FAITH ON TRIAL: Part 4e – If God is so loving why do we experience so much suffering?
To deal with suffering and disappointments, we need God’s perspective on life.
What does all of this mean for me?
It’s not disappointments that hold us back. It’s the perception of the disappointments. It’s not necessarily the pain that holds us back. It’s how we feel about the pain. Even though we’re all going to face difficulties, God is there right beside us helping to rejoice and experience inner joy in the midst of the junk.
Pain will happen but we don’t have to wallow in misery. You can’t side-step pain but you can miss out on God’s perspective of suffering, pain or disappointments – even in the midst of pain and disappointment.
FAITH ON TRIAL: Part 4d – If God is so loving why do we experience so much suffering?
To deal with suffering and disappointments, we need God’s perspective on life.
3) Disappointment loosens our grip on unimportant things in life.
James 1 [2] Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. [4] Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Romans 5 [3] Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; [4] perseverance, character; and character, hope. [5] 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.
When disappointment comes, the things that are of little value in life suddenly don’t matter anymore. We find ourselves clinging tightly to the things that really matter: our relationships with God and each other.
FAITH ON TRIAL: Part 4c – If God is so loving why do we experience so much suffering?
To deal with suffering and disappointments, we need God’s perspective on life.
2) Re-focus on the ultimate goal in life: Christlikeness.
Job 42 [5] I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. [6] I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.
Job gained deeper spiritual understanding. He had the eyes of a renewed faith. He had a deeper insight into God’s character. Comparing this new awareness of God with his previous experience is like comparing seeing with hearing. Christianity is meant to be a personal relationship with God in which we grow closer to Him. Being humbled through suffering is meant to draw us closer to Him. When you are flat on your back it’s easier to look up! What else can you do!
Romans 8 [28] And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.
All things work together for good — not necessairly for pleasure, comfort, prosperity, health, or joy, but for good. It’s the perspective of the temporary vs. the eternal. How can Paul say that he would rather glory in his bad health? This is what kept him humble so that God could use him. He knew that his own pride would have kept him out of touch with God’s eternal purpose for him. We must look at suffering through the eyes of perspective
2 Corinthians 12 [10] Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite happy about the thorn, and about insults and hardships, persecutions and difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong – the less I have, the more I depend on Him.
So the good has to do with molding me into being more like Christ. It’s only then that I will understand the spiritual journey that I began more fully. All things work together for the one good purpose of being made more like Christ. It takes a variety of experiences to cause this to happen. Some of those experiences include suffering. A diamond has to be cut to bring out its beauty. Gold must be refined to bring out its purity. The vine must be pruned to bear more fruit. Clay needs to be molded before it becomes a magnificent work of art. In the same way the child of God must be cut, refined, pruned and molded to become more like Christ. God has not promised to make us totally comfortable, but He has determined to make us conformable.
Beware of falling into the trap of cut and dried theologies that reduce the ways of God to a manageable formula that keeps life safe and comfortable. That’s not always God’s plan for us! Look for God’s higher purpose in your life. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
FAITH ON TRIAL: Part 4b – If God is so loving why do we experience so much suffering?
To deal with suffering and disappointments, we need God’s perspective on life.
1) Gain a fresh awareness that God is beside us in our disappointments.
Job 13 [15] Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
Job 42 [1] Then Job replied to the LORD: [2] “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [3] You asked, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance? It is I and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.”
In the end, even though he didn’t have all of the answers, Job came to the realization that God was right beside him the whole time.
Deut. 31 [6] Be strong! Be courageous! Do not be afraid of them! For the Lord your God will be with you. He will never fail you nor forsake you.
That’s not our perspective when disappointment first hits us. Let’s face it. Most of us feel that being a Christian should somewhat EXCUSE us from trials and sufferings. Now, if someone were to ask us we would probably say that we realize that sufferings may come, but that we don’t think of them as really necessary in our lives. We think of sufferings as signs that something is wrong with us. After all, if we stay strong in our relationship with God, things should go well. And, if we have trouble, we feel like Christianity doesn’t really work after all. Wrong perspective!
Listen, this is the pivotal point where disappointment, failed dreams or suffering can either bury you or raise you up – make you bitter or better. God never promises a rose garden in this life – but He did promise that He would see us through life … that He would do life BESIDE us, not BEHIND us or IN FRONT of us … right BESIDE us … guiding us!
THE HUMPTY DUMPTY SYNDROME
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Can you identify with Humpty Dumpty? Have you taken a great fall lately? Does it seem like your brokenness is beyond repair? But as Jesus sees us in our distress, He is not a casual observer. He is in the midst of our suffering – He feels it, He can identify with it, He experienced it Himself. After we have been broken by the hard realities of doing life, like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the King’s men†may not be able to us back together again but the real King of the Universe can …
Hebrews 4 [15] This High Priest [Jesus Christ] of ours understands our weaknesses since He had the same temptations we do, though He never once gave way to them and sinned.
A love that does not suffer with the suffering of people is not love at all. We need to remember that God is not far off some where. He has shed tears too. He is right in the midst of our pain.
Isaiah 41 [10] Fear not for I am with you I will help you.
Sometimes we just don’t have an answers. But, in reality and from God’s perspective, we don’t really need to know why – we just need to know Who. Job felt the same way He didn’t know the answers as to why he went through what he did – but he knew the One who had the answers: God.
FAITH ON TRIAL: Part 4a – If God is so loving why do we experience so much suffering?
Everything you thought that you knew about life, faith, and God can seem irrelevant when you’re in pain. As life around you grinds to a halt … you ask the question … God why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? What’s wrong with me? God why are you doing this to me? For many of us our lives are consumed with eliminating these difficulties. Maybe you’re here tonight and you’re so tired of it all that you’re barely hanging on anymore. We attend seminars, we develop strategies, we read how to books, and even pray that God would bring relief. Blaming, denying, escaping, and giving in to self-pity are not right responses.
What do we do when life doesn’t turn out like we planned it to? No matter what our age or stage in life, we all have asked this type of question at some time … I think God DOES have some things to say about handling disappointments and suffering in life.
Can we expect any comfort at all when our questions go unanswered? YES!
Dealing with disappointments: It’s all about perspective. Get God’s perspective on living life to help you handle disappointments.
Disappointment wears many masks. It may take the form of a lost job, a broken relationship, the death of a loved one, or even bad news during a routine checkup at the doctor’s office. But one thing is usually sure. To the victim of suffering it doesn’t make sense. You have to live in ambiguity. Everything you though that you knew about life, faith, and God seems irrelevant when you’re in pain. As life around you grinds to a halt … you ask the question … God why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? What’s wrong with me? God why are you doing this to me?
