When Tragedy Strikes

Introduction

We all face tragedy.

Some face tragedy almost everyday.

While we face these tragedies, many will walk away from the Lord and others will be driven away.

That is exactly what the enemy wants.

Satan wants to drive a wedge between you and God.

He wants us to run as fast and as hard as we can away from the Lord and right into his arms.

Yet, tragedy does not have to drive you away.

Tragedy can drive you right to the Lord.

Tragedy can be the mechanism that makes you want the Lord more and more if you will just allow God to work during the struggle.

Look at the book of Job in the Bible.

In Job 1 we see that Job was an upright and righteous man.

He was faithful and generous. He was God fearing.

He was a loving father and husband.

He lived a life that was about as perfect as you can live.

Look at Job 1:5

Job 1:5 ESV

5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

He was committed himself and his family being holy before the Lord.

He was a faithful man in all ways. He even Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?”

He was solid and faithful and worshiped God as faithfully as anyone could.

He did everything right.

He followed the rules.

He was a man of God.

Yet, tragedy still struck.

In Job 1:6-12 we see that Satan the adversary was in heaven with the angels and the Lord.

He was there because he wanted to wreck Job. He wanted him to fail so Satan could revel in his glory.

He said Job was only for God because of blessings and nothing more.

Look at Job 1:9-11

Job 1:9–11 ESV

9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

But what is even more interesting is that God pointed Job out to Satan first. Job 1:8

Job 1:8 ESV

8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

God allowed this testing.

God allowed the suffering.

God allowed this to bring spiritual maturity.

Tests build us into what we are now.

Tests strengthen us.

Tests are hard and painful but they are beneficial if we look for the end result of the test.

Which leads to the first observation of this book...

God Allows Suffering to Mature Us

Satan said Job would curse God if he was put to the test.

God said no not my servant.

God knew Job and God knows you.

If you are facing something, know that God knows you and what you can do.

He will give you more than you can handle.

Look at what Job lost.

Verse 15 he lost all of his oxen and donkeys.

In verse 17 he lost all of his camