The Star of Hope in the Night of Suffering
Christian Compassion during Chaotic Circumstances • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsTheodicy - study of suffering. Where is God in suffering? Week 2: Christian Responsibilities During Suffering - What should we do whenever someone else is suffering?
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Introduction
Introduction
Music has always been a passion of mine and the piano specifically was something that fascinated me growing up because my mom played the piano at FBC Springfield and continues to play piano to this day. Whenever you talk to someone who plays the piano, especially someone in college or someone who is playing for concerts and recitals, a lot of practice goes into the fundamentals day in and day out so that the pianist has scales and patterns down by muscle memory. Training is extremely important to lots of things, but it’s especially important for musicians! If the pianist has to think about every single note, chord, as well as dynamic change and tempo transition the concert will not be a success because the fingers are not acting subconsciously… The only way a recital will be a success is if the pianist has disciplined their fingers and brain to work in tandem at a moments notice. The book of Job is not the musical piece that we perform at a concert… It isn’t our piece to perform in the first place. Rather, the book of Job and other passages in the Bible serve as scales and exercises that we learn from and use to discipline ourselves. The book of Job is the practice material that helps prepare us for the performance. The book isn’t a step-by-step guide that gives us all the answers, but it gives us the tools and foundation to pass our test just as musical scales and exercises help a pianist prepare for and succeed at their recital piece.
Last week we began looking at the book of Job and how he handled serious suffering not once, but twice in the opening 2 chapters of this book. We looked at the background of suffering and why it exists and I pray that in your suffering it is a blessing to know that you’re never walking through it by yourself! Today as we continue this study we’re going to look at what comes after the suffering and how we deal with future suffering that comes our way. It’s been shared before that there are 3 fundamental truths that we must hold on to whenever we suffer: 1. We trust in God. 2. We know God is good. 3. We know God loves us
Whenever we do those 3 things we set ourselves up to trust in God’s perfect plan regardless of what comes to pass! Studies like this in Job help us grow in our trust in the Lord as we see clear evidence that God is in control and that He loves His children. He has a plan and a purpose, even when we can’t fully see or understand what it might be. Today let’s look at some of what follows in this book
1 After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.
2 He said:
3 May the day I was born perish, and the night that said, “A boy is conceived.”
4 If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.
5 May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May what darkens the day terrify it.
6 If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.
26 I cannot relax or be calm; I have no rest, for turmoil has come.
4 Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God’s terrors are arrayed against me.
24 Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.
15 Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.
After Job’s tragedy, he struggles with what to make of what has happened… just as many of us would! In the midst of Job’s suffering, though, God is present. Even in the middle of your doubt and concern, He promises to be near to the brokenhearted and to continue to guide you in the ways of righteousness. As we study from God’s Word this morning, let’s pray and ask the Lord to guide us as we trust in Him.
God Doesn’t Always Immediately Remove Suffering (Job 1-37)
God Doesn’t Always Immediately Remove Suffering (Job 1-37)
From chapters 3-31, Job is discussing what has happened with his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. These 3 individuals ask Job questions and provide their explanations. Yet, each time they share that he must’ve done something wrong, Job maintains that he is innocent. This cycle occurs 3 times with these 3 men as they say something and Job responds and then the next steps up and does the same thing. This process goes on for weeks and months and the suffering continues to exist. Job had faith in the Lord in chapters 1-2 and was faithful to worship God in the midst of loss and suffering! Yet, he was not rewarded by immediate or complete healing as many would desire today! Job asks the question, “Why” numerous times and this is what we often ask in our suffering. Why is this happening and how much longer will this last? As we began last week, we have much to learn about God in times of suffering and one of those things is that God has a purpose in our suffering and sometimes doesn’t take the suffering away, or at least not immediately.
I’m reminded of the suffering experienced by so many in church history. Take Adoniram Judson for one - some of you have heard of Judson, the 19th century missionary to Burma, or present day Myanmar. Judson graduated from seminary and had the opportunity to stay close to home and be the associate pastor to a large church in Boston. He felt God calling him to Burma, though, and he and his wife Ann set sail to Southeast Asia 2 weeks after marrying one another and believing full and well that they’d likely never see their family once again. They were obedient to following the Lord’s will for their life. You’d expect God to bless their obedience, right? They arrived in Burma and it took Judson, a brilliant individual, over 3 years to learn the language. It took over 7 years until a single person converted to Christianity and 12 years into their mission work and only 18 people had converted in a country of millions. He was imprisoned, tortured, and forced to do slave labor while in jail. After a year and a half he was released only to discover that his wife was sick and within 2 months she passed away. This couple knew suffering well. Judson was faithful to follow God’s plan for his life and it cost him so much suffering that he might not have experienced had he simply stayed close to home in Boston… Yet, that wasn’t God’s plan for his life.
