An old dog fell into a dry well. The farmer heard the dog yelping and went to look. He sympathized with his loyal dog, but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble to save them. So, he hauled a large wagon of dirt to the well and, shovel by shovel, began to fill in the well.
The dog saw what the farmer was doing and got hysterical! After a few shovels of dirt came down and landed on the dog, he shook really hard and he noticed that the dirt fell on the floor of the well. So, every time the farmer threw a shovel full of dirt down, the dog would shake it off his back and the floor got higher. The more dirt that came down, the higher the floor got.
After about an hour of this, the dog stepped out of the well and licked his master’s face, happy to be safe and secure again. What seemed like total defeat actually turned out to benefit the dog; all because of the way he handled it.
And we are the same way. Life gives us crushing blow after crushing blow sometimes, doesn’t it? Have you ever wondered why God would allow you or a loved one to go through a time of deep suffering? In the Bible, we find many reasons why we experience the pain and sufferings of life.
We suffer because of the nature of sin. We suffer so that our character might be built up in the Lord. We might suffer because God is showing casing us to Satan, like He did with Job. There are many reasons we might suffer, but I am not going to talk about the reasons today; I am going to talk about the way we choose to handle the suffering.
It is normal for us to feel that God has left us alone during our times of suffering. We feel alone and isolated. But the first thing we must remember is …
1. GOD NEVER LEAVES US - NOR FORSAKES US
In HEBREWS 13:5, God gives us that promise and we often seem to forget it during our trials. God is always there, no matter what we are going through; and God is always there even when it seems He has abandoned you.
When trouble strikes, what do we do? We go into a panic and ask God for help and then try to fix the problem without waiting for His help. We instantly try to rely on our powers to make everything better, when in fact, we have no power to make anything better. It is only after we have failed in every attempt do we really go to God and get serious about His helping us.
And when we go to God, we must remember something very important. We want the problem fixed even before we say “Amen”, but God will fix the problem in His time, not ours. He will fix the problem His way, not ours. God will fix the problem once and for all – if we give Him the chance and the glory.
But, while we are waiting for God’s help in solving our problem, we still must go through the pangs of suffering through it, don’t we? We let our focus slip from God and back on our problems. Then, more often than not, we begin to feel sorry for ourselves. We start asking ourselves what we did to deserve all these problems, or we might start to feel that God has just dumped us and walked off from us.
Many of the great men in the Bible felt that way, too. David experienced the feeling of isolation from God when he was running from Saul. He was running because Saul wanted to kill him.
In PSALM 13:1, David writes –
‘How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide Your face from me?’
In JOB 23:3, Job says –
‘Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat.’
Job felt isolated and far from God. But Job held steadfastly to God’s Word and even though he felt abandoned, He knew God was in control.
Job had lost all of his children; his wealth; his friends; and everything else he had in life, except for his wife. The wife who said, ‘Just curse God and die!” I think those are the most shuddering words in the Old Testament. I would hate to be under such tests as Job was, and be saddled with a wife who said that to me. But even though Job lost all these things, and we know he must have suffered greatly, he kept his knowledge of the Lord intact.
In verse 10, Job writes –
‘But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.’
He knew that when the trials were over, he would emerge from them stronger and brighter than ever before. When we are in the middle of our great despairs in life, do we focus on how God is using our troubles to sharpen us, or do we succumb to panic attacks and pity parties? We would do much better if we could realize that no matter what our problem, the Lord is right beside us.
A wonderful example of this is given in LUKE 24. In this passage, two of Jesus’ disciples were walking toward a village called Emmaus. They were very upset and troubled because they knew that Jesus had been crucified. They were discouraged. And then, what happens? There is a third man who appears on the scene. They must have found comfort in the company of this man, because they talked with him and listened to him. But all during their anguish, they never once realized that Jesus was right beside them; sharing their company as they plodded along down the road.
I want to share a mighty truth with you. God is with you right now. No matter what you might be going through; no matter far you might feel from Him; God is there with you. He might not be felt during certain times, but know that He is there. It is that fact alone, that enables us to be faithful during our bad times. God loves us with a love that is so much more than any of us might love our children. And because He loves us, He will surely take care of us.
We are given that promise in 1 PETER 5:7.
