WHEN LIFE HURTS
Does this picture depict how you feel sometimes? My Uncle Jeff passed away recently. He had three kids; one of whom used to attend here-Eric. Jeff's daughter, Chelsea, posted this picture on Facebook and I commented on it. What I shared is incorporated in the sermon.
1) When life hurts.
Sometimes life makes us feel like we're getting pummeled. We're getting pounded with left hooks and uppercuts and we don't have a chance to cover up and defend ourselves. Then we find ourselves lying on the canvas, dazed and confused. We make it to our feet and then the bell rings; ending the round. We stumble back to our corner and wonder if the next round will be worse.
We wonder how much more punishment we can take. How are we going to continue on? We try to think about our next move; what's our strategy going to be? Then the bell rings. We slowly rise from our stool and nervously step toward the center of the ring.
Does this sound like an appropriate analogy of how some of your days go? Maybe you're in a continual state of despair-you're stuck in a dead-end job where the boss is on your case about something all the time. Maybe you feel stuck in an abusive relationship and feel too afraid to try to make an escape. Maybe you've lost something or someone and life isn't nearly as pleasant as it once was.
Sometimes you feel like throwing in the towel but you find the strength to get up and press on. You get up because you have hope; you press on because you have a reason to. You move forward because of something bigger than yourself. So you fight. You might grunt and strain but you do it. Life hurts but you choose to push through the pain; you're a survivor.
We can find the source of our resiliency when we look to Jesus. Jesus was treated unfairly by people; Jesus was hated by people. When Jesus was arrested all his close friends deserted him. Before you blame them we all would've done the same thing in that circumstance. But Jesus knows what it feels like to suffer. He knows what it feels like to be alone. He knows how it feels to lose people that were close to him.
Jesus knows pain. Often times life hurt for Jesus. But he persevered through it all to die on the cross and raise to life so that we would have not only hope but an example to live by. Sometimes it can seem like the only thing going right in our life is Jesus.
Ps 69:29, "I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me."
Sometimes life hurts and we're in anguish and misery. Sometimes the only thing that gets us through is our salvation; our relationship with Jesus. If nothing else is going right-Jesus is. Knowing that we are his protects us from getting to the point of wanting to give up.
Throughout the bible you will see a lot of examples of suffering; whether it be singular, like Job, or collective, like the Israelites. You'll see negative reactions to life's hurts as well as positive ones; it's all there for us to learn from. If you read through Psalms you will often see where the writer is baring his emotions and describing his pain. If you read Jeremiah you will see his sorrows. In fact, he was known as the weeping prophet.
Life was not a bed of roses for God's people. That's one of the things I like about the bible-it's real; it shows real people dealing with real problems. It's not a fairy tale-it's blood and guts; pain and struggles. But it's also victories and triumphs; hope and glory. It's about love and the extent God went because of his love for us.
The bible helps us to understand God and ourselves. It shows us about life-it's hurts and it's healings; it's sorrows and it's joys. Sometimes people think being a Christian means your life will be free from pain and sorrow. Not true. Being a Christian is an unbelievable blessing but that doesn't remove us from life's hurts.
Jesus told his disciples that they would be persecuted. But he also provided encouragement in facing life's hurts. He said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Sometimes life hurts but we have a Savior who has overcome the evil and darkness of the world and he will give us the power to overcome it too. We won't be able to escape life's hurts but in Jesus we will have the peace we need to get through them.
2) Life hurts, but...
When I responded to my cousin Chelsea's picture, I said, 'yes, sometimes it can be/feel this way. But don't forget what Paul said in 2 Cor. 4:8-9, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
"Hard pressed on every side". This gives you the picture of, 'no matter where I go or what I do there's pressure'. Paul meant this figuratively but imagine literally being hard pressed on every side. It would be constricting; immobilizing. I'm not claustrophobic but I don't like it when I can't move. This stems from childhood when I was playing hide and seek and I got in this small barrel and I got stuck. My breathing was constricted and I couldn't move. I started to panic.
There was another time when my uncle John held me down and started tickling me. I couldn't move and I was terrified. Eventually he stopped but it was traumatizing. I can imagine the burden Paul felt from being hard pressed on every side; no direction he went provided relief.
But, he focused on the fact that he wasn't crushed. Obviously when I was stuck in the barrel I was hard pressed but not crushed. It was awful in the moment but eventually I made it out. Same with my uncle holding me down. Paul is kind of saying the same thing. Things weren't feeling too good for a little while but being hard pressed didn't result in being crushed.
And he continues the same pattern. "Perplexed but not in despair". Perplexed means puzzled or confused. Sometimes when you don't understand what's going on that can be debilitating. You don't know how to make sense of something. Life has thrown you a curve ball and you're perplexed. 'Why did this happen to me? What am I supposed to do now?' Perplexed. Paul and his companions were perplexed; they were baffled by some things.
But it didn't get to the point of despair; it didn't get to the point where they lost hope. They realized that they didn't need to have everything figured out in order to be okay because God had it all under control. I don't have to have all the answers in order to overcome my situation; I just need to stay close to God and follow his lead and I'll be ok.
