Present Suffering
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Last week we saw Paul’s journey to Rome interrupted by a storm. Not just any storm, a storm with hurricane force that drove the ship he was on over 500 miles for two weeks. This was not an easy, nor a pleasant journey, and it ended with the ship being caught on a sandbar, and destroyed by the crushing waves. Those who were onboard had to abandon ship and make it to shore, most of them clinging to pieces of the ship hoping to make it to shore as they were also tossed and pummeled by the waves.
This was but a taste of what Paul had, and would continue to go through in his life. As he described it in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29,
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.
Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.
I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
This is what Paul got for following the Lord, for serving Him, for staying on mission and being a witness.
And that is not all of it. Paul speaks in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 12:7, about a thorn in the flesh that he had, a messenger of Satan, as he referred to it, which he asked the Lord to take away, and the Lord did not.
Why? Why did he suffer so much, when he spent his life serving the Lord? Shouldn’t God have spared him? Couldn’t God have spared him all of this pain and suffering? He is sovereign, isnt’ He? He is all powerful, isn’t He?
Our God is all powerful. Our God is sovereign, though this world is in the hands of the prince of the power of the air at the moment.
So, why is there suffering? Why is there pain, heartache, loss?
Well then, if He is all-powerful and sovereign, does he just not care?
What are the reasons He would allow this suffering?
First, let us remember who God is.
God is Good
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
God is all powerful.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.
What God created was good
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
So then, why is there suffering?
Genesis 2, Adam and Eve sinned. Their sin brought sickness, suffering, shame, pain. The whole world which God had placed under their care, was corrupted by their sin, and brought into bondage to decay as God revealed through Paul in Romans 8:20-22.
We know that suffering comes from our sinful choices.
We know that suffering comes from the sinful choices of others.
We know that suffering comes because of the decay that is in this world through sin.
We know that suffering comes from Satan, the adversary.
But why? Why if God is still sovereign, does he allow it?
We ask the questions:
Why me? Haven’t I been following the Lord?
Will I ever be happy again?
How is this going to work together for my good?
How is this going to strengthen me and my faith?
Why me? Haven’t I suffered enough?
I don’t see the point in this.
Why doesn’t he just take me home?
Joni and Karla
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty Seven A FEW REASONS WHY
Are there reasons?
“Well, Joni, are there?” Karla Larson asked, as though the question itself rested on her shoulders like the weight of the world. Karla is a woman in her late thirties who is desperate to understand a few reasons why. Severe diabetes is the root of it all. Both legs amputated. A heart attack. A kidney transplant. Constant battles with collapsed veins. Severe edema and legally blind.
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty Seven A FEW REASONS WHY
“Look at me,” she said, dropping her gaze to her lap. Through her shorts, I could see the contour of the large plastic cups around her stumps. Karla wasn’t wearing cosmetic legs, but the bare steel bar kind with a hinge at the knee. She held up her hand to show something new: a fat white gauze wrapped around the end of a knuckle. Her finger had been amputated. “I’m falling apart.”
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty Seven A FEW REASONS WHY
After several moments, she continued, “I’m a Christian. I’ve suffered. Don’t you think I’ve paid my dues?” she asked with pleading eyes. “I’m not depressed or anything, I just…don’t see the point. I want to go home now. Heaven, I mean.”
I wonder if Paul ever felt like that. Let’s look at Acts 28:1-14.
Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.
The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.
When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.”
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days.
His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.
When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured.
They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.
After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days.
From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli.
There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.
The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged.
When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
While in Rome, Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians.
While he was imprisoned, we find that some were ridiculing Paul and his teachings. We find that Paul did not know what was going to happen with him. He thought he might be put to death.
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
To Live is Christ and to die is gain.
To Live is Christ and to die is gain.
Suffering is hard. And yes, it is natural for us to want it to end. it is even natural for us who are believers to long to die, and to enter our Savior’s presence where there will be no more suffering or pain.
So, why prolong it? Why would God allow us to go through the pain, instead of just taking us home already?
If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
For others
For others
God was using Paul and all of his suffering to teach, reach and encourage others.
Consider those people in Malta. Would they have heard the gospel, if God has not allowed the ship to be blown off-course and bring Paul to their shores?
Would they have listened to Paul, a prisoner, had he not been bitten by the serpent and lived?
Would the Roman centurion have wanted to know the reason for Paul’s hope had they not gone through the storm?
what about Philippians 1:12-14?
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.
As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.
And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
Necessary for others… Our example and Testimony
Necessary for others… Our example and Testimony
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty Seven A FEW REASONS WHY
When I wheeled into the Red Cross center, an officious woman wearing a white lab coat exclaimed, “My God, are we glad to see you!”
I looked over my shoulder. Did she mean me? Did she recognize me from an interview? Later, when I learned she was in charge of the counseling services and didn’t have a clue as to who I was, I asked why she welcomed me with opened arms.
“Honey, I wish we had more people like you in wheelchairs volunteering during a crisis. When victims come in here for help and see someone like you, handling your own personal crisis, it gives them hope. You are a powerful example to them, a promise that they too will survive their tragedy.”
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Because of Paul’s chains, others were more bold in sharing their faith!
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
God works in us in our suffering so that we might be an example to others, to help them to grow in their perseverance, character and hope.
Paul knew this, and so he could rejoice in suffering:
Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Not only was it an example, but a comfort.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
But what about those who suffer alone, away from the public eye?
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
For angels and demons
For angels and demons
Example of Job.
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Another Reason...
And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
For God’s Glory
For God’s Glory
God is pleased by our sacrifices as we follow and worship Him.
He is pleased as we bring our sacrifices of praise to him as we bear the disgraces of this world, and look forward to going home.
Veronica - cystic fibrosis
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty Seven A FEW REASONS WHY
A genuine sacrifice of praise, it is, as she wheezes through the hymn. Veronica, with her limited lung capacity, inspires me to fill my chest and harmonize with all my heart.
A sacrifice brightens God’s glory. It demonstrates the enormously high value we attach to him.
For Our Future glory
For Our Future glory
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
For God’s Presence
For God’s Presence
When in the midst of suffering, these answers can sting. They don’t bring healing in the moment. They are good to know before suffering. They are helpful when we come through suffering. But in the midst of suffering, what we really need is God’s presence. Just to know he cares, and is there.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
He is there.
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.
His grace is sufficient. He gives us His strength.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Husband to the husbandless
For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
comforter to the barren
“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.
father to the fatherless
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Counselor
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Comforter
“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,