When Life Gets Rough
“Suffering” When God calls us to suffer
1 Peter 1:6-7
Life ought to come with a list of side effects. There should be a tag on every newborn baby saying life can be full of fun and adventure and excitement and joy, but there are side effects. There’s illness . . abuse . . . broken relationships. . . betrayal . . . sorrow . . . loss . . . injuries. . . disappointment . . . heartache . . . crime . . .and death.
Actually, life did come with a warning. Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this life, there will be trouble. But why? Why these side effects? Why is there suffering and evil and pain?
That “why” question goes back thousands of years. It was asked in the Old Testament by Job and the writers of the Psalms, and it was especially relevant during the 20th century, where we witnessed two World Wars, the Holocaust, devastating famines in Africa, the killing fields of Cambodia, the emergence of AIDS, the genocide in Rwanda, the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, and the attacks of 9/11. Why all of this if there’s a loving and powerful God? Why do bad things happen to good people?
I commissioned a national survey and asked people what question they’d ask if they could only ask God one thing. The Number One response was: “Why is there suffering in the world?” Interesting, I found statistical quirk: people who are married were much more likely to want to know why there’s so much suffering. (Lee Strobel- Sermon Why Suffering)
I am no expert on this subject. The little mocking and being made fun of I have endured is so small compared to others. To be honest I think in American Christianity we think following God is the way to avoid the pains of life. We even have gotten to the place we think God’s purpose is to make our lives carefree and void of any kind of suffering or discomfort. There is some truth in that if we follow God’s path we can avoid a lot of sin’s consequences and punishment. However, it is just a true that becoming a Christian will a call to suffering. Jesus took up the cross and suffered in our place for our sins, but at times we must also take up the cross and suffer for the kingdom of God on earth in his place. American Christians, myself included have avoided Bible scriptures on suffering. This week I discovered “The Life Application Bible” has one of the longest sections in the back on topics on suffering.
Billy Graham comments: “Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of Christ.”
The End of the Spear has come out, but not in Zanesville, Go see it if you can in pickerington or Columbus. It is the true story of 5 men who were killed as they landed their plane to tell savages that God loved them. Their families not only forgave the natives, but went back with the gospel to the same exact place. “Through Gates of Splendor” Jim Elliots wife’s account.
Nate Saint, one of five missionaries killed in 1956 by a notoriously murderous tribe they were trying to reach with the Gospel. The compelling story doesn’t end there, the film shows, as relatives of the slain men continued the seemingly impossible venture, leading to the tribe’s remarkable transformation.
Why Me?
“In all fairness, if we ask the ‘Why me?’ question in regard to our burdens, we should also ask it in regard to our blessings.
“We take for granted 100 days of perfect health, and then grumble about one day of aches and pains.
“We drive the freeway hundreds of times without incident, and then ask, ‘Why me?’ the one time we have a flat tire or engine trouble.
“We casually accept the fact when our family is together for the holidays, but when we are separated, we dwell on our loneliness.
“How often do we say, ‘Why me?’ as we count our blessings?
“Rather than feeling sad about what we don’t have, doesn’t it make more sense to feel a kind of rollicking rejoicing over everything we do have?”
Dr. Dale Turner, quoted in MSC Health Action News, Vol. XVII, No. 11, Nov./Dec., 1997, p. 1
Our problems can be used by God to expose (reveal) and energize (reinforce) our faith.
Perhaps we do all we can to avoid suffering. That may not be a bad idea, but when God permits trouble, we should realize that we need it.
Often we need most the thing we do not want.
1. Suffering affords us opportunity to grow and should not surprise us.
A. Should not surprise
1 peter 4:1 “be ready to suffer”
1 Peter 4:12 “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something
strange were happening to you”
B. Gives us an opportunity to Grow like nothing else (James 1:2-4)
James 1:2-3 -- My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Romans 5:3 says: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
It’s like the old saying — “No pain, no gain.”