In your moment of suffering, it’s natural to ask the “why” question and it’s natural to long for suffering to cease. Yet, as we see in the book of Job, God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way that we’d like in the moment. Even though suffering exists, there’s a purpose in our pain. Think to the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus knew that His time was almost up. Jesus took his disciples to the Garden and then He took Peter, James, and John deeper into the Garden, and then He went alone to pray with His Father. Jesus knew what was coming - He knew why He had come in the first place… and this was His prayer
39 Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
42 Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
What was in the cup? The wrath of God against our sin. Jesus knew He’d have to suffer this punishment and He prayed that if there was any other way, that God would use that method… But each time Jesus said, “your will be done.” It’s not always God’s will to eliminate suffering in our daily lives. Church, suffering breaks our heart at times. It breaks our heart whenever our family suffers. It breaks our heart whenever we suffer. It breaks our heart whenever suffering exists on a large scale and we see bad things taking place left and right! Yet, we can take heart even in the worst of suffering as we understand that suffering one day will cease. For Job that wasn’t immediately. It took a long time… Maybe that’s where you’re at today with suffering… You’ve been suffering for a period of time and you’re wondering when it’ll stop. If this is you today, understand that 2nd...
God Has a Universal View in Our Suffering (Job 38-41)
God Has a Universal View in Our Suffering (Job 38-41)
As Job continues to defend himself before his 3 friends, eventually a 4th friend shows up named Elihu. His statements and questions are different from the first 3 who approached Job’s suffering as though he deserved the suffering he was enduring because of some sort of sin in his life. They believed in the logical flow of suffering being a result of disobedience and prosperity being the direct result of righteousness. Job has successfully defended himself against the principle of Retributive Justice which states that we get what we deserve… But even in defending himself from that conclusion, he hasn’t found an overall answer to his suffering. In comes Elihu in chapters 32-37 with a different explanation behind his suffering. Rather than saying that Job had done something wrong - Elihu posits that Job has said something that is not true about God. Job has said that he is completely blameless and without transgression.
8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard these very words:
9 “I am pure, without transgression; I am clean and have no iniquity.
Elihu explains that this is not true! Even if he was righteous and tried his best to follow God, he was not sinless. What was Job’s problem in his suffering? His pride.
17 in order to turn a person from his actions and suppress the pride of a person.
What’s going on here? Why is Job suffering? God, in His infinite wisdom, has a purpose not to punish but to save. As one pastor put it, “The pain God causes is like the surgeon’s knife… not like the executioner’s whip.” If you’ve ever had a major surgery you can imagine the pain that you’d be in without the help of anesthesia! That would hurt, yet it’s necessary to help our bodies from much more serious injury, pain, or death. God doesn’t throw purposeless suffering our way… After all, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! If you’re a Christian, you can rejoice that Jesus bore your eternal punishment. So what happens whenever we suffer? We suffer because God has a plan in His infinite wisdom to use things like suffering to refine our lives and to mold us to look more like Jesus.
How do we know this? Let’s look at what God says in His response in chapter 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
2 Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?
3 Get ready to answer me like a man; when I question you, you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
God gives Job a virtual tour of the universe thousands of years before virtual reality became a thing in our world! God shows Job all the things happening in the universe. The things on the earth, the things in the sea, the things in the heavens, and even the mysteries that puzzle people today. God asks Job a simple but pointed question, “Where were you when I established the earth?” What’s the best answer you have for that question? I have nothing remotely good up my sleeve there. God doesn’t stop there, though, because God didn’t just create all things and abandon all things… He is actively involved in the lives of His people and His creation. He provides order in the universe. He provides shelter and food for these animals. He puts wisdom in our mind. Look through chapters 38-39 and you see all of the different things that God is doing every single second. There are at least 50 things in these 2 chapters that God does and Job has no idea how to do and this is just God’s starting point!
Job begins to understand in chapter 40 that he is completely clueless about 99.99% of the things going on in this world and that he has no place to tell God what to do and what is right and what is wrong - yet this is our struggle, isn’t it? We so often command, declare, instruct God on how to do His job!!
The problem that we often have in our suffering, even in the life of a Christian, is this idea that our suffering is for nothing… It’s purposeless. God has abandoned us. Or, we wrongly believe that chaos is winning the day. God doesn’t seek to answer all of Job’s questions and simplify things… Instead, He pulls back the veil just a bit to show Job just how big He is as He reigns over all of these things. You and I have a finite understanding of suffering. We see what is happening in the moment and possibly 1-2 feet in front of us… Yet, God not only sees us in our suffering but He sees the end of our road and everything between now and then. He has declared that everything along our road will be worked for our good. This doesn’t mean that our suffering feels good - but it does mean that because of our infinitely wise God, He will use all of our suffering for our ultimate good according to His perfect plan!
