HoHum:
When speaking about Job, one time I said, “Satan can do nothing without God’s permission.” This opened up a whole can of worms. If God is good and all powerful, then how do we explain the existence of pain, suffering, and evil in our world? There are no easy answers.
WBTU:
Take for instance the war in Ukraine- innocent people are suffering- whose fault is this?
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12, NIV.
Satan uses pain to misfocus God’s people.
Thesis: How Satan uses pain
For instances:
I. Satan used pain against Job
Think about Job. Satan’s challenge to God was, “Stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”” Job 1:11. Satan believed Job would curse God.
Satan’s angels brought pain to Job by taking his herds, killing his servants, and murdering his children- all in one day. “Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job 1:22.
With the next wave of attack, Satan “afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.” Job 2:7, NIV. His wife broke under the pressure, showing her weakness and anger at God. But “in all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” Job 2:10, NIV.
Finally, Satan’s schemes brought 3 of Job’s friends to finish him off. They attacked Job’s righteousness, leading him to become proud and defensive. When nothing else worked, this almost did, bringing God’s chastisement upon Job for his questioning (chapters 38-42).
Those avenues of attack that the evil forces used on Job so long ago still work quite well today. Satan and his forces want the same today: “Maybe they’ll curse God to His face.”
II. Satan uses pain to make us angry with God
If I were Job, what would I have thought when all these bad things occurred? Would I have questioned why God let them occur? Would I have been angry with Him? Oh, most definitely.
Joe Beam- Once I asked a Bible class if any of them had ever been mad at God. One brother said, “If I were, I’d never tell Him.” Another person said, “You’re not supposed to be mad at God.” Of course, but that wasn’t the question I asked; we do many things we aren’t supposed to do. The question is whether God’s people ever become angry with God. What about you?” The psalms display all kinds of emotion. Notice the upset and anger at God in these verses. “Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Psalms 10:1. “I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”” Psalms 42:9. “Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” Psalms 88:14. Notice the disappointment and anger at God in these questions.
C.S. Lewis married when he was older to a woman named Joy. Joy got cancer and died just some years after they were married. Lewis, being a writer, wrote down his thoughts after she died in a journal. He turned that journal in a book called, “A Grief Observed.” The first few pages are somewhat disturbing. Look at this quote from early in the journal, “Where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms... When you are so happy then you are tempted to feel God’s claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows.... What can this mean? Why is God so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?” Toward the end of the book things become better, somewhat. Listen to this quote: “When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of ‘No answer.’ It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question (off). Like, ‘Peace child; you don’t understand.’”
Was listening to a podcast of a man who has 3 forms of cancer. He angrily asked the question, “Why?” as most of us would do. After a period of time, he asked a different question, “How?” He says that we should not park at the Why question but instead move on to the How question. But how do we do that?
How does God respond when we are angry with him and asking the question with our fists raised, “Why?” There is a Bible story that shows how God feels about our anger, doubt, and questioning. John 11 gives us a glimpse into God’s reactions to our human weaknesses.
III. How Jesus responds to our anger
Think about Lazarus who died. Jesus loved Lazarus of Bethany and his 2 sisters, Mary and Martha. Now Lazarus, Jesus’ dear friend, lay dying, and the sisters sent for Jesus’ help. Patiently they waited and waited but Jesus did not come. Lazarus tried to linger until His arrival. His sisters urged him to hang on, fight, just make it one more day until Jesus arrived. With His coming all would be made well. But Lazarus couldn’t do it. Overcome by the illness, Lazarus could cling to life no longer. In a final struggle with death, he closed his eyes, slipping into the eternal sleep. Though miles away, Jesus knew exactly when it happened. Turning to His apostles, he said, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”” John 11:14, 15, NIV.
By now, the sisters had mourned for 4 days, and they couldn’t understand where Jesus was and why He hadn’t come. When they sent the message to Him, they made it clear this wasn’t just another beggar pleading for a miracle. “The sisters sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one you love is sick.”” John 11:3, NIV. What could be more important to Jesus than to come to the aid of the ones He loved? He’d made it clear how special they were, how important they were to Him.
