The Christian And Suffering

THE CHRISTIAN AND SUFFERING

Message 1

THE MINISTRY OF SUFFERING - The “What Now?” of Suffering

“We rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. “(Romans 5:4)

“In all things God works for the good of those who love him.” (Romans 8:28)

When horrible suffering fell on Job he cried out to heaven in 7:20: “Why do you use me for your target practice?” (TEV). When horrible things like cancer, car crashes, kids on drugs, etc. come our way, unless we are obviously at fault, it is almost impossible to know why.

There is nothing wrong with questioning God. The Psalms are full of it; the Book of Job is almost nothing but questions; and even Jesus on the cross asked the “why” of His sufferings (Matt. 27:46). The problem is, we seldom get an answer.

There are only four answers. (1) It can be our fault – we smoke from age twelve and die from emphysema. (2) God sends it to make us better people or to punish us. (3) God allows it. (To me this is the same as God sending it. What is the difference if God beats me up or lets Mike Tyson beat me up? I am still beaten up.)

(4) Finally, our pain is part of the price we pay for being human. Life has dealt us a bad blow and God can with us to help us if we give it to Him. We can claim Romans 8:28, that God will make it work out and produce something good.

We find all these reasons in the Bible and we may experience all in our lifetime; but much of the time we are left in the dark as to the “why” . What we must do is go from “why” to “what now”. We must give our troubles to God and ask Him to make it work out for our good, the good of the Kingdom, and the good of others.

The traits we admire the most, such as courage, patience, mercy, and faith; are developed in painful situations. At high noon the sky above us is filled with stars, but we cannot see them because we are in the light. In the darkness of pain God shows us things we cannot see in the day light of good times. Suffering can make us better or bitter. It can make us better.

A. Hurt Can Draws Us Closer to God (Job 1:5)

When Jonah ran into a storm at sea running from God we read that, “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.” We glance at heaven every now and then but most of us never really look up with interest and intensity until life knocks us down. The very fact that we say, “Why me, Lord?” means we have been driven to God and a deeper level of communication with Him.

The KJV of Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good” is misleading. The newer versions bring out what the NASV says, “God causes all things to work together for good.” Faced with more than we can bear we naturally turn to the all powerful and all loving God.

Even unreligious people go to God in pain if only to curse Him. C.S. Lewis says “God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts to us in our pain”. We may look up to accuse Him; to bargain with Him; to shake our fist at Him; to ask why; or to ask for help- but we look up!

A pilot told the passengers an engine was on fire. One man yelled frantically - “Somebody do something religious!” A Catholic pulled out her beads. An Episcopalian pulled out his prayer book. Those who had not given much thought to God tried to pray; and a Baptist took off his hat and took up an offering.

B. Hurt Can Draw Us Closer to Others

(2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

“God / comforts us in all our troubles so 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 through Christ our comfort overflows (to others).”

It’s amazing how selfish we are. We cling to our clan, our family, our friends, our church. Looking at a street person, a wheelchair, a blind person, etc. we are uncomfortable and shy away and are almost happy when the encounter is over. We wish them well but most of us do nothing to help them.

It is only when life throws us into some great hurt that we join them. Our clan changes, it grows larger. We see life through others’ eyes. We go from sympathy to empathy, which means, “Your pain in my heart!”