We all know about Hurricane Katrina. We’ve seen the devastation it caused. Maybe you’ve wondered, “How would I have responded if I had been affected by that storm?” I want to talk tonight about “weathering the storms of life.” How does the Bible say we should react to pain and suffering?
Job is the classic biblical example of someone who faced personal tragedy. His suffering caused him to ask many questions. What are some questions that people ask when tragedy strikes? “Why?” or “Why me?”
FOUR FACTS THAT WILL HELP US WEATHER THE STORMS OF LIFE
1. The storms of life are not beyond God’s control.
In 1:1-3 we are introduced to Job. Here we discover two things about this man: (1) He is a good man. “He feared God and shunned evil” (v. 1). (2) He is a wealthy man.
Verses 6-12 tell us about a meeting between God and Satan. (Yes, Satan is a real person.) We learn here that God gives Satan limited power to cause pain. God says to Satan, “Everything [Job] has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger” (v. 12). Why does Satan want to cause us pain? His goal is to destroy our faith in God. To accomplish this he uses two weapons: pain and pleasure. He uses pain to make us feel that God is powerless or unkind. He uses pleasure to make us feel that God is unnecessary.
Verses 13-19 present a series of very unfortunate events for Job. What happened to everything Job possessed? He lost it all (in one afternoon). Job’s reaction to his loss is quite unusual (read verses 20-22). According to Job, who took away his children and wealth? Job doesn’t say, “Satan has taken away everything I had.” No, he says, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (v. 21). In chapter 2 we are told that Satan will also afflict Job with a terrible skin disease, and Job will respond by saying to his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (v. 10). This leads us to a truth that may shock you: Satan’s work is ultimately the work of God.
Job displays two initial reactions to his tragedy: (1) he mourns and (2) he praises God. When tragedy strikes your life, it’s okay to cry. The tears of grief are not signs of unbelief. It’s natural to cry in times of loss, but it’s supernatural to praise God. Job praises God for his past goodness and realizes that He is still in control. So the first fact that will help us weather the storms of life is that the storms of life are not beyond God’s control. God’s sovereignty needs to be coupled with His goodness. (You might ask, “If the storms of life are not beyond God’s control, why doesn’t He stop them from coming?”)
2. The storms of life hit both the good and the bad.
It’s one thing to bear a sudden tragedy. It’s quite another thing to suffer its pain for weeks and months and even years afterward. (Soldiers have been known to get a leg blown off by a land mine and run on the raw stump back to safety, but then cry like a baby at the pain of surgery and healing.) Immediately after Job had lost everything, he was able to say, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (1:21). Then Job’s misery drags on for months. He says in his agony, “Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me” (7:2-3). Job begins to think that God is against him. Why didn’t God quickly reward Job for his faithful reaction to his loss? Because Job has a lot yet to learn about suffering and about God. And we do too. That’s why we’re not going to skip ahead now to chapter 42 where the happy ending comes.
At the end of chapter 2 we are introduced to three of Job’s “friends.” But they aren’t very good friends. They don’t comfort him; they only make him angrier. (Be careful of what you say to those who are suffering.) One of them, Eliphaz, says, “Consider now: Who being innocent, has ever suffered? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it” (4:7-8). In other words, he says that suffering is the punishment for sin, and prosperity is the reward for goodness. Eliphaz also says, “But if it where I [i.e., “if I were in your situation”], I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted” (5:8-9). What’s wrong with Eliphaz’s statements? (Eliphaz sounds like today’s “health and wealth” preachers.)
Job’s friends think that his suffering is God’s way of punishing him for some terrible sin he has committed. Eliphaz says, “Is not your wickedness great?” (22:5). But Eliphaz’s counsel is too simple. It doesn’t answer the hard questions. It doesn’t answer why some suffer in an extraordinary way even though they have not sinned in an extraordinary way. It doesn’t answer why some prosper in an extraordinary way even though they have sinned in an extraordinary way. Job is a good man. Yet he is suffering far worse than many wicked people. The second fact that will help us weather the storms of life is that the storms of life hit both the good and the bad. Hurricane Katrina affected both good and bad people. We can’t say, “Good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people.”
3. The storms of life can make us bitter or better.
Many Christians simply say, “I believe that God is in control of everything and that He is fair and wise. And I will trust Him even when life doesn’t make sense.” That isn’t a bad way to live. But Job isn’t satisfied to live that way. He wants to know why all this has happened to him.
