I was asked how you have trust or faith after tragedy and an hour or so later Pastor Mike asked me to speak tonight. I took that as my cue to speak on that topic. I have been through a few tragedies in my life and never thought of myself as a trauma survivor until I was trained to facilitate a Veterans Peer Group. Part of the introductory speech was to identify yourself as a trauma survivor, if you were. I always associated Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome with combat scenarios. As a member of the Base Honor Guard, I attended many funerals of young soldiers seeing too many young wives and toddlers left behind. I eventually asked to be put on the firing party far from the graveside. I lost my Dad at not quite seven so it had an effect on me.
As I reviewed my life I did see that I had survived numerous traumas and stress. Having co-facilitated a GriefShare group after my son was transferred to Glory I was able to see how people handled their grief and the impact of that grief on their faith. Indeed, the enemy attacked me asking if what I had said to others in grief over the years of ministry was good enough for me. I told him that it was and that God had given me peace and he was not going to take that from me. Recently, I was singing, “All my life you’ve been faithful. All my life you have been so so good.” The enemy asked, “Was he faithful and good when your son died?” I told him yes and sang on. Doesn’t mean I do not miss my son. It just means God was not unfaithful or treating me badly.
How you trust after a tragedy may be in direct correlation to how you trusted before the tragedy. Indeed, in good times it is easy to trust and our trust may be a bit shallow. When all is well there is very little to trust since there seems to be so much evidence of God being good and good to you. Seldom do we trust that God would ever allow any tragedy or sorrow to come our way. Yet, that is not what the Word teaches.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
We may quote that verse from the oldest book of the Bible at times and even think we have that kind of trust, but we do not want it tested. Indeed, all of us would fail that test. I suspect very few people have suffered as much tragedy as Job. He lost his wealth, his ten children and his health in a very short time. The trauma of it all so devastated his wife that she encouraged him to curse God and die. Sometimes folks are hard on Mrs. Job as if she was being heartless. Indeed, she may have been seeking relief for his suffering and hoping God would kill her as well to stop her pain. During the many times of war and plagues since then people have had some Job moments. Still, Job said God could kill him and still he would trust God. Is it any wonder God pointed to him as a man of God and the devil wanted to destroy him?
We tend to forget that we are in a sin cursed world because of Adam and Eve. Everything was in perfect peace and balance in Eden. Once they chose to opt for being like God all of that changed and in essence man was in charge of a world he could not control or fix as it deteriorated. Man also began deteriorating so that here we are in the last spasms of the Earth with men and women of minds so depraved that we are seeing unbelievable horrors on a daily basis.
Indeed, the song “This Is My Father’s World” is accurate in the title, but not in theology. While God owns the universe, He gave the Earth to man who gave it to the devil at the Fall. Now that man is cursed and influenced by satan more so than God it is being destroyed like a bad renter who breaks everything and allows animals to use it as their bathroom while never cleaning allowing the place to be infested by roaches and rats. One day God will come to repossess the world and after a thousand years he will destroy it and build new. In a sense, since man has chosen the devil over God this world is our father, the devil’s world.
Unfortunately, due to some bad theology many people lose their trust or faith after a tragedy because either they have not read the Word or someone taught them that God wants His people to always be healthy and wealthy. If you pull some Scripture out of context you can come up with many errors that will blast your brain and faith when they do not prove true.
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Many use this passage to teach health and prosperity is a right. Yet, John only wished that they would prosper and be in health. It is not a guarantee any more than when we wish someone to have a good day and stay safe. Note that he wants it to be in direct proportion to their soul maturing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Many immature Christians cling to this as a promise and when they lose their job or their health they lose their faith in God and the Word. If our health and wealth were truly tied to the prosperity of our soul many of us would be in near poverty and near death. Grace is wonderful.
2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
Philippians 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
We believe in divine healing and yet God does not always heal as some teach. Some healers say if you are not healed it is because you did not have faith. Paul had great faith and yet, for some reason he could not instantly heal Trophimus like he did others. Epaphroditus nearly died and it appears that God did not use instant healing in his case, but still healed him without Paul. I would say that all three of men had far more faith or trust than the average Christian today, but they suffered and one to the brink of death.
If you believe that God always heals and must heal every time prayer for healing is made you are going to have a crisis of faith after that loved one died that you had on twenty prayer lists and had them anointed three times. You are going to be angry with God and throw the Bible on the shelf and declare you no longer believe or trust God. Your faith was in bad doctrine and your emotions instead of God.
