Things that you hope you don’t hear while you are being operated on:
Better save that; we’ll need it for the autopsy.
Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what’s that?
Ya’ know ... there’s big money in kidneys ... and this guy’s got two of ’em.
That’s cool! Now can you make his leg twitch?!
Travis! Bad dog! Come back with that!
Sterile, shcmerle. The floor’s clean, right?
Rats! Page 47 of the manual is missing!
We hope that we never hear that. We also hope that we never have to deal with pain that can never be resolved. However, most of us already are dealing with this kind of pain. Pain in our lives over something that is still lingering to this very day. Maybe it is the loss of a loved one. Maybe a broken relationship. Maybe a failure in the workplace, or a moral failure in your life. Maybe it is a recent hurt, or a distant hurt, but one thing is certain—unless hurts are dealt with, they will haunt you for the rest of your life. When we let the hurt linger, we open the door to resentment—resentment toward others, ourselves, even God. And instead of dealing with the hurt immediately, we hide it away, and never deal with it, and live lives of regret, resentment, and remorse. I’m sure that there is no one here like that this morning.
We’ve been dealing with the subject of hope for the hurting the past two weeks, and this morning, we will finish that series.
I know some of you wonder about why it takes so long for me to go through these series. To that, I give you this story:
A billing clerk for a managed care company proudly told a friend that she had just finished a jigsaw puzzle, "And it only took me five months," she beamed.
"Five months?" said her friend. "That sounds like an awfully long time to finish a jigsaw puzzle."
"Not really, " the clerk explained. "The box says six to twelve years."
The reason why I take so long is that I want you to remember exactly what I’m telling you. That you can trust God’s word. That it does indeed have everything we need for life and godliness. That we can and should turn to Him and His word first in all areas of life, especially when we are hurting.
This morning, we are focusing on hope for the hurting, and the three aspects of resolving those hurts. The first aspect was that we should turn to God first. The reason why is that he is the father of the compassion and the God of all comfort. Remember 1 Peter 5:7—Cast all of your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you.
Last week we saw the second aspect, and there was two parts to it. The second aspect is this: when you are hurting turn to other believers. The other part of it is that when others are hurting, we are to go to them.
I asked you last week to think back in your life, look over your life this morning with me for a brief moment. Has God ever brought you through a dark valley in your life? A time when all hope seemed lost? At the time you were going through it, you felt such despair and wondered how you would ever survive. Yet God got you through. Can you think of a time like that? I asked you if you thought that was the only time God has ever done that for someone, or even for you? The answer is “Of course not.”
So here’s the rub. When we are going through our own troubles, our own trials, experiencing our own pain and problems, remember this: other people have gone through them as well. And they can comfort you, with the same comfort that they received.
But it’s not just that. We are to comfort others as well. We all have a story to tell. We all have blessings we have received. And we all have received comfort in knowing that God walked with us through every trial, hurt and pain.
So, the first aspect of finding hope for your hurts is to turn first to God. The second aspect is that we turn to other believers. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11.
8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Let’s focus in on verses 8 and 9. Paul suffered hardships. He was under great pressure, to the point he couldn’t endure, even despairing for your life. Let me tell you what happened to me this week.
EXPLAIN THE STORY OF HOW MY CAR BROKE DOWN, AND THEN THE BANK MISPLACED MY DEPOSIT, AND THEN SEARS REFUSED MY CHECK FOR THE CAR REPAIRS.
This is not to disparage anyone here this morning. I know that there are real hurts and pains, but to me, this was really bad.
We’ve all probably been there. We’ve had problems and trials and experiences in which we suffered hardship, under great pressure, even despairing for life. What is it that we do? What the aspects to handling the hurt and pain and pressure in life? First, we turn to God. Then, we turn to others. The third aspect is found in verses 10 and 11. Do you see it there? The third aspect is this—turn to the power of prayer.
In Paul’s situation, he was in deep trouble and despair. In this, he recognized that God delivered him, and he trusts God to continue to deliver him, but did you notice that it is because of the prayers of the Corinthian church.
Look in your bulletin. The spiritual thought for the week is this: We help others with our prayers. Often times we think of prayer as something quaint. Yet here, Paul acknowledges that prayer helped him. Do you think that prayer helps others as well? YES! Do you think that your prayers help others? YES! Do you think that your prayer helps this church? YES!
I want you to look at the request card in the bulletin this morning. Do you see what the first option is on that card? That you would commit time during the week to pray for this ministry. That is the most important thing you can do for anyone, and any ministry. We have a prayer sheet that we print every month. Hopefully it is looked at more than once a month. We really need to commit ourselves to prayer, and not just for ourselves, but for others.
Paul relied on it. He counted on it. And he recognized that prayer helped him. Look at verse 11 again with me. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
He said that many will give thanks for the answered prayer. He expected prayers to be answered positively. Do we? Do we, when we pray, expect that many will give thanks for the gracious favor granted to us?
James 5
16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
How many of you are familiar with the prayer of Jabez? What did he prayer for?
1 Chronicles 4:9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, [3] saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.
How would you like it if 1 righteous person prayed for you? What about 2, or 10? Or 20? Paul had an entire church praying for him, and he relied upon it.
When I was in the midst of my problems this week, I told lots of people, but I also asked that they pray. I told my friends, I told my family, I told the church on Wednesday, and I know that many prayed for me. We need to rely more on the power of prayer in our lives, and we need to realize that our prayers help others in their time of need and pain.
Several years ago a teacher assigned to visit children in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. She took the boy’s name and room number and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn’t fall behind the others." It wasn’t until the visiting teacher got outside the boy’s room that she realized it was located in the hospital’s burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain. She felt that she couldn’t just turn and walk out, so she awkwardly stammered, "I’m the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before she could finish a profusion of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don’t understand. We’ve been very worried about him, but ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment--.It’s as though he’s decided to live." The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw that teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears he expressed it this way: "They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"
I have no idea where you are today, what pains and hurts you have experienced in your life. But I know this—there is hope for those who hurt. We often look in all the wrong places, but when we focus on those three aspects—turning first to God, turning to other believers, and relying on the power of prayer, you can be assured, as Paul was, that God will take care of your hurts.