Malcolm Muggeridge, who has been called, the most eloquent English-speaking lay apostle of Christianity, said "Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness" (Homemade, July, 1990).
It is through affliction and suffering that the greatest lessons of life are learned. This truth is echoed by some of histories great preachers. Samuel Rutherford said when he found himself in the cellars of affliction, "The Great King keeps his wine there." And the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls" (John Piper, "Why We Can Rejoice in Suffering").
Annie Johnson Flint Song Writer
Consider the witness we give when we are faithful through suffering. My mind is drawn to Annie Johnson Flint, author of 6,000 hymns and gospel songs. She was an orphan. She lived with crippling arthritis. She was stricken with cancer. Yet her faith was especially evident in this hymn:
He giveth more grace as the burdens grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
Our Daily Bread, March-May, 1996, p. for March 30
2. Suffering has the potential to test and purify our faith.
I Peter 1:6-7 –These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire test and purifies gold–and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
A. The Testing of your faith is automatic -it will show your faith is real or false
The Acid Test
A severe trial is sometimes called an “acid test.” this term originated during times when gold was widely circulated. Nitric acid was applied to an object of gold to see if it was genuine or not. If it was fake, the acid decomposed it; if it was genuine, the gold was unaffected.
In God’s view, our faith is “much more precious than gold,” and it too must be tested (1 Pet. 1:7). But these “acid tests” are positive ones. The Lord is working to reveal genuine faith, not to expose false faith.
During hard times, though, we may feel overwhelmed with the fear that our faith is decomposing. Ronald Dunn, a Bible teacher who has experienced much personal tragedy, knows what we are going through. He writes, “I’m often mystified....I don’t understand why it is that as I endeavor to live for God and pray and believe, everything seems to be falling apart. Sometimes I struggle, and I say, ‘Dear Lord, why are You allowing this to happen?’” Dunn concludes, “It’s good for us to remember that God is not an arsonist; He’s a refiner.”
Our Daily Bread, January 28, 1997
B. The Purifying of your faith is not automatic - You must cooperate with God
Lee Strobel said, “ We decide whether to TURN BITTER or TURN TO GOD for PEACE and COURAGE.”
As gold is heated, impurities float to the top and can be skimmed off.
As a result, during the time before Christ returns, God will purify the church through persecution.
In the 1930’s, being an active participant in a church in Communist Russia made you an "enemy of the state." Bibles were confiscated and many believers were killed for not renouncing their faith.
On one occasion a group of Russian soldiers heard about an underground church being held in a local home and went to investigate. When they arrived they announced their presence and stood outside giving those inside 5 minuets to leave out the back before they would enter. Within a few minuets half of those gathered left, the other half remained huddled in a corner praying.
When the 5 minuets were up, the soldiers entered the home and sat down. The reason they
had announced their presence before entering was to clear the room of any wavering Christians. These soldiers were believers and they were looking for an opportunity to worship in safety.
Shaping the Stone
A famous evangelist told the following incident: “I have a friend who in a time of business recession lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died; yet he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of employment, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. ‘Where are you going to put that?’ he asked. The workman said, ‘Do you see that little opening up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.’
Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that laborer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation.” (Our Daily Bread)
3. Suffering keeps this world from becoming too attractive to us and makes us look forward to our future home.
I Peter 2:11 -- Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims…”
Suffering prompts us to focus on the fact that life on earth is short and fleeting.
“How easy it is to ‘settle down’ in life in this world, and to live on the assumption that we are here forever” (Lloyd-Jones, 124).
“We are too busy making money, paying our bills, trying to scramble to the top of the heap, and facing life’s challenges in general… Our attention is fastened almost solely upon this world, and we give scarcely a thought to the next” (Dr. Ernest Pickering).
Abraham “looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
Paul’s perspective of affliction was that it was temporal. Look beyond today’s struggles to the end result!
