Suffering ...Why Lord ?
includes the right & wrong approaches to God
(high-lighted in yellow, below)
If God is all powerful then He can
crush suffering.
If God is all loving then He certainly has the desire
to stop
all suffering. So why, God ? ..we say - do
something ! Why
do innocent ones suffer ? Is God in a death lock with evil ?
Is God struggling to overcome evil ?
Many may say 'I
want to trust God, but what about my baby that died a slow death, what about
the suffering that seems to have no purpose behind it, ...etc.' Many abandon
the Lord due to some tragedy that took place in their life.
One of the
primary reasons people don't trust God is because of the suffering in their
lives -if God has the power & if He has the desire - Why suffering?..What's He waiting on ?
God anticipated
this question: Why Does He allow suffering... (pretend
you don't know the end of the story about the death of Lazarus in John 11 of
the New Testament) ... follow the process:
1. Jesus knows his friend Lazarus is dying.
2. Jesus did not go to help Lazarus. His disciples
are relieved
because that would
mean going back to
3. Mary & Martha (Lararus' sisters) are with Lazarus
doing
what
they can to help their brother - knowing that Jesus has
been
sent the news about Lazarus' illness.
4. Jesus, who knew & loved Lazarus, had the desire &
the
power
to heal Lazarus ... waited, ...He didn't lift a hand,
He just waited 2
days.
5. Finally, Jesus told his disciples they were going to
Lazarus.
6. The disciples wanted Him to just heal his friend by saying
the
words (they knew Jesus had the power & the desire).
7. Jesus tells his disciples 'Lazarus is dead &, for your
sakes,
I am glad I was not
there"... Glad ? ..Read on
...
8. Mary & Martha and the friends around them, whom
Jesus
knew & loved,
helplessly stood by & watched Lazarus die.
9. They looked for Jesus, they sent message, but Jesus did
not
show up knowing the desperate situation. Why ?
10. In your suffering I bet that you've prayed, waited, &
looked
for help that did not come.
11. When Jesus did arrive Lazarus had been in a tomb 4 days.
12. Martha went to meet Him & said 'if you had been here,
my
brother would not have died'. Why didn't you come in
time?
13. Mary, Martha's sister, fell at Jesus' feet & asked
the same ...
'
Why ? I love you Lord, I've been faithful, but when I was in
need, ...you do nothing ! I know you are the Christ,
but how
can I know when you'll show up & when you won't ?
'
14. Jesus saw the
grief
15. And Jesus wept (the
shortest verse in the Bible) - Jesus
knew what was going to happen & even though He knows
all will work out - our Savior suffers when we
suffer.
16. Jesus could of
easily said " It's OK, I know the beginning
& the end
", but He paused in time ... stood there & wept.
17. Jesus raised
Lazarus from the tomb. Jesus brought him
back to life & .....Many then believed
!
What are Jesus' priorities ? What is
most important to Him ? :
1. Not of even helping one whom He loved intimately.
2. Not of raising from the tomb one whom He loved.
3. Not the consoling & comforting of 2 women who Jesus
loved
deeply, knew they were faithful followers of Him, &
who
had sacrificed & had been persecuted much for Him.
4. GOD be GLORIFIED ! (John 11:4)
was priority #1 for Jesus.
5. OTHERS saw the miracle and BELIEVED !
(John 11:45)
6. Jesus knows that His priorities cause grief, questions
&
doubts.
He knows He even runs the risk of destroying some
people's
faith in Him.
7. But Jesus said that My priority
in this age & at this time is
that
My Father be glorified through me and that others
would
come to believe in Me. I and My Father are One !
You can't appreciate light
until you've been in the darkness, joy without pain. You can't
appreciate health until you've been ill. Nor wholeness until you've been less
than whole, comfort without it's need, peace without
pain.
Only until we've known the
other side can we give glory to God. Regardless of our suffering &
pain, we will say on the other side, it was worth it ... because look
what God has done !
If you asked Mary
& Martha if it was worth it, they would say Oh Yes, did you see ...
- Our brother was raised from the dead
- Our God was Glorified
- Our faith was strengthened & Others were saved too !
God will wipe
away all reason for sorrow, but there's more.
God, who spared not His own Son, would save others through your
suffering.