‘ …cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.’
Not only does God promise to stay with us, but He wants us to give Him all our fears and troubles. And when we do, we must remember that God may have a very good reason for not making them disappear instantly. We might have to wait for Him to take us from the fire, but that is because …
2. GOD’S TIMING IS PERFECT
What happens when we suffer a bad time? We want it to go away, don’t we? When do we want it to go away? Right now! But they don’t, do they? Sometimes it seems that when we go to God with an emergency prayer for help, His help is agonizingly slow in getting to us.
Now, what is it in this scenario that we tend to forget? We forget that God’s timing is perfect and ours isn’t. Let me give you a personal illustration. About three weeks ago, I started feeling very down. As most of you know, I raised my kids myself for the most part, and I have never been away from them. I started thinking about them and how we had been here a year and I started really missing them. During that time, we lost one grandchild to a still birth, and my son’s wife is pregnant again but she has had some problems during this pregnancy, too.
And I miss them. I worry about them. (I know I am not supposed to, but as a human and as a parent, I still do sometimes.) Anyway, I went several days where I focused on my missing them instead of focusing on how the Lord was taking care of them. I went to prayer early on and asked God to help settle my heart. And then, like a good human, I immediately went back to worrying again. Then later, in prayer, I asked God why He wasn’t doing anything! See, preachers do it, too!
It finally dawned on me that if God had not acted, it was because he was waiting on me to learn something. He was waiting on me to learn to let Him do His work and for me to get out of His way and quit hindering Him. In other words, when I prayed for His help to settle my heart, I should have remained focused on Him, but I took my focus off Him and put it right back on the worries. And I continued going through my rough time.
As soon as it dawned on me to put my focus back on God and to trust Him, my son called – just to say ‘Hi’ and that things were going okay. As soon as I trusted God, He proved His timing is perfect. He let me go through the pangs of worry just long enough to learn that my focus needs to be on Him, not on my problems. If I had my way, the problems would have been over instantly and I wouldn’t have learned anything at all.
Do you remember the story of how Jesus’ close friend Lazarus got sick and his sisters, Mary and Martha summoned Jesus to heal him? What happened? They asked the Lord for help in a problem. So far, so good. But then before Jesus got there, Lazarus died. Uh-oh. Mary and Martha thought Jesus had waited too long, didn’t they? But Jesus didn’t wait too long. He came at the perfect time. The perfect time for God’s purpose, not necessary the most convenient time for Mary and Martha. And what happened? Their prayers were answered; their brother was made alive and well.
God is never late. However, God’s timing is different than ours, and so is His focus. He is focused on what is best for us “eternally” and we are focused on what is best for us “instantly”. God ultimately knows what is in our best interest, and we only think we know what is best for us.
In ROMANS 5, we learn that suffering builds our character. In JAMES 1, we are told to consider it pure joy when we have troubles of many kinds, because it builds perseverance. Our suffering is uncomfortable, but it is for our own good.
Have you ever taken the time to see how a butterfly comes out of a cocoon? It is a very slow and very tedious operation. It seems to take forever, and all the while, the poor butterfly is struggling to free itself of that covering.
A boy once saw this and after a long while, he felt so sorry for what that butterfly was going through that he helped open the cocoon to free the insect faster. What do you think happened? The butterfly was able to get out in less than half the time it would normally have taken, but when it did, it couldn’t fly. Why? Because it is during the time of struggle that its wings are strengthened enough to carry him off. But when the boy took the struggle away, the wings didn’t get strengthened.
See, the hard time the butterfly was going through was for its own good, wasn’t it? Without the struggle, the butterfly could not realize its purpose in life. And without our struggles, we cannot realize our purpose in the kingdom of God, either. It is true that our struggles sometimes seem more than we can bear, but it is of utmost urgency that we remember; during our struggles …
3. WE MUST REMAIN FAITHFUL
If you had been Job, what would you have done? You lose all of your precious children; you lose your wealth; you ate struck down with severe illness; and you have a spouse who is telling you to just die and get it over with. What would you do? It would be very easy for us to just sit back and start blaming God, wouldn’t it?
What did Job do? Scripture tells us that he fell to the ground and worshiped God. He held on to his faith – even in the wake of great calamity and despair. When we go through the tough times in our lives, we must also be faithful and keep our trust in God. We must realize that faith is very important to God!