The third fact that will help us weather the storms of life is that the storms of life can make us bitter or better. When the storm first came, Job praised God, but now he is questioning God (see 3:1-3). By questioning God, Job reveals his pride. It appears that God has allowed him to suffer in order to rid him of this hidden sin. Job’s suffering isn’t punishment for his pride; the suffering is the instrument God will use to rid him of this sin. How many here have gone through some kind of surgery? (Illustration: my upcoming surgery.) Job’s suffering is like a surgeon’s knife. It causes him pain, but in the end it will make him a better man.
4. The storms of life are beyond our understanding.
God has been questioned by Job long enough. Now it’s Job’s turn to answer God’s questions (see 38:1-5). What is Job’s response to God’s questions? He answers, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more” (40:4-5). Job is starting to get the point. A finite creature like him is ignorant of 99.99% of what it takes to run this world. He has no business questioning God. So the fourth fact that will help us weather the storms of life is that the storms of life are beyond our understanding.
Does anyone here completely understand how this universe works? A song by Steven Curtis Chapman called “God Is God” makes this point. Part of the song says,
God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting
God is God and I am man
So I’ll never understand it all
For only God is God
Job finally admits his inability to comprehend the ways of God (see 42:1-6). He’s through telling God what’s fair and what’s unfair.
In the end, God gave Job more than he took away. And Job was a better man.
Illustration: For many young people in Fort Worth, Texas, September 15, 1999, started with prayer around their high school’s flagpole. After taking a public stand for their faith, about four hundred youth gathered in the sanctuary of Wedgwood Baptist Church for a rally that night. Alleluias rang out as a Christian band led the group in singing praises.
Suddenly a lone gunman burst in. Larry Ashbrook killed seven people before committing suicide—Shawn Brown, 23; Sydney Browning, 36; Justin Ray, 17; Cassie Griffin, 14; Joey Ennis, 14; Kristi Beckel, 14; Kim Jones, 23. At first, many thought the gunman was part of a skit. But they soon realized the bullets weren’t blanks and the blood wasn’t ketchup. Many of the youth, plus 150 adults and children, at Wedgwood that night must have wondered where God was. But in the weeks following the tragedy, they, and the world, found that God didn’t abandon them.
Drawing from the church’s website and other sources, here are some confirmed instances of God’s hand at work:
Although the deaths and injuries were tragic, the devastation could have been much worse. Sixty-eight bullets were fired and only 14 people were hit. About 90 bullets remained unused. A bomb Ashbrook made blew up in the sanctuary, but most of the shrapnel went into the ceiling, injuring no one.
All of Ashbrook’s victims were believers.
Fifteen thousand people attended a community-wide service at the football stadium of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Al Meredith, Wedgwood’s senior pastor, challenged people to pray and fast on Monday, the 20th. The service was broadcast live on a local television station and on CNN. Because Kim Jones’s parents lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, that country, which is closed to the gospel, allowed portions of the service to be broadcast there.
When prompted by a question from Vice President Al Gore, Pastor Meredith was able to present the gospel clearly on the television show, Larry King Live. In the days following the tragedy, Meredith was also able to pray with President Bill Clinton and Texas Governor George W. Bush.
A DJ at a local Christian radio station (KLTY) was able to lead a caller to Christ. The caller said he wanted what the church members had.
The husband of a church member professed a newfound faith in Christ shortly after the shooting. His wife, Jodi, and three-year-old daughter were at the church, as he watched the scene unfold on television. His wife had been praying, with others, for his salvation for two years. She says the shooting helped him realize that he was not in control of everything around him (Perfect Illustration for Every Topic and Occasion, pp. 265-267).
1. The storms of life are not beyond God’s control.
2. The storms of life hit both the good and the bad.
3. The storms of life can make us bitter or better.
4. The storms of life are beyond our understanding.
Maybe you’re going through one of life’s storms. God doesn’t expect you to understand it all. But He wants you to trust in His goodness and greatness and believe that He can cause something good to happen out of a bad situation.
But perhaps you don’t have God in your life. Being a Christian won’t keep you from the storms of life, but God is a shelter in times of trouble. And, more importantly, He can deliver you from the danger that awaits those without Him.