How people can believe that the saved are somehow surrounded by an iron dome keeping us free from sickness, poverty, persecution, demonic oppression and death is beyond me when so many in the Word did not have a life like that and we are even warned about what we will experience. Tell that to many believers around the world today who suffer great persecution and yet love the Lord and take great risks to worship and evangelize.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Jesus said we would have tribulation! The word is literally pressure, but is also translated as persecution, anguish and affliction. No promise of exemption from it, just that He has overcome and so will the saved though they will have heavy burdens or tragedies.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Paul had listed some of the trials and persecutions he had gone through and is saying this is not just my issue or legacy. You live godly and the ungodly are going to persecute you. There is a connotation of fleeing your pursuer in the Greek. It begs the question that if I am not being persecuted am I living a godly life? I believe it was Menno Simons who said something like a church that is not being persecuted is not a true church. Ouch! So, if everything is peachy keen maybe we should be in prayer asking why instead of asking why when it is not.
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Christ said that the student was not greater than the teacher and if they hated Christ and called him of the devil ultimately crucifying Him what do you think they will do to you if they can? The “if so be that we suffer “is not saying you might not suffer with Him, but more that it is our lot to look forward to being glorified with Him because we suffer with Him indicating He is near us when we suffer. It comes along with the bloodline. If we have to suffer, fine, because we will be glorified.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Paul would not go through this list if there was no possibility of these tragedies happening to saints making them wonder if they were separated from Christ. When John the Baptist was in prison he wondered why he was there as if maybe he made a mistake about Jesus. During the Inquisition when many Christians were imprisoned and killed for being Ana-Baptists saints asked their pastors if they had lost their salvation. Some of our brethren in other lands may wonder that as well at times.
Philippians 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
It is given to us. We are given the grace to believe on Him for salvation. We have the privilege of suffering for Him as well.
1 Peter 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
None of this is anything an American Christian wants to hear, but many a Christian does glorify God in some of the most horrid conditions. Christianity is now the most persecuted minority on the earth. America and Canada have had it pretty plush for many years, but that is changing.
Jeremiah 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Some of you have been wondering how in the world does all of this square with Jeremiah 29:11. Israel was in captivity because of sin, but then God promised an end to it and great blessing. Yet, they suffered and when you tie in the next verses the key to 11 is 12 and 13. When they seek Him with all of their hearts and pray in earnest then He will hear and set them free. That goes for us as well.
God’s people have not been in desperate situations in a long time. There was a great deal prayer and revival in 1776, 1812, 1860, 1914 and 1941. The Church starting getting slack enjoying great wealth and privileges after WWII. We started becoming the Laodicean church losing our power without knowing like Samson when he did not know the Spirit had left him. The Spirit has not left His Church though it has left many groups. Maybe the only way for God to get through to us and our country is to allow tragedies to come into our lives. 9-11 was a wakeup call but the US and the Church hit the snooze button. Our search for Him becomes fervent and our prayers more frequent and desperate when we are in trouble instead of the quickie prayers before we collapse into bed or the ones when our spouse, kids or co-workers get on our nerves.
How do we trust after tragedy? It boils down to do we really believe what we often glibly say. Is God good all the time and all the time God is good or not? If He is then we can believe that in His omniscience and omnipresence He has opted to exercise or withhold His omnipotence for the greater good or to bring us closer to Him because we have strayed away or because it is just part of this sinful world to lose a loved one because we are in a world of death. If Christians never died or became ill, disabled or unemployed then everyone would want to be a Christian to escape those things. The unbelievers need to see that we do not escape the pain, but we have Christ who gets us through the pain because He is good.
One missionary worked with a tribe for a long time with no response. The mother contracted Black Water Fever and bled to death through her kidneys. The tribe watched as the family sang songs of praise before lowering the hollow log they placed their wife and Momma into the ground.
That night, one by one the tribe members came to the hut to hear about Jesus and were saved. The missionary asked the Chief why the people were so receptive now. The Chief said, “We knew Jesus was good for living. Now we know He is good for dying. They had found out that God was good all the time and all the time God was good.
If He were not good, nothing good would ever happen because both He and the devil would be bringing evil to us. We always question why bad things happen to good people when really the question is why do good things happen to bad people since no one is righteous. We will never know how bad our lives could have been without God until we get home. I know that without Him, I would have had multiple divorces, numerous illegitimate kids, several DUIs and probably be in jail or dead had He not come to me in 1975 so I could come to Him. I have had tragedies in my life, but still He has been faithful and so good to me.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
God’s thoughts towards us are not evil. The devil on the other hand has no good thoughts about us. He wants to steal everything we value. He wants to kill all of us and if God did not thwart his desires we would all be dead and everything we have sought to build in our lives destroyed; marriage, children, testimonies all gone.