When we line up with God we too
will suffer. Nothing speaks louder to the unsaved world than a Christian who
suffers successfully ! We can look upon pain in 2
ways:
With humility that draws us closer to Christ or with
contempt.
Pain is not good in itself - it's the product of pain
that counts !
Suffering - it is
not punishment, it is change. Suffering gets our attention. We choose how to
receive anything life gives us. Two sides come with anything we are given in
life, not because of the nature of the giver, nor by the nature of the gift -
but by the nature of how we receive them.
Our bent on life is just like that
of Jesus' disciples (before His resurrection) : avoid pain &
suffering, avoid trouble, avoid being poor, avoid anything negative & then;
as soon as suffering comes; plead to the Lord, Lord heal me, Lord take this
away, Lord get me out of this valley of Suffering.
If there's
anything a suffering person needs - it is not an explanation, but a fresh
look at Jesus Christ & their relationship to Him. If you walk in the dark,
you will stumble, you will be taken by surprise, you will be overwhelmed.
It is idle for us
to speculate about why evil exists. You can't
avoid suffering. Jesus couldn't avoid it, no one can. You can't avoid
problems. But you can avoid being overcome by them.
When Jesus' disciples said, if we
go to Lazarus, they'll stone You (they didn't want to initially follow Jesus: rocks thrown at Him,
meant that those with Him may be hit too), Jesus could have told his
disciples -"well it's going to get worst: after I go to Lazarus, I'm going
to the center of Jerusalem again & they're going to crucify me - Come On
!"
Jesus didn't say there wouldn't be
suffering. He said, if you walk in the light, if you develop My
perspective on the situation, you will not be defeated by the suffering. And
the disciples said "Let's Go !" And Jesus
died & arose from the dead & multitudes have been saved ever since.
And history tells us that all the
disciples were martyred & their testimonies of Christ & their changed
lives all point to the truth. They could avoid defeat,
they didn't have to be beaten down by suffering.
Suffering is coming ! Will you go down with it ?
Christians follow a God who has chosen to ...Wait !
Evil exists and God knows the secrets of our heart. The moment we judge or
question God - we find ourselves judged. Satan is always seeking a reason,
other than love, for your faith in God !
Why doesn't God step in and get rid
of evil ? Why doesn't God stomp out suffering
? .... If He did, if
God did execute sin & evil, ...not one of us would
survive !
Suffering will come to you. Jesus
Himself could not avoid it. In your suffering ask that people would pray that
you will be drawn closer to Christ, closer to the truth about your priorities
in life, closer to your true character & your need for God.
Pain forces us to face the facts
between life's tinsel & its Treasure, between that which is passing
for that which is Permanent ! It opens our eyes that
we may take the Long Look. Pain reminds us each that our true treasures lie
with the God who created us. Life is about living forever
!
And it is the truth that will be
your foundation or your fall - your friend or your foe. Like the law of
gravity, the truth in the Bible doesn't change - whether you know the truth or
not. Suffering tells us that a person is no fool to give up that which he cannot
keep - to gain that which he cannot lose !
Pain reveals our true priorities, weighs our
self-made confidence, pushes us out our comfort zones, & takes us to the
edge - to the end of our control. Suffering shouts to us that we do
need God, it loosens our grip on life. The Hiding stops.
There is no such thing as meaningless suffering. It's one thing to believe in God & it's another to ...believe God. It's one thing to trust that there is a God & another to ...trust God.
The Only 2 Ways to Approach God - the right way & the wrong way. Everyone
approaches God one of these ways:
1. The Wrong way is by way
of performance, self-effort, self-trust - 'God, I do these things & I don't
do those things': it's a self-righteous, self-centered approach - No deep confession,
no true repentance, no humility, no helplessness. No talk about who he is
, just his external do's & don'ts.
'Good folks' say this "I haven't
been bad enough to go to hell ... come on !
" They believe they can ...Earn Salvation ! They believe Behavior will save them ! They don't take their sin seriously. No intimate need
of Christ. No time for Christ. No thirst for Christ. Their motive for being a
Christian is ...Safety !
There's not a single verse in the Bible
that says we are acceptable in the eyes of God due to our performance. If
performance saves, then the Cross was a mistake. You can't save yourself. If you sin or ever did sin, then by God's clear definition of
atonement, you could never pay your sin debt.