After staying away for several days, the message came to the sisters: Jesus was in Bethany. When Martha, the “do what needs to be done” sister, heard He was coming, she rushed out to meet Jesus. She didn’t greet Him with thankfulness, happy He had made it safely, she didn’t reach for a hug of reassurance and sympathy. No, Martha got right to the point. Her first words to the tardy Savior were, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21, NIV. As far as Martha was concerned, it was Jesus’ fault that Lazarus was dead, and she wanted Him to know it. In contrast to her brutal honesty, she added, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”” John 11:22, NIV. From our point of view, reading these verses from a distance of thousands of years, and having no pain for a dead brother fogging our judgment, I think Martha should have been more diplomatic with the Son of God. But she hurt, and she didn’t like the hurting. She lashed out at the God who could heal the hurt because He had let the hurt happen in the first place. What more human thing is there than to lash out at the one who let us down? She loved Jesus still. She knew He held enormous power. But her pain was only there because He let it be, and she didn’t appreciate it.
Neither did Mary. “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”” John 11:32, NIV. When Martha rebuked Him, He gently tried to teach Martha about His power over death and resurrection. When Mary reproved Him, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled (vs. 33). Experiencing firsthand the inconsolable sisters and their friends, He showed his reaction to anger, doubt, and questioning. “Jesus wept.” John 11:35, NIV. Great verse to know Bible bowl question, what is the shortest verse? Jesus wept. Shows the Savior’s heart. Even though the shortest verse it is a source of wordy debate. Some say that Jesus wept from his human side and that God had little to do with it. God is a rock and he is unmoved by emotion. Many verses can be used to counter but because of time I will refrain. I disagree. We see here the mind and heart of God. When those He loves- and those who love Him- rail against Him in their hearts, He cries. He doesn’t chastise. He doesn’t punish. He feels the pain Himself and takes the burden of the pain into His own heart. Just as he dealt with those sisters, He deals with us. When we wail our pain and anger at God, the Father sits in heaven watching; Jesus sitting at His right hand watching with Him. The Spirit lingers nearby, explaining our hurt and pains found deep in our hearts (Romans 8:26-27). And They all cry with us.
IV. Satan uses pain to weaken faith
By using the pain and hurt in our lives to get us to be angry with God, Satan wins a minor victory. He temporarily weakens our faith. He shifts all blame for himself to God, maintaining his low profile to keep us from seeing who it is that really hurt us. His deception prevents us from looking to God for strength and healing. At the very time when we most need to hold his hand, we turn from him in anger, accusing Him of not loving us. We recognize his power with our lips; we doubt it in our hearts. That’s what happened to Martha. She told Jesus she knew He could still raise Lazarus, but she didn’t believe it. When Jesus questioned her, measuring her faith, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”” John 11:25, 26, NIV. Notice her answer. It gives lip service to His power and position but evades the heart of His question. She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”” John 11:27, NIV. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. She mouthed a stronger faith than she felt. How do I know? When Jesus commanded, “Take away the stone,” Martha objected. Reminding Jesus that Lazarus had been dead 4 days, she begged Him not to bring the stench of his death into her nostrils. She didn’t believe that Lazarus was coming back, and she abhorred the thought of experiencing his death through the foul odor of his decay. The Jews had a belief that the spirit lingered around for 3 days but this was the 4th day, the spirit was gone and the body was in the throes of decaying. Her lack of faith didn’t surprise Jesus. He’d known it all along. Turning to her, He said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40, NIV. Then, waiting only long enough for the stone to be removed, He brought Lazarus back into the realm of the living.
Satan weakened Martha and Mary for a while, but he couldn’t destroy their faith. Jesus showed them again the power of God, strengthening their faith, and the faith of all gathered there whose hearts were open. Ultimately, He does the same for us when we hurt. If we just continue to look, we will again see Him bringing His wonderful blessings into our lives. He doesn’t always answer our requests but He’s always faithful
Stay with Him. Don’t let go of His hand. “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3, NIV. He nurtures us through our hurt and brings joy in the morning.