Too often we create our own tragedies. Free will can cause our greatest pain when we do what God said not to do or not do what He told us to do. The worst tragedy is running from God instead of to Him. No one or nothing else will heal your pain and offer you life that is abundant either in quantity, quality or both even when you had to pass through the valley of the shadow of death to get to those green pastures.
2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
It also comes down to it not being all about us. God will comfort you, if you allow Him. Then you will have a ministry of comfort to others. It is hard to comfort someone when you know nothing about their pain. I have tried often over the years. I had lost my Dad at a young age so I could relate to a person who experienced that. I could relate to many things, but not all. Until my son was called home I could not relate to that. I can now. I can also say that while I miss him I trust God for the timing. He was my only son, my great friend, my biggest fan and at times my mentor. That is a hard loss. Yet, I ran to God or maybe it was more God ran towards me and I have peace. I have comfort and I have the hope of the resurrection. My son died a mighty man of God who influenced more people in the ten or so years he lived in this town than I may have done in my entire ministry of nearly five decades.
It may hurt. You may feel you cannot trust God. You may feel nothing or great pain, anger and despair. Tell Him that. Blame Him if you wish. He can handle it. Other saints have railed on Him in pain or trouble. When you are done with all that, be still.
Have you ever tried to approach a hurt animal and it snarled at you and tried to run away because it did not understand you were trying to help until it finally collapsed from fatigue so you can help? God knows you are far more complex than a wounded animal and He knows when you will be open to His help. God fed Elijah and allowed him to sleep before He spoke to him about his situation. No discussion can happen as long as one party is yelling, screaming and even throwing things.
When you are ready. Be still and ask Him to take the pain, bring comfort and ultimately peace and joy. He may never explain why the tragedy was not averted. We may not know until we get to Heaven and then that puzzle piece with the question mark on it will fit perfectly, but we will not care then. Listen to Him. Read the Word. Pray when it seems useless. Let Him change your theology, if necessary. Parents do not always outlive their children. People are not always healed. Not everyone will be rich, but through His Spirit working in you it can be a life rich in many more things than money. Peace with God and a ministry to use your gift is worth all the material wealth in the universe.
You cannot trust a person until they have been proven trustworthy. God is the only one you can 100% trust and often you will not fully believe that until He has proven to you that He is in the time of trouble. Open your heart to Him. You can be healed of your pain and trust again. Maranatha!!!
May 17, 1980 A Paid Lover?
Do I praise only when the sun's not under cover?
Do alleluias come only when the waves of blessing roll?
Oh God, am I just a well paid lover
Or do I love you from the depth of my soul?
The skies often grow black and life is so cold.
No beams of love I perceive.
Does then my Christian testimony remain bold
Or do I, alone, in bitter silence grieve?
The tender words of a well paid lover,
Is this what the Master truly desires?
No, not ones who around the paymaster hover,
But those whose hearts are raging fires!
Old Job, your love was certainly tried,
Your soul sifted and doom your only cover.
From the Bible's pages, God hast cried,
"You're not well paid, but truly my lover!"
Yes, God poured out gifts from above
And gave you more than you had at the start.
These were not wages. They were tokens of love
To the one who always loved God from his heart.
In my testings and trials that often abound,
When there is no sense of peace from above,
O, then in such a state let my heart be found
That when Satan screams, "Paid, Paid!", I whisper, "Love."
PS
1 Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
The "son" of Paul had stomach issues and chronic infirmities. This stood out in a sermon I heard this morning. The passage was used to illustrate a different area, but it popped for me since I had just preached this message. Paul prescribed NT style wine as a medicine for stomach problems. He may have had other issues. Kai can be translated as and or even so and or even thine often infirmities. Paul could have been mentioning other issues or tying the stomach problem to its frequency or both. Stomach issues can cause diarrhea, constipation and GERD. GERD can be a daily thing so an often infirmity.
Why did Timothy suffer it or these things? Why was he not healed and stay healed? We are not told. Paul had faith. Timothy had faith and yet Timothy had a prescription given by the man God used to heal many others. Both men had to let God be God and continue serving. When we are not healed or a loved one dies, we should in faith do the same. "We'll understand it all by and by."
Don't miss the point that this was a medicinal use of wine and not a recreational use. Indeed, if Timothy diluted it like the priests were commanded to do it would have a far less alcohol volume than our recreational wines with a far different taste and probably no "bouquet."
