OPEN: A woman who was employed as a dental receptionist told this story:
I was on duty when an extremely nervous patient came for root canal surgery. He was brought into the examining room and made comfortable in the reclining dental chair. The dentist then injected a numbing agent around the patient’s tooth, and left the room for a few minutes while the medication took hold.
When the dentist returned, the patient was standing next to a tray of dental equipment.
"What are you doing by the surgical instruments?" asked the surprised dentist.
Focused on his task, the patient replied, "I’m taking out the ones I don’t like."
APPLY: None of us likes suffering. Given the choice, we’d “pick out” the things we didn’t like in this life:
- the hardships
- the suffering
- the pain and loss
- the tragedies
and we’d just get rid of them.
Unfortunately – just like man in the dentist’s office – we really don’t get much of a choice. We don’t get to pick and choose. We get what we get.
But the question for today is not… what suffering would we remove from our lives?
But rather: Why does God allow suffering?
I. The first thing to realize in evaluating this question is this:
We live in a fallen world.
We live in a world where
- everything decays
- everything grows old
- everything dies
In Romans 8:18-21 Paul tells us:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was SUBJECTED TO FRUSTRATION, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its BONDAGE TO DECAY and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
We live in a decaying world where disease and death are part of the unavoidable aspects of living.
Jesus warned us not to get to attached to this world, because it is a world of decay and loss:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20
Indeed, Jesus also warned us:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
So, Jesus has told us that – in this life – suffering and difficulties will be a reality even for us.
II. But then, along comes this passage in II Corinthians 12 that gives an entirely different perspective on suffering.
Here is Paul
– one of the greatest apostles in the early church
– a man who wrote nearly half of the New Testament
– a missionary who worked tirelessly to plant church after church throughout the known world
– a person who would be amongst the first to be named “Christian of the 1st Century”
And he’s suffering.
He’s afflicted.
He has a thorn in the flesh and he can’t seem to have it removed from his life.
We don’t know what this hardship was that he had to endure, but it was so serious, that Paul prayed 3 times to have it removed.
Why did he suffer from this affliction?
God gave it to him.
Now, this passage tells me two things about suffering.
1st There are times when Suffering has a specific purpose
In Paul’s case… God sent the suffering to keep him from becoming conceited. He had been privileged to receive extraordinary visions and overwhelming power. And these advantages threatened to create in him a self-centered spirituality.
ILLUS: A woman once told of the time her 4 year old son and she were walking to their car after they’d been to Bible study. She said that her son looked up at her and said, "Mom, I’m not going to sin anymore."
She said “I got to wondering why he said this, so I asked him.”
This was his answer: "Jesus said if you don’t sin, you can throw the first stone and I want to throw the first stone."
You see…a self-centered spirituality carries with it the feeling of “power” over others. It can create a self-righteousness and smug superiority that angers God. And if that were to happen in our lives we’d begin saying:
“Look at me. I’m spiritual”
Rather than “Don’t look at me… look at Jesus”
So, in Paul’s life, the suffering came to help him avoid the danger of self-righteousness
Of course, there are many reasons why God might bring suffering into our lives, but one of the most significant purposes for Him to bring hardship and difficulty into your life and mine is the desire to mold and shape our personalities
In Psalm 66, we find that David wrote: “For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.”
How do you refine a metal like silver?
That’s right, you place it in the furnace.
The intense heat melts the metal, and while it lays in this molten state, the dross – the impurities – float to the top and are skimmed off. The end result of the refining process is a pure and valuable metal. Psalm 66 explains that this is one of God’s purposes in exposing us to difficulty. Note what this passage says next:
“You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” Psalm 66:10-12
This is a repeated theme throughout Scripture:
God brings suffering into our lives to change us to mold us into the type of people He can use.
Peter said this very thing when he wrote: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith— of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter 1:6-7
ILLUS: One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is the one about Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob’s. He was the golden child. Destined for greatness. God even told him as much in a couple of dreams.
But, from the way the story plays out, it would seem Joseph had a problem with pride.