Job knew that God was the creator of all things - back in chapter 1 he shared that the Lord gives… But Job needed to learn that God was the Savior as well. This is the message that we must understand in our lives, church. God is infinitely wise. He is trustworthy. He is good. He loves His children. He has an unimprovable plan for our lives. This doesn’t mean that it’ll be easy… but it means that His way is better than our way. We must understand that He is our Savior and that we all need Him.
While Job and his friends believed that they knew the answer to suffering, they simply displayed their ignorance and lack of true knowledge. Suffering isn’t due to chaos. God isn’t losing the battle. God has won! He is more powerful than the Behemoth’s and Leviathan’s of this world. In the darkness of our night, He rules on His throne.
God controls the cosmos and rules over it in accordance with His divine wisdom… Not only are we not God but we must not reduce God to less than He truly is. We must not “dumb” down His power and control to less than it truly is. Job’s response must be ours that God is God and we are not - there are things that we simply cannot fully understand. This is why we, 3rd, need something to change.
Jesus Changes Our Perspective on Suffering (Job 42)
Jesus Changes Our Perspective on Suffering (Job 42)
God rules over the forces of evil. Suffering is not foreign to Him, after all He sent His Son to suffer for sinners like you and I. Whenever this suffering began for Job, he had a good attitude. In chapters 1-2 he trusted in God’s goodness and character. He knew that God was good and that God was just… As suffering went on, though, Job wavered a little bit from that position. Job began to question God’s justness. He viewed himself as a righteous person who didn’t deserve what was happening to him. This is a common statement from people in suffering. This is what we’ve all said before, right? I don’t deserve this thing from happening! The reason why we often say this is because we resist suffering. We hate suffering. Understandably so because this goes against our human way of thinking… But what if instead of running away from suffering we had a change of perspective about our suffering?
God is all powerful. God could snap His fingers and suffering would cease. He promises to have a perfect plan. He promises to be good. So how should we view our suffering? We have to take a deep breath and understand what Job states in these closing verses in chapter 42.
1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know.
4 You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.”
5 I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them; I am dust and ashes.
Job was reminded through these months of suffering that there are things that he doesn’t fully understand and that his God holds all things in His hand! How does Jesus change us during our suffering? Job didn’t have the luxury of living after the cross, but we do! For one, we look to the cross and we know that we serve a Savior who was first willing to suffer for us! We know that we aren’t doing anything that God wasn’t willing to do for sinners like you and I. Second, we know that Jesus is always at work in our lives making us more and more like Himself. Suffering is one way that He gets us stop trusting in our finite power and trust wholly in His infinite wisdom. Our suffering is used for good.
William Barclay once shared this, “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” James, “Consider it pure joy when you endure trials because they will lead to endurance” endurance is about more than just “faking it till you make it” it’s about using your suffering to point people to Jesus regardless of the end result! In our suffering, we trust that God is good and we keep our eyes on Jesus as we live a life of faith in Him at all times. Paul shared that this is the ultimate hope that we have as Christians.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Take the worst suffering imaginable - losing a loved one, receiving a terminal diagnosis, or feeling like a completely powerless failure - whatever your worst is, Jesus is more than capable of turning your worst into His glory and your good. This is what He does in Scripture and it’s what He does today as well. Rather than running away from our suffering, we are called to run towards our Savior and trust in Him with whatever comes next.
The book of Job doesn’t seek to explain God or suffering to us in its entirety as we could never fully understand God’s infinite wisdom and His plan for every suffering we experience… Instead, Job shares with us how often misguided our ideas are about God, justice, and suffering. We aren’t given the blueprint that we crave… But we are able to eliminate false answers about suffering and God’s character which can help lead us down the right path in our time of suffering. God is still good. He is always faithful. He never promises us a suffering-free life. He is with us. He is just. Suffering doesn’t get the last word, even if suffering claims our life. I have a fundamental problem whenever we talk about someone winning or losing a battle with illness - so often we say that someone lost their battle as if we have something to lose! Paul has already modeled for us that you can’t lose whenever death becomes your gain and for the Christian that is our reality. Look at what Job declares in the middle of his suffering
15 Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.
Job acknowledges that God is His King. He is in control. Yet, even in the seemingly bad things that He is sending his way, he finds his hope in God alone… even in the suffering. As one Christian shared years ago, “Suffering can bend and break us. But it can also break us open to become the persons God intended us to be. It depends on what we do with the pain. If we offer it back to God, He will use it to do great things in and through us, because suffering is fertile. It can grow new life." Suffering can seem like the darkest night of all, but if you’re a Christian, your hope in Jesus shines like a star in the night sky. You can see suffering for what it is and what it isn’t - while you and I will never fully be able to understand God’s purposes, we can trace His hand and trust in His heart.