It’s like the story that British church leader Galvin Reid tells about meeting a young man who had fallen down some stairs at the age of one and had shattered his back. He had been in and out of hospitals his whole life — and yet he made the astounding comment that he thinks God is fair.
Reid asked him, “How old are you?” The boy said, “Seventeen.”
“How many years have you spend in hospitals?” he asked. The boy said, “Thirteen years.”
The pastor said, “And you think that is fair?” The boy replied: “Well, God has all eternity to make it up to me.”
4. Suffering with the right attitude pleases God 1 Peter18-23
A. For Conscience sake
B. Patiently endure unfair treatment
C. God is pleased with us when we patently respond to suffering for doing right, not for
Suffering for doing wrong.
-we want to cry unfair, claim our rights, defend ourselves
D. God will reward us for suffering for doing right 1 Peter 3:14
Ended First message here -Grace Jan 28, 2006
Philippians 3:10
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
I have often prayed the first half, but cringed from the second.
5. Suffering Often turns people to God.
Philosopher Peter Kreeft put it this way: “The meaning and purpose of suffering in history is that it leads to repentance. Only after suffering, only after disaster, does Israel, do nations, do individuals turn back to God. Suffering brings repentance. We learn the hard way. As C.S. Lewis says: ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’”
You know that’s true. When we’re happy and trouble-free, how often do we forget God? Often it’s when we suffer, when we experience heartache or loss or disappointment that we’re more likely to turn to Him.
Jeff Hartings (Steelers Center) accompanied Steelers chaplain Jay Wilson on a mission trip to Nicaragua in 2004 and said that trip, along with the knee injury he overcame to gain his Pro Bowl status, has changed his career.
“God humbled me with the injury, but over last three years I’ve been able to refocus on Him and honor Him with my play. Every year, I just take it one step at a time if He wants me to continue to play. That’s the way it’s been lately for me and the way it should continue to be,” Hartings said.
“I just want to be a Christian man giving Him the glory. That’s my plan for this game.”
Steelers starting center Jeff Hartings, a former Detroit Lion who was nervous being a favorite target of local media welcoming home a former player, said his faith in God extended even into the media session.
“I’ve been praying every day that I would honor Him and I’m praying now that I don’t embarrass Him during this time,” Hartings said. “I want to give Him His praise all the time and use this time as a platform not for me, but for Him.”
On the road, players often gather in center Jeff Harting’s room for prayer on Saturday nights as a way of staying close in their shared faith.
Two years ago, Wilson took Harting on a mission trip to Nicaragua, where the center picked up the nickname of “Christian Giant” for his big frame and bigger heart in handing out sports gear along with his personal testimony of faith in Jesus Christ.
Some of you have heard the name of Joni Eareckson Tada, who has suffered for more than thirty years ever since she broke her neck as a teenager and was paralyzed. Listen to her words about the pain that has drawn her to God: “I’d rather be in this wheelchair knowing God than on my feet without Him.” In other words, if it took paralysis to bring her to God, it was worth it a thousand times over. And if you don’t believe that, it may be because you don’t really know God yet.
Suffering reveals our weakness, helplessness and powerlessness.
When things are going well for us we think that we can pray, but it is only when the hardships come that we realize how weak and helpless we really are.
Many times we ask God to take away our problem(s), yet it may be His will for you to endure and persevere until the end.
We need to ask that His will may be done, not ours. The Lord Jesus in the garden prayed to this end.
Even Believers Turn to God in a Fresh Way
Some of you have recently purchased the book by Lisa Beamer titled, “Let’s Roll.” These were the last words spoken by Todd beamer before meeting his Lord on September 11th, 2001. His last know action was helping lead a passenger revolt against terrorists that hijacked United Flight 93 that was headed for Washington, D.C., probably to hit the White House.
In her book Lisa Beamer tells how she handled the news of her husbands death. She said she felt as though time had come to an abrupt halt, and she no longer existed. She was numb and for days struggled to deal with the shock. She writes: “And yet in that dark moment of my soul, I first cried out to God. I knew without a doubt that my hope wasn’t based on Todd or any other human being. Nor was it based even on life itself, when I got right down to it. My faith wasn’t rooted in governments, religion, tall buildings, or frail people. Instead, my faith and my security were in God.”
