In 1982, a waitress at an Ada bar was raped and brutally murdered. It was an immense tragedy in an otherwise quiet, small town in central Oklahoma. As you can imagine, it caused quite a stir in Ada. Eventually, prosecutors pressed charges against Ron Williamson. Ron was once a local hero in Ada, having been drafted in the Major Leagues in the 2nd round. But after a few years in the minor league circuit he retired from baseball because of a shoulder injury and returned to Ada and fell into depression and substance abuse. After a cocktail waitress named Debbie Carter was murdered in 1982, Ron was a believable suspect. He was later found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty.

It is hard to imagine what living under that sentence would be like. It was difficult for Ron as many considered him mentally ill not long after going to prison. Nearly everyone in the town of Ada considered him guilty. The D.A.’s office considered him guilty. The family and friends of the victim considered him guilty. The townspeople of Ada considered him guilty. All the voices that he heard as well as the silence of those he didn’t hear told him of his guilt. It was an isolating experience.

But Ron claimed to be innocent of the crime and during his time in prison often shouted his claim to be innocent out, crying for his case to be heard. But his shouting only wearied the guards and he spent considerable time locked up in solitary confinement as a result. His voice stating his case, was lost.
While Ron may have been guilty of many things, as it turns out, the murder of Debbie Carter was not one of them. He was exonerated in 1997 when the case was reopened and DNA evidence was examined. In his case, the DNA eventually had a voice loud enough for the world to hear, and he was redeemed.

Ron Williamson died in 2004. But during his life he knew what suffering was. And so do we. You don’t have to go to prison to know what it feels like to suffer unexplainably. The question we can’t escape is why? How do we endure such suffering? That question is answered in a variety of different ways. Eastern religions try to explain it away as nothing but an illusion. Islam and moralistic religions tell you that one day you’ll be able to escape all of your suffering. That a future paradise will make-up for the present sufferings. Atheism tells you to suck-it-up and just learn to live with it. But Christianity offers a different answer altogether. It is an answer that acknowledges suffering to be real (contrasting with Eastern religions), giving you permission to be honest in the fact of it. It doesn’t diminish it. It is an answer that incorporates suffering into the future glory that awaits believers in Christ (in contrast to Islam and moralism). And it is an answer that promises real hope (in contrast with atheism).

Christianity’s answer to suffering is all built upon the presence of a redeemer. That’s what we see coming out in Job’s speech in chapter 19. Because your redeemer lives, you will be justified. What does this justification look like and why do we need it so much? As we look at Job’s case, we’ll consider the lonely-causing voices, the lost voice and finally the loud voice of the Redeemer.

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