Jesus said ...'I am the Way and the Truth and
the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me' (John 14: 6).
'There is no one who
does good, not even one... There is no fear of God
before their eyes' (Romans
He who does not believe has been
judged already with confusion & doubt, guilt & fear, hiding vs seeking, short sightedness, tinsel vs
treasure, self-made confidence, no truth, no freedom, no rest, pride ...full,
& eventually a harden heart resulting in bitterness & brokeness beyond healing. And mankind is without excuse ! Read Romans 1:18-32.
2. The Right way to approach
God:
Suffering says
'Depend on God, on His Power - not your power - Focus on God, not
your problem' ! Seek & Find !
Trust God for who He is , not for what He does
!
Suffering will bless the one: Who knows
he needs God.
- Who humbles himself before God in Brokeness.
- Who bows to God in Confession, & utter Helplessness.
- Who takes his sin Seriously &
knows he can't save himself.
- Who seeks to Know God begging Him for mercy & pardon.
- Who accepts Christ's unconditional offer of
Salvation.
Suffering can give you an Overflow
of Thankfulness & Knowing you are forever a child of
God -no matter what !
Confusion, distrust, guilt, fear,
& me-centered priorities
will be replaced with confidence,
peace, & new purpose with Christ on the throne of your life - Taking God
for His Word !
...Renewed Peace & Purpose ...set apart by God, for God !
And to truely be used by God, one ...must be Broken.
Jesus said 'No one can enter
the kingdom of God unless he is Born Again' (John 3:3-5) It's being 'Born
Again': Alive to God: new affection to God, new thirst for God, new
Life, new creation, a new Spirit -the Holy Spirit (Christ Himself) now living
inside the believer.
With Saving belief in Christ comes
the 'New Birth', not some intellectual belief (even the demons believe ! , James
The Holy Spirit is the Seal,
the Guarantee of your Salvation: It's God Himself in you & in you to
stay ...forever ! Forgiven by Christ's
death for you ... Saved by His Life in you !
From Brokeness
comes Blessing ! Your motive for being a Christian
changes from a fear (of not going to heaven) to Knowing this:
'neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
creation, will be able to separate us from Christ Jesus'.(Romans
Obedience begins after
you've been saved.
A true believer chooses to follow Christ. Love is not
a feeling - it's a choice. The feeling follows the choice. Faith
in Christ is a commitment
to who you believe is God ('I and the Father are one.', John
A person, who is saved, can become
trapped into sin; but the Holy Spirit will convict him of Christ's
righteousness, of the
sin in his life, & the immanent judgement & discipline that is coming
on his life. The Lord disciplines His children, His own (Hebrews
12:4-11) - 'I give them eternal life, & no one can snatch them out of my
hand.' (John 10:28)
The true believer will sin, but
will be drawn towards a closer relationship with Christ because the Holy
Spirit Lives in him. Christ's Life in you is your only
hope of Salvation !
Only upon
Christ, the Rock, can you do God's will ! The
wise man built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose,
& the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because
it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)...The fool built his house
on shifting sand.
Building on sand is to place your
faith on anything (fame, power, intelligence, beauty, money, popularity,
good works, etc.; even service to the church, attendance, donations, etc.)..
On Anything,
other than Jesus Christ !
May we replace our faith in the
'gods' of this world (the shifting sand) with a honest heart for Jesus,
may we strive to put Jesus ...First ! May we stop simply regretting our sin,
but turn away from it ...Knowing we are powerless to turn from sin
without Christ.
May we lay aside our SELF, as we seek
His Holiness to touch our lives, through His Power - Not ours ! ...Humbly & Reverently
offer your naked soul before Jesus & yearn for His Will, in His
Way to be done. As He fills you up with Himself, you will weep as your soul,
like a cup, overflows.
'Everyone who wants to live
a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2Timothy3:12) . Expect suffering (1 Peter
Remember that the Promise of the Rainbow is found not in cloud-free days, but in the midst of the storm ! Rejoice as you wait on the Lord's Guidance & sing a New song: Glory Bound ! Thank Dear Jesus, I'm Glory Bound. Lost then Found - through your Suffering & your Seeking, now I'm in your Keeping - Glory Bound. Now Life's got meaning - I'm Glory Bound !