"Persecuted but not abandoned". Being persecuted is suffering for the faith. Maybe the life hurt you're going through is that people have distanced themselves from you because you're a follower of Jesus. Or maybe you stopped drinking or drugging and you've lost all your friends. That can hurt. You feel lonely and depressed. Maybe you had a friend and you got in this huge fight and the person said some hurtful things to you. Life hurts.
Paul dealt with people hurting him. When Paul became a Christian he was ostracized from his peers; some thought he had lost his mind. He was once a persecutor of the church. So now, as a Christian, he was the enemy. But he knew he wasn't totally abandoned. He had new friends, Christian friends. And he had Jesus; who would always be with him.
Maybe you've experienced that. You lost someone close to you or someone has hurt you deeply but there were some people who were by your side; people who were there in your time of need. But even if you have no one physically there, you can have comfort in knowing that God will always be there to help. Persecuted but not abandoned.
Paul finishes with struck down but not destroyed. You ever feel like you've been struck down; knocked to the canvas? Life comes from nowhere and sucker punches you to the ground? Sometimes life hurts; but there is always healing in Christ. I may have been knocked down but I can still move. I may have been disabled and confined to a wheelchair but I still have my mind.
Life hurts but what helps is when we can focus on what is still there; what opportunities are still there? I may not be able to do what I once did but what capabilities do I still have? Sometimes life knocks us down and even holds us down for a minute; but we are not destroyed by the things that happen to us. The things that happen to us do not define us. My disability is not my identity; my handicap is not my label. I will not allow my life's hurts to destroy my spirit. When life hurts look for the 'but'.
3) When life hurts don't lose heart.
2nd Cor. 4:16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
"Outward/inward". Perhaps getting older is your life hurt right now. You can't do what you used to do. And the things you can still do take longer to recover from. You're not as thin as you used to be; you don't have as much hair as you used to. If you do have hair it's not the same color it once was. Aches and pains; life hurts.
Getting older is inevitable but Paul shifts the focus to what's happening on the inside. I may not be able to do what I once did physically but spiritually I'm growing stronger and am able to do more than I used to. Paul wants us to see that although we're on a physical decline, because of Christ we're on a spiritual incline. And hopefully, that new game plan can provide relief from the hurt. I can't do what I once did as well as I once did but instead of thinking I'm all washed up I'll just shift my focus to what matters more-the spirit.
"Light and momentary troubles". If you were to describe your troubles to someone I have a feeling the words light and momentary would not be used. When you see some of the things Paul himself went through you wonder why he would describe his troubles as light and momentary.
2nd Cor. 11:24-27, "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked."
This doesn't sound very light to me. So why did Paul describe his troubles were light and momentary? Going through life's problems without Jesus is heavy and burdensome. But when we go through life's problems with Jesus they are lighter because we have his power and presence with us. In Psalm 23 David said as he went through the valley of the shadow of death he feared no evil because God was with him. Plus, when we fix our eyes on Jesus and the eternal glory we will someday experience, we realize that our troubles are temporary but heaven is eternal.
2nd Cor. 6:4-5, "Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger." Paul was dealing with all this yet he said this in vs. 10, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."
This sounds absurd. Sorrowful yet always rejoicing? Having nothing yet possessing everything? It all points to Jesus. Life was hurting Paul physically but spiritually he was joyful. At times he was poor, naked and hungry yet spiritually he knew he had it all. This is what allows us to get through life's hurts.
In 2nd Cor. 7, Paul said in vs. 4 that in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds. Normally you wouldn't find the words trouble and joy so close together like this. They seem like polar opposites, but they're not when the reason for your joy is Jesus. And in Paul's case, God was not the only comforter he had.
He goes on to say in vs. 5-7, "For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever."
God is our great comforter and source of all joy. however, he will send his people to help encourage us. Have you ever been dealing with life's hurts and someone come along and lifted you up? God comforts us when no one else is around but he wants to use us to go to the hurting and help with their pain and suffering.
When we know people are concerned about us and praying for us and reaching out to us it is a great comfort to us. Sometimes we want to be by ourselves and that's ok but we still appreciate the love of others and it feels good to know they will be there for us when we're ready.
So, we receive the strength to fight through our trials and troubles and we realize that they can actually serve a good purpose. Romans 5:3-4, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
It seems strange to rejoice in suffering but we can when we use it as an opportunity for growth. We don't rejoice because of what we're suffering but we can rejoice when we have the right response to it because it will produce good things in us. When we push through life's problems we come out the other side weary and tired but victorious. And we are stronger for when the next trial comes.
Therefore, we do not lose heart when life's hurts come our way because we know that they don't define us, they don't destroy us and God and others will be there to help us through them. Life hurts sometimes but Jesus helps to lessen the pain. He's our relief; he's there to bandage our wounds. He'll always be the listening ear, the shoulder to cry on and the one we can lean on for support. When life hurts, Jesus can heal.
