Dealing With The Severe Difficulties Of Life

(1) Americans cannot help but wonder about what the world considers to be the greatest health care, yet it cannot even cure the common cold.

Often it seems to us the world’s greatest health care is no more than the world’s greatest racket.

We are told that in America we have the best health care in the world. KNOWING THAT, DON'T YOU FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE OTHER COUNTRIES?

Illus: One man went to the doctor because he had a bad cold that made him cough a lot. The doctor said, "I see you are coughing easier today." The man answered, "I should be, I was awake all night practicing."

You would think that we at least could find a cure for the common cold!

(2) When all around us our family members and friends are being struck down with these viruses, we cannot help but wonder if it will hit us.

It is the same with SPIRITUAL TRIALS. We are surrounded by people that are struck down with all kinds of trials, and we cannot help but wonder when it will strike us. Then one day the bottom falls out for us also.

Beloved, none of us are exempt from the severe trials of life. Even King David, with all the power and influence of being a king, could not escape some of the severe trials of life.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THESE TRIALS STRIKE US?

Often Christians will labor under the FALSE ASSUMPTION:

• If we are in the will of God everything will work out beautifully

• If we are out of the will of God then life is constant chaos

It is a false assumption when we assume only the ungodly people are the ones who suffer SEVERE TRIALS! The fact is, you can be a child of God and walk in His perfect will, and still have all kinds of TRIALS.

• Job was righteous in the eyes of God. If he were living today he would highly resent television preachers saying that if one is in the will of God he will always be HEALTHY and WEALTHY

• The Apostle Paul was a righteous man. He lived in God's will, yet he suffered trials in almost every city he entered

• Joseph was a righteous man and he suffered like most of us have never suffered

We could go on and on about righteous men and women who suffered as they served the Lord, but today, let's look at the life of King David.

He suffered because He was in God's will. Let me show you THREE things about his suffering

I. THE SEVERITY

There are two things that suffering will cause us to do.

(1) SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US TO PRAYER

Sad to say, often this is where we go last. Generally we will turn to friends and doctors before we will turn to God, but sometimes we find ourselves facing such SEVERE SUFFERINGS that God is the only One we can turn to for help!

Illus: Many are like the woman in the Scriptures that the Bible says had been to many physicians, but steadily got worse. After she had tried all she knew to try, and had probably spent all she had, she turned to the Lord.

She heard He was coming very near to where she lived. Jesus came, and sure enough, the whole town flocked out to SEE HIM and to HEAR HIM. As the crowd gathered around Him, she had something else in mind. She wanted to SEE HIM, HEAR HIM, and she also wanted to TOUCH HIM, because she believed if she could touch him she would be healed. She fought the crowd and worked her way close to Him. Evidently she could not get right next to Him, but she reached out and was able to touch the hem of His garment. When she did that, Jesus immediately stopped in His tracks and asked, "Who touched me?" The disciples were somewhat astonished that He would ask such a question because there were literally hundreds of people jostling Him. He knew that, but He wanted to know who had touched Him "in faith." He had felt healing virtue flow from His body!

SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US TO PRAYER, and …

(2) SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US CLOSER TO GOD

Illus: A man began coming to church, and everyone was surprised when he walked in. For the next six weeks he attended worship services at that church every time the church doors were open. He went by the pastor's office one day and the pastor had a chance to spend a few minutes in private with him. He told the man how glad he was that he had been attending church. The man had an expression of sadness on his face, as if something was bothering him when the pastor said that. Since he had been attending without his wife, the pastor presumed perhaps there might be a domestic problem, but there wasn't. The man told the pastor that six weeks ago he had gone to his doctor, and the doctor told him he had some serious health problems that might prove to be terminal. Then the pastor knew why he had gotten back into church.