I’m willing to give God the benefit of the doubt in the middle of my suffering to say that suffering and loss can be and IS the goodness of God because that’s what His Word promises. Even when I don’t feel that truth, I can rest in that truth because God is always faithful. Even when suffering seems like it is going to win the battle, Christ has already won the war. Even when it seems as though loss is going to overtake me, I’m already a conquerer in Christ and this world can’t touch me. Today’s suffering might not be answered tomorrow, but suffering pushes me to Jesus and whenever I have Jesus I have access to unstoppable joy. God will stop at nothing when it comes to helping us fulfill our purpose of glorifying Him and becoming more and more like Jesus and part of that process involves us experiencing suffering, just like our Savior did for us.
As we go through suffering, let’s make sure that we do so with the right mindset and hold onto Biblical truth along the way:
4 Truths to Hold Dear to During Times of Suffering
4 Truths to Hold Dear to During Times of Suffering
God Rules and Loves His Children
Spurgeon once put it like this, “Hope itself is like a star - not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.”
In your moment of suffering, you’re not alone! He promises to be with you and He promises to work all things for your good as His child.
Your Spiritual Enemy is a Leashed Lion
Your enemy is not sovereign. Satan is not God’s rival. Martin Luther and so many others have used this illustration that Satan might be a lion according to God’s Word… But he’s not CS Lewis’ Aslan who rules as king over all of Narnia… Satan is a leashed lion. He has power, sure, but he’s not all-powerful. Here’s the incredible part to this truth, Satan and his most purposeful attacks can only do so much. God set the parameters to what Satan could do to Job. He couldn’t do any more. Satan cannot snatch you out of God’s hand. He can try to inflict devastation left and right, but you are untouchable as a child of the One true King.
Your Suffering Isn’t Purposeless
What was the purpose in Job’s suffering? What is the answer to the age-old problem of evil? We aren’t explicitly told… But we do see that God used this suffering to increase Job’s faith. A fire can either consume or it can refine… The trials that God sends our way aren’t meant to consume us or come across as torture… He sends trials that force us to wholly trust in Him and to conform us to His will as our pride is killed one drop at a time. Suffering might humble you, it might help you look more like Jesus, it might be there to help wean you off of the things of this world, it might be there to purify you, it might be there to help you identify with someone else who is struggling with the same thing that you are or have in the past!
Aren’t you thankful that there’s no such thing as accidental to an all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful God? He loves us and He promises to work all things for our good - not our definition of good, but His. Some of you have gone through deep suffering that I and others might not even know about… Guess what? God knows. He see’s. He loves. And He has a plan for that suffering. Your suffering can help you grow in your trust in Jesus and it could give you a platform to share and relate with someone that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I’ve been blessed to know several strong Christian saints who have fought against cancer and we have to stop saying that people lose to cancer when they die. If you’re a Christian, death isn’t losing… Death is your gain! I’ve known friends who have had opportunities and God-given platforms to share the Gospel with other people who are sick and lost who they never would have met otherwise. Their suffering wasn’t purposeless! In fact, I know that they rejoice in their suffering because of what God is doing through their situation!
A good God uses suffering for your good
Theology matters! Theology is the study of God and it isn’t just something for seminary students to care about. Every Christian is a theologian - you believe things about God. Bad theology hurts people. Good theology helps people. The Bible reminds us over and over again that God has a plan and purpose for us. While we don’t always see it, we know the character of our God. He is good. He is faithful. He cannot sin. He cannot make a mistake. Your suffering isn’t due to random chance. We live in a fallen world and sin brings about serious consequences but God promises to use all things, even bad things, for your good if you’re in Christ! He has paid your punishment in full on the cross. He will use all things, even evil things, to make you look and act and think more like Jesus Christ today. Aren’t you thankful that God takes the worst this world can throw at us and turns it into something beautiful? This is what He did with the cross - the instrument of evil and torture was used to bring about the best thing in our lives, our salvation. If God used the cross for good, don’t believe the lie that He can’t and won’t use your suffering for your good as well.
Don’t wait for the healing to give thanks to God. Even in your suffering, you can rejoice with the hope that you belong to Jesus… Job knew of God’s goodness but Job didn’t have the benefit of living after Jesus’ death on the cross like you and I have. Job 19:25-26
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust.
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh.
Whenever you know that your God holds you dear and that He will use all things to make you more like His Son, even in the most extreme of suffering you can rejoice not because of who you and I are… but because of Whose we are! He will hold you fast! Do you have this hope in the midst of your suffering? Do you know this Savior who alone can offer you hope, grace, and life everlasting? Come to Jesus - the One who suffered on the cross so that you and I wouldn’t have to experience eternal suffering on and instead could spend eternity with Him in glory. God is doing 100 billion things every second of every day and we might be aware of 3 of them… don’t trust in your finite power and understanding… Repent and trust in Christ Jesus today.