When his daddy gave him that coat of many colors, his brothers become envious. And I can picture Joseph being like any other sibling who’s received special treatment… he rubs it in.
Of course, that’s not told in the story.
But what we are told is that every time God gave him a vision about his future, Joseph couldn’t help but share it with the brothers. Why would he share it with his siblings – who he knew were jealous of him anyway? He’s rubbing it in.
But God has a destiny for Joseph.
He will one day be a great man.
How does God prepare him for his place in history:
Well, first Joseph was beaten by his brothers, and then sold by them into slavery.
While in slavery, he attempts to be as Godly a man as can be… and what does he get for his trouble? He’s falsely accused of a crime he never committed and is placed in prison.
For approximately 15 years, Joseph endures slavery and prison.
He grows up in suffering miles away from family and home…
Then God reaches down into the depths of his prison and lifts Joseph up and causes him to become the 2nd most important man in the land of Egypt.
But it wasn’t till after Joseph had been through the refining fire of suffering that he became ready for the power and prestige that God intended to shower upon him.
Later, when Joseph had the opportunity to wreak revenge on his brothers… he told them
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
ILLUS: A.W. Tozer gives an interesting insight on this. In his book “The Root of the Righteous” he writes:
The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nail’s view of the hammer, and it is accurate except for one thing: The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workman. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workman and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose head shall be beaten next and what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future, it will yield to the hammer without complaint.
The file is more painful still - for its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges till it has shaped the metal to its will. Yet the file has, in truth, no real will in the matter, but serves another master as the metal also does. It is the master and not the file that decides how much shall be eaten away. What shape the metal shall take and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the metal accept the will of the master and it will not try to dictate when or how it shall be filed.
As for the furnace, it is the worst of all. Ruthless and savage, it leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury till it has reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to burn is melted to a mass of helpless matter, without will or purpose of its own.
When everything is melted that will melt and all is burned that will burn, then and not till then the furnace calms down and rests from its destructive fury.
So, 1st – the passage in II Corinthians 12 tells me that there are times when suffering comes into our lives for a specific purpose.
But 2ndly: that passage teaches me that even if it’s not there for a specific reason, suffering can always have a purpose.
You see, I’m not fully convinced that suffering always comes into our lives because God caused it.
ILLUS: For example, a few years ago, I lost my temper, and I slammed my hand into a wall. Anybody remember what happened? That’s right… I broke my wrist
Now, was it God’s will that I break my wrist?
No… the reason I broke my wrist was because I’d been stupid.
I sinned
I lost my temper
and I wore a cast for a few weeks.
Some suffering comes into our lives because we sin… because we act stupidly
But even when that happens, God tells us that suffering can always have a purpose. Whether we believe God has designed the suffering I’m going thru or not… my suffering can always have a purpose
And, what’s that purpose?
Look again at 2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
So… what purpose can suffering serve in my life?
1. It can allow Christ to show how much power He has in my life
2. It can allow God to show what He can do - when I can’t do a thing
In other words – my weakness allows God to do the miraculous in our lives
ILLUS: A man by the name of Gary Richmond said; "If (miracles) were happening every day, they wouldn’t be called miracles, they’d be called regulars.… The fact that your toothache stops hurting isn’t a miracle… or that your appendectomy scar isn’t large. That isn’t a miracle; that’s a very good surgeon.”
Likewise, if we ourselves do something that clever, or intelligent, or mind-boggling because we have the ability to do so… that really doesn’t show the world the power of God.
That simply shows off OUR talents
It’s only when we’re weak that God can display His miraculous power in our lives.
ILLUS: In the last congregation I served, the members had been very faithful in setting aside money for a new building project. They had $100,000 in their bank account and they wanted to build a new foyer with classrooms and modern bathrooms. They began their building project with the promise that they would not spend anymore money than what they had on hand.
But in the middle of the project, building codes required an additional expense that was $10,000 more than what they had on hand. In the midst of their frustration, I suggested a “Miracle Sunday” where we would set aside a specific Sunday – three months away – where people would be challenged to bring in additional funds.