6. Suffering makes us more dependent on God.
We are very consistent at depending on ourselves, but it is quite a different thing to depend on Him.
In his seventh year in Major League Baseball while pitching for the San Francisco Giants, a cancerous tumor was discovered in Dave’s pitching arm. The next years were a whirlwind of surgery, radiation, pain and depression, all in the glaring light of the media. Eventually, Dave’s arm was amputated to stop the spread of the cancer and save his life. Through it all, Dave and Jan’s faith in God and the love He gave them through others provided the anchor they needed in the midst of their storm.(
Looking back, [my wife] Jan and I have learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God’s presence. In the wilderness we are overwhelmed by his (seeming) absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one, in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence. - Dave Dravecky in When You Can’t Come Back
ARemarkable Moment in Baseball
Dave Dravecky became a pitcher for San Francisco in 1987. However, after only one season with the Giants (in his 7th major league season), he was sidelined by chronic pain in his left arm. To his horror, doctors located a malignant growth in his pitching arm. They were sure that his career was over. Miraculously though, after a successful operation, Dravecky returned the following season to pitch against the Reds. His 4-3 defeat of the Cincinnati Reds on August 10, 1989 is still remembered as one of the most awe-inspiring moments in baseball.
But Dravecky’s comeback was curtailed. One week later, in his second game back, Dave’s arm shattered while pitching to a batter for the Montreal Expos. He still has a vivid memory of the event: “Just when my control began to slip in the sixth inning, an all-star batter stepped up to the plate. I got the signal for a sinking fastball, started my windup and--CRACK--when I released the ball, even the fans heard the bone in my arm snap. I lurched forward and immediately crumpled to the ground writhing with pain.” Dravecky’s doctors believed briefly that Dave’s arm might heal and pave the way for another comeback. Tragically though, two years and three operations later, his shoulder and pitching arm had to be removed to save his life.
What Are You Doing, God?
Dravecky remembers how he felt after the amputation. “All control over my future, my security, my identity--everything--felt like it had been surgically removed along with my pitching arm. Yet in the midst of it all, a remarkable thing happened. God gave me hope in my brokenness and planted a seed that has changed my life.” Dravecky’s struggle injected new strength into his relationships with God and his wife, Jan. Through the national media coverage of his battle with cancer, Dave was given the opportunity to share the hope of Christ with millions of people.
Dave and Jan began using their story of hope to encourage other cancer patients and amputees. Their efforts were so well received that together they established “Outreach of Hope Ministries” and began recruiting others to help in the work. “Outreach of Hope” is an organization designed to, “offer hope and encouragement through Jesus Christ to those suffering from cancer or amputation.” It has encouraged thousands of people.
Dravecky, the Author
Dravecky, who now lives with his family in Colorado Springs, says, “I don’t ever look back with bitterness or regret.” He knows from his own life experience that, “We can rest in the knowledge that for every challenge there is both an answer and the opportunity to live out more fully the great worth God has placed in each of us.” He now devotes the bulk of his time to writing books on Christian living. Comeback chronicles the dramatic story of Dravecky’s battle with cancer. In The Worth of a Man, Dave shares the ways that God used his struggles to teach him lessons about his true worth. In Play Ball, Dave utilizes photos and stories to help the reader relive baseball’s greatest moments, and in Do Not Lose Heart, cowritten with wife Jan and Steve Halliday, he has pulled together a collection of thoughts on how to survive a time of suffering.
Updated June 2003.
“God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for him” (Erwin W. Lutzer).
“Quite unconsciously, we become affected by our surroundings, and our lives become less and less dependent upon God, and our interests become more and more worldly” (Lloyd-Jones, 124).