In HEBREWS 11:6, it says,
‘Without faith, it is impossible to please God.’
It is so easy for us to give up when we don’t see quick results, but we must never give up on God, and our faith must endure the suffering. In REVELATIONS 2, we are even told to be faithful “even to the point of death.”
An old preacher was faithful unto death. He found out he had cancer and was quickly dying from it. I want to read to you what he said in his last sermon.
“Some of you have asked me if I am mad at God for this disease. I have nothing but love in my heart for my Father. He didn’t do this to me. We live in a sinful world where sickness and death are the curse that mankind brought upon himself.
“For years, I have taught how my Savior suffered and died. Am I better than Him, that I should ask not to suffer? I am glad to suffer if it means going home to Jesus. Please don’t feel sorry for me, but rejoice with me.”
Then, in old and broken voice, he began to recite a poem,
‘Must Jesus bear the cross alone – while all the world goes free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone – and there’s a cross for me.
How happy the saints above – who once went sorrowing here
But now they taste unmingled love – and joy without a tear.
That consecrated cross I’ll bear – till death shall set me free,
And then go home, my crown to wear – for there is a crown for me.’
Those were his last words from the pulpit that he loved so much. He slipped into a coma shortly after church that morning, and passed over the Jordan a few days later.
He didn’t leave those he loved empty handed, though. He left an example. He left an example of what true faith looks like and how it works. The faith that no matter what the problem, no matter how much the burden, it will pull us through and keep us whole in Christ.
And so let us remember that we will suffer many times between today, and the day we cross the Jordan. But during our storms, let us remember three Godly principles:
· God is walking beside us, even when we can’t see Him
· God’s timing is perfect, even if it seems that He is slow
· During the worst of storms, God cherishes our faithfulness
I pray that you have not been going through a storm of late, but if you have, I pray these words might have helped you see that you are not alone and you are not forsaken. I hope that you see the purpose of the storm and that it will not be over until the perfect time for it has come, and that it will only build you up in the kingdom of God.
As you descend one hill down into the valley of a storm, remember that our God is a faithful and loving God. He will not be on the other side of the valley waiting for you to come to Him. He will be walking beside you through the storm, upholding you with His righteous right hand. He will be keeping you steady and He will see you through. But you must keep focused on Him and you must walk in faith. With our Lord, you will come to the other side of that valley of despair and you will starting waling up that hill of joy – with our Lord’s hand still holding you upright.
Will the Victory Singers please come back on stage?
Some of you might remember a family of tightrope walkers. They were billed as ‘the Flying Wallendas.’ One of their special stunts was to use members of their family to make a four level pyramid - high atop a platform that they would then cross the tightrope with. They performed this stunt for several years.
But one night, about ¾ the way across, one of the young men of the family was on the bottom row of the pyramid and he yelled out, “I cannot hold any longer.” And with that, his knee buckled and the entire family fell the pavement below. Many were crippled for life and one died. All because the pressure was so much on one person that his entire world around him collapsed.
Have you ever felt like you were under such a great pressure that your world could collapse at any moment? Whether it be the pressures of schoolwork, a job, family pressures, or anything else, have you ever felt like yelling, “I can’t do this any more!” That is the exact moment you need to call out to Christ, and say, “I can’t do this any more – without You, Lord!”
Do you remember several years ago there were nine miners trapped 240 feet underground for three days. And then they were all rescued. According to one of the miners, they helped each other. When the 55 degree water they were in started to get to one of them, all of the others would huddle up next to the one to get him warm, and when another got cold, the favor was returned.
He said that when one would start to break down mentally, the others would all rally to bolster him up, and likewise, it would be returned when needed.
He said they learned how to rely on each other like never before, and they began to trust each other with their very lives. And when they had done all they could for each other, they were rescued.
They suffered a severe storm. But during this storm, they learned what we must learn in our storms. We must also learn how to help one another and to trust one another for help when we need it. And we must learn that miracles do happen, but they only happen in God’s timing, not ours.
During the stress of our storms, it is of crucial that we remember what Jesus told us in MATHEW 11:28.
‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and, burdened, and I will give you rest.’
INVITATION
