Suffering--A Part of God's Plan for Our Lives

Father, we thank you for our many blessings. You are so good. Lord, a very serious and thoughtful subject has brought us all here tonight—suffering. All of us, or maybe someone close to us has gone through, or is going through difficult times. Life can be so hard, but, Lord, you already know that. You suffered and died for us first. Because we know how very much you love us, we ask that you give us understanding. Your Word is not silent on the subject of trials and tribulations, so we ask you to open our hearts to your purpose in our lives. You are the Potter, we are the clay. Help us in our humanness to seek Your face now and always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You know, some people look at the Bible as stories, mere illustrations that point us to greater spiritual truths. Me? Now, I take the Bible quite literally. I believe that every word has been God-breathed or God-inspired. I believe that God Almighty actually spoke the Word and unnumberable galaxies were created out of nothingness. I believe that God used His servent Moses to deliver his people from Egypt, and that every one of those 10 plagues actually happened. And, when the Israelites fled from Pharaoh and found themselves backed up to the Red Sea with no escape in sight, well, I believe God literally parted those waters and the Israelites walked through on dry land. And Noah, I believe that he actually built that ark and the Lord God Himself sealed him and his family in, shutting the door tight when the waters came pouring down. Oh, I could go on and on!

Having said all that, it is very important, particularly as since we discuss the subject of suffering, and as we begin to study and apply God’s Word in our lives, that we realize that throughout the entire Bible there is perfect harmony and balance. Remember, 1 Corinthians 14:33 states, “For God is not the author of confusion...”KJV

I want to cite some very important verses to illustrate this fact to you. Matthew 21:22 reads, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." O.K., that’s pretty cut and dry. Actually, I like the sound of that--simple and uncomplicated!

Now, let's have a look at John 14:12-14, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Here, we learn that not only must we exhibit faith, but we can only approach the Father with our requests in Jesus’ name.

Okay, let’s look at John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” God's word further reveals that we must remain or abide in Christ and His Word before we receive our requests. In other words, we must be walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. (Not as easy as we first thought. Hmm!)

1 John 5:14-15 adds, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

Ouch! This is where so many of us stumble, Jesus says we must ask according to His will.
Finally, let’s look at James 4:2b-3, “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…”

Okay. This is sounding more and more complicated. First, we must ask in faith, being sure to ask in Jesus’ name. Then, we must examine ourselves to determine that we are in a right relationship with Christ. Oh, and we must be sure we ask according to God’s will. And finally, we must ask with the right motives. Not quite as simple as we first supposed???

These particular scriptures confirm the perfect balance that we will always find in the scriptures. You can’t just pick out a particular verse and "claim" it before you determine what the rest of God’s Word has to say on the subject. Yes, we can ask God for what we want, but we must first make sure that all the scriptures line up with our request. This is the balance I am referring to. A perfect example of the balance in God’s Word is found in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1-8:

“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill, and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build,

A time to weep and a time to laugh,

A time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them

A time to embrace and a time to refrain,

A time to search and a time to give up,

A time to keep and a time to throw away,

A time to tear and a time to mend,

A time to be silent and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate,

A time for war and a time for peace.”

Balance!

Now, I want us to try and apply all that we have just learned to the subject of suffering. And when I mention the word “suffering” I will always be referring to any testing, trial, tribulation, persecution, affliction and yes, the Lord’s discipline, that we, as Christians may be undergoing.
If you are anything like me, you’ve probably had more than your share of these situations come into your life. I know this because I don’t believe you would be here searching for answers to the hurts you are experiencing.

Let me start out by quoting Psalms 34:19 which says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” KJV. This verse by itself should give us great hope and encouragement. What a promise!

Now, let’s go on and take a look at where suffering comes from. First, there are the hurts we receive directly from the hand of man himself.

Man’s inhumanity to man has been well documented--since the time of Cain and Abel. In modern times, we need only go back as far as Hitler and fast forward to today. Hitler killed millions of people simply because of his hatred of the Jews. Today, we can turn our eyes toward the Middle East, a place where wars continues over peoples, beliefs, religion, oil and land.