Paul says that God’s grace is sufficient. It is more than enough for our present circumstances at all times. We do not need anything else.
2 Corinthians 12:9 – And he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
We should learn to appreciate suffering. It is then that we become the recipients of God’s great resource: His grace.
Psalm 119:67 -- Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Psalm 119:71 -- It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
Notice this verse! David said that affliction was good. Look at the result!
7. Suffering makes us partners with Christ and his sufferings 4:13
Joseph Tson, a Romanian pastor who lived through the oppression of Nicholae Ceausescu wrote about suffering,
"The union with Christ is the most beautiful subject in the Christian life. It means that I am not a lone fighter here: I am an extension of Jesus Christ. When I was beaten in Romania, He suffered in my body. It is not my suffering: I only had the honor to share His sufferings" (Piper, "Why We Can Rejoice in Suffering", @ DesiringGod.org) .
God is with Us
"In prayer, we’re reminded we’re never alone in our personal trials or individual suffering. In prayer, we offer our thanksgiving and praise, recognizing our lives, our talents and all that we own ultimately flow from the Creator. And in these moments of our deepest gratitude, the Almighty reminds us that, for those to whom much has been given, much is required."
— President George W. Bush at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., February 2, 2006.
8. A proper response to suffering glorifies God .
1 Peter 1:7 -- That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
The fire does not hurt the gold, it only purifies it.
Joni Eareckson-Tada put it: “Every sorrow we taste will one day prove to be the best possible thing that could have happened. We will thank God endlessly in heaven for the trials He sent us here. This is not Disneyland — this is truth.” And that from a woman who has suffered in a wheelchair for more than 30 years.
Some final words for our blessing and comfort:
“There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation create something that is surpassingly good" (Handley Carr Glyn Moule).
Dave and Jan Dravecky has a ministry now called Operation of Hope for those hurting, depression, cancer. Without his suffering he would have just been another retired professional baseball player fading into the wood work. No one would remember him, he wouldn’t stand out in the crowd. And thousands would not have received the comfort their ministry has brought.
Conclusion:
The Apostle Paul encouraged Christians to stay true to the Lord even during times of suffering. As Paul said to Christians going through suffering he would also say to you: “When you are about ready to call it quits and give up, remember me…remember my sufferings, what I have gone through for the cause of Christ, beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead, and shipwrecked. I am staying true to the Lord, I have joy in my sufferings.
Hawa Ahmed was a Muslim student in North Africa. One day, she read a Christian tract in her dormitory and decided to become a Christian. Her father was an Emir (Islamic ruler), so she expected to lose her inheritance because of her conversion. She was completely unprepared for what happened. When she told her family she had become a Christian and changed her name to Faith, her father exploded in rage. Her father and brothers stripped her naked and bound her to a chair fixed to a metal plate with which they wanted to electrocute her. Faith asked them to at least lay a Bible in her lap. Her father responded, "If you want to die together with your false religion, so be it." One of her brothers added, "That will show that your religion is powerless." Although they had bound her, she was able to touch a corner of the Bible. She felt a strange peace, as though someone were standing beside her. Her father and brothers pushed the plug into the socket—and nothing happened. They tried four times with various cables, but it was as though the electricity refused to flow. Finally her father, angry and frustrated, hit her and screamed, "You are no longer my daughter."
Then he threw her into the street, naked. She ran through the streets, humiliated and in pain. People looked at her, curious rather than shocked. Shaking and tearful, she ran to a friend. Her friend let her in, clothed her, and gave her shelter. The next day, her friend
asked neighbors what they had thought when they had seen Faith running naked through the streets. "What are you talking about?" they asked. "The girl had a wonderful white dress on. We asked ourselves why someone so beautifully clothed had to run through the streets." God had hidden her nakedness from their eyes, clothing her in a beautiful white dress. Today, Faith is a full-time evangelist with Every Home for Christ.
Alt. Ill. P 7 The Red Sea Rules, Morgan Darlene Deibler