Now I have a particular character flaw. I’m great at getting things started, but I become easily distracted and forget things… like planning a specific sermon for special days like that. In fact, once I had the congregation pumped for that “Miracle Sunday”… I promptly started another project and the special offering slipped my mind.
But it just so happened, that the project hadn’t slipped God’s mind.
The Saturday night before that Sunday, I was engaged in finishing a sermon on the power of prayer… but I was having difficulty coming up with a good closing illustration. It was about 10 pm and I was praying for God to help guide me in finding a good way to close the sermon. And then the oddest thing happened. Into my mind came this question: “What is tomorrow?”
I honestly had to think about it for a couple of minutes, and then I realized it was “Miracle Sunday.”
Again, a thought came into my mind: “How much do you need?”
Suddenly, I realized what this implied. If this was actually God’s leading, this could be one of the greatest sermons I would ever preach. But if not, I could end up embarrassing myself terribly.
I got on the phone to 3 people I could trust to pray for me (who I also picked because they were not the type to have much money) and then I called the church treasurer.
“Mark”, I said, “I want you to count the offering during the worship service tomorrow, rather than afterwards. I’m going to tell the audience that God is going to supply our need. That we WILL have $10,000 in the offering… then I want you to come out and tell them how much has been given.”
Now, this wasn’t a large congregation, and not especially wealthy. One of our elders had commented that the best we could expect for this offering was around $5600 or so.
But on this Sunday, I preached about the power of answered prayer, and I built up to the idea that because they had been faithful in their prayers to God to supply for our need, we would have exactly what was required. Then I called for Mark to come in.
Mark came in and looked extremely distressed. I often say he looked like somebody just shot his dog. Slowly he began “We have… $10,999.96.” Almost everyone in the audience erupted in cheers.
But what God taught us that day was this: They had been faithful in setting aside the $100,000 for the original project… but now that they had a need God intended to show them what He could do.
It was in our weakness that He showed His strength.
III. How then can I lay hold of God’s power in my weakness?
Paul says “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
In other words,
I need to boast of my weakness
I need to look expectantly to God for Him to display His power through my suffering
For example, earlier in II Corinthians, Paul writes
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.” II Corinthians 1:3-6
Notice, Paul is praising God in the midst of suffering because our suffering allows God to teach us how to be ministers. How to comfort others when they suffer.
One of the greatest passages in Scripture is Romans 8:28
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Now, that passage doesn’t say all things are from God
Nor does it say that all things are good
What it does say is that when we love God and are called according to His purposes… He WILL make all things work out for our good.
ILLUS: A little boy was telling his Grandma how "everything" is going wrong ... school, family problems, severe health problems, etc.
Meanwhile, Grandma was baking a cake.
She asked the child if he would like a snack, which of course he did.
"Here. Have some cooking oil."
"Yuck," says the boy.
"How about a couple of raw eggs?"
"Gross, Grandma."
"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"
"Grandma, those are all yucky!”
To which the Grandma replies: "Yes, all those things taste bad all by themselves. It’s only when they are put together in just the right way, and are placed into the heat of the furnace, that they make a wonderfully delicious cake!
God works in our lives in the very same way.”
He takes all the “yucky” elements of our lives and eventually blends all those “raw elements” - that taste so bad - into a masterpiece.
The key thing we need to remember when encountering suffering in our lives is what Paul taught us in Romans 8:18
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
No matter what hardship or tragedy we endure in this life… it will be as nothing compared to the wonder that awaits us in glory.
OTHER SERMONS IN THIS SERIES (Got Questions?)
* Do I Qualify For Heaven? Matthew 22:1-22:14
* Freedom From Guilt. John 8:31-8:36
* How Can I Know God’s Will For My Life? Romans 12:1-12:8
* What are you like, God? Isaiah 6:1-6:7
* God, why do you allow suffering? 2 Corinthians 12:1-12:10