Sadly, man, because of his sinful nature has inflicted great suffering on his own kind. Selfishness, jealously, greed, anger—the right to be right. If we are in someone’s line of fire during such times, chances are we are going to suffer the consequences.

Then, there is satan. Lord, knows he wants to keep believers from walking in complete faith and confidence with God. Luke 22:31-32a says, “Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.”

In Biblical times, sifting wheat was a process where the wheat was threshed upon the threshing floor to separate the kernels of grain from the unusable husk and other materials. The unusable materials were burned up as worthless. This is what satan was asking to do to Simon Peter. This is the same thing he asked God of his servant, Job.

You have probably read the book of Job. If not, I encourage you to do so. It is the story of a righteous man, living out a righteous life. Yet, in one day he lost his children, all his earthly goods and suffered great bodily attack because satan had asked to purposefully look for any failings in Job’s faith. Matthew Henry’s Commentary states, “Satan sharply questions our faith and has cynicism about people’s motives for religious beliefs.”

Thirdly, and, we must consider this prayerfully, because of God’s great sovereignty all suffering is by and through the permissive will of God. Let’s look at Lamentations 3:38 and reflect on these words: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”

1 Peter 4:19 goes on to tell us, “So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Let us be comforted in the fact that neither man nor satan can touch us in anyway unless it is in the permissive will of God.

Our highest example of permissive suffering is of course, Jesus Christ Himself. Dr. Billy Graham, in his daily devotional, “Hope for Each Day” writes, “The prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is perhaps the greatest, most moving prayer ever uttered. In it our Lord asked that the cup of crucifixion, which was about to be thrust upon Him, might be taken away. But, then, in the very next breath He said, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39.) “What a prayer! What strength! What power!”

The apostle Paul is another example of the Lord permitting suffering in the life of a believer. Look up 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Of Paul’s suffering Dr. Graham writes, “When the apostle Paul asked God to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” God did not remove it…Dr. Graham goes on to say that “rather than complain or become angry at God, Paul joyfully submitted to God’s will. He discovered that God’s grace truly was sufficient, even in the midst of pain.”

Further Dr. Graham states, “Christ desires to be with you in whatever crisis you may find yourself. Call upon His name. See if He will not do as He promised He would. He may not make your problems go away, but He will give you the power to deal with them and to overcome them by His grace.”

Yes, God Himself sends suffering into our lives and he also disciplines us in order to prune sin from our lives, to test our faith, and much to our dismay, to correct us. 1 Cor. 11:32 states, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”

Hebrews 12:4-8 goes on to say, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.”

Hebrews 12:11-12 offers this comfort, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

So, God’s Word says we are being trained (or as I stated earlier, pruned) by our suffering. How so? And, to what purpose? Romans 5:3-5, the Bible states, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

So why is it important that these produced evidences of our faith take place in our lives? Because “For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29. We are conformed to the likeness of Christ so we can reflect His glory to the world. This is confirmed in 2 Cor. 3:18, God’s Word goes on to say, “And we…all reflect the Lord’s glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

For those who do not already know of her, Joni Eareckson Tada, is courageous woman who grew up in a wonderful, loving home. Both her parents loved the Lord and their house was full of prayer, praise and songs to the Lord. In her tenth grade in high school, back in 1963, Joni learned personally the difference between having a head knowledge of God and having a heart knowledge of Him. As so often happens to many of us, and what happened to Joni, we sometimes slowly lose our passion for the Lord. Continual sin enters our lives.

In 1967, in her [keepsake] “box,” the place where she would drop notes reflecting her thoughts, the place where she kept her mementoes and other items that were important to her, Joni wrote the following, “Dear Box, I am tired of saying I’m a Christian out of one side of my mouth and saying something else out of the other. I want to honor God with my life. And so, God, I’m asking you to please, please do something in my life to turn it around, because I’m making a mess of it. If I’m going to call myself a Christian, I want to live like one!”

Later, in July 1967, while she was preparing to go away to college, her life was forever changed. Due to a diving accident, (she had been swimming and diving with friends) Joni was left paralyzed from the neck down. A quadriplegic!

