous, unexpected, or threatening element emerges. This disruption leads to the collapse of stability, plunging the state into chaos. However, myths also describe the regeneration of stability, illustrating how order is eventually restored, or even redefined, from the chaos that ensues.[4]<\/a> As Robert Fyall clarifies, \u201cBy \u2018myth\u2019 I do not mean a story of \u2018make-believe\u2019, rather an attempt to embody in narrative the great truth of good and evil, of origin and consummation, of truth and error.\u201d[5]<\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Peterson reflects on his college years, recounting the vivid apocalyptic dreams that troubled him and his intense obsession with the Cold War, a time filled with existential anxiety. He writes, \u201cI have been trying ever since then to make sense of the human capacity, my capacity, for evil\u2014particularly for those evils associated with belief.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

For the purposes of this post, I will set aside an exploration of the evils perpetrated in the name of belief and instead focus on how believers<\/em>, particularly as portrayed in the Book of Job, remain steadfast in their faith while navigating a world permeated by evil and chaos.<\/span><\/p>\n

In line with Peterson\u2019s ideas on how myths shape meaning, I am drawn to the dramatic richness of the Book of Job, with its powerful blend of imagery, poetry, and prose, where the man of faith must confront \u201ccrushing questions.\u201d[7]<\/a> This story was known as early as the sixth century BC, and its message continues to resonate with us today. Peterson writes, \u201cThe most powerful arguments for the non-existence of God (at least a good God) are predicated on the idea that such a Being would not allow for the existence of evil in its classical natural (diseases, disasters) or moral (wars, pogroms) forms.\u201d[8]<\/a> Fyall comments on Job\u2019s experience, noting that through his experience, Job is meant to learn that God must be trusted completely, even though the evidence throughout much of the book seems to suggest the opposite. Additionally, the central issue is not about God\u2019s knowledge, but about His power\u2014specifically, whether the Lord can provide.[9]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

What is most striking about the Book of Job is the extent to which crucial information remains concealed from Job himself, even as he seeks to make sense of his suffering. Fyall notes, \u201cThere is the sequence of events on earth and there is the reality of the orchestration of these events in the heavenly court. This establishes considerable dramatic irony in that the reader knows, but Job and his friends do not know, what has been happening in the divine<\/em> council<\/em>[10]<\/a>.\u201d[11]<\/a> I also find this reality profoundly challenging to my Western, empiricist mindset, which favors what can be observed and measured over what lies beyond sensory perception. Yet, I believe it to be true\u2014and in that truth, I find a deep reassurance in God\u2019s sovereignty, even amid suffering and chaos. Peterson captures this tension when he writes, \u201cMyth can be more accurately regarded as \u2018description of the world as it signifies (for action).\u2019 The mythic universe is a place to act, not a place to perceive.\u201d[12]<\/a> In this light, the Book of Job is not merely about understanding suffering but about faithfully navigating it, even in the absence of full understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, in my host country, a Christian man was killed in a traffic accident. He was buried in a Muslim cemetery, but the burial did not follow Muslim rites. In response, his body was forcibly removed and dragged through the street. It\u2019s difficult to grasp how such actions can take place. Peterson writes, \u201cMan chooses evil, for the sake of the evil. Man exults in agony, delights in pain, worships destruction and pathology. Man can torture his brother and dance on his grave.\u201d[13]<\/a> Yet, despite this darkness, it is the unseen that offers me hope. As N. T. Wright asserts, \u201cJesus has gone ahead of us into God’s realm, His new world, and He is both ruling over the rebellious present as its rightful King and interceding for us at the Father\u2019s side.\u201d[14]<\/a> In these moments of overwhelming darkness, it is the unseen truth of God’s reign and Christ’s intercession that provides the hope and resilience to endure, even when the world around us seems ruled by evil and chaos.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief<\/em> (New York: Routledge, 1999), 472, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 472, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 18, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 18, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Robert Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job<\/em> (New Studies in Biblical Theology 12; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 27, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, xix, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Robert Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You, <\/em>37, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 464, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Robert Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You,<\/em> 37, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> The biblical divine council<\/em> refers to a concept found in several passages of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), where God is portrayed as presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings. These beings are often referred to as \u201csons of God\u201d (bene elohim<\/em>), \u201choly ones,\u201d or \u201chosts of heaven,\u201d and they appear to participate in God’s governance of the world\u2014sometimes delivering messages, executing judgment, or observing human affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Robert Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You,<\/em> 19, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 9, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning<\/em>, 353, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church<\/em> (HarperCollins, 2008), 113, Kindle Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter to his father, Jordan Peterson describes the book he was writing\u2014later published as Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief\u2014as \u201can attempt to explain the psychological significance of history\u2014to explain the meaning of history.\u201d[1] He elaborates on the core discoveries behind his work: most cultures record history mythologically, focusing on the psychological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2967,1778],"class_list":["post-41541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03","tag-peterson","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41541"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41549,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41541\/revisions\/41549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}