Joni had several legitimate questions when this first happened to her:

1. If God is loving—why is there suffering?
2. What’s the difference between permitting something and ordaining it?
3. When bad things happen, is God in cahoots with the devil?
4. How can God expect me to be happy this way?

I'm sure you have your own personal questions regarding God’s eternal purposes for our suffering.

I have to point out that Joni asked those questions almost 4 decades ago. Today, Joni would tell you that her life has been blessed by God. Yes, blessed. She met and married her husband, Ken. She is a famous artist—patiently and painfully using her mouth to move the brushes along in order to create paintings that have inspired thousands. She has written several books, including her autobiography, “Joni”, several daily devotionals, the (one I personally highly recommended) study, “When God Weeps” as well as her latest book, “The God I Love.” She has spoken and given her testimony at several Billy Graham meetings and she has founded an organization for disabled people in foreign countries; giving them Bibles, wheelchairs and a new hope for their lives.

You can believe that satan hates this. If he can’t take away our salvation, and he can’t, oh, dear one, he wants our song.

In Exodus 15:2 Moses sings this song, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.” In Psalms 40:3, David writes, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.” Again, in Psalms 96:1-2 David declares, “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

Our song is our life’s testimony. Much to satan’s dismay, Joni still has her song, and boy does she ever sing it! Who can tell how many people have come to know Christ through Joni’s song? Who can tell how many people will come to know Christ or learn to walk closer to Him by your song?

For those of you who are going through personal suffering, let me close with a quotation from Max Lucado in his book, “In the Grip of Grace.”

There are times when the one thing you want is the one thing you never get…

You pray and wait.
No answer.
You pray and wait.

May I ask a very important question? What if God says no?"

What if the request is delayed or even denied? When God says no to you, how will you respond? If God says, “I’ve given you my grace, and that is enough,” will you be content?

Content. That’s the word. A state of heart in which you would be at peace if God gave you nothing more than he already has.

Here is how Joni answered that question in her book, “The God I Love.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you for this wheelchair! By tasting hell in this life, I’ve been driven to think seriously about what faces me in the next. This paralysis is my greatest mercy. She goes on to say, “It was your roadblock, God, to keep me from totally messing up my life. Thank you, bless you. I would have been lost to you forever.”

At the end of her book, Joni finds herself in Jerusalem, at the ruins of Bethesda, at the very pool where the disabled; the blind, the lame, the paralyzed used to lie waiting for the waters to be stirred so they could be healed (John 5:1-9). Joni says, “You won’t believe how many times I used to picture myself here,”… “And now…after thirty years…I’m here. I made it. Jesus didn’t pass me by. He didn’t overlook me. He came my way and answered my prayer—He said no.”

She goes on to say, “I turned my thoughts, my words, heavenward. Lord, your no answer to physical healing meant yes to a deeper healing—a better one. Your answer has bound me to other believers and taught me so much about myself. It’s purged sin from my life. It’s strengthened my commitment to you, forced me to depend on your grace. Your wiser, deeper answer has stretched my hope, refined my faith and helped me to know you better. And you are good. You are so good.” “I know I wouldn’t know you…I wouldn’t love and trust you…were it not for—I looked down at my paralyzed legs, “for this wheelchair.”

She continues: “It wasn’t often I could presuppose God’s motives, but I could with this one. He had brought me to the Pool of Bethesda that I might make an altar of remembrance out of the ruins. That I might see—and thank him for—for the wiser choice, the better answer, the harder yet richer path…There are more important things in life than walking.”

I want to emphasis to you that not many people will be called upon to endure the type of suffering that Joni has gone through. We can all thank God for that. It is difficult, if not impossible to fully address physical afflictions, but I want you to apply what you have read today to whatever it is that you may be going through. God cares just as deeply for your hurt--your sorrow as he does over Joni being in that wheelchair. You are just as precious to Him and he sees your pain and suffering.

Ultimately, Joni found the truth of Hebrews 13:5 that reminds us that God Himself has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." This promise is still ours for today. No matter what we are facing, God never lets us go through it alone. He is with us every step of the way! Keep this promise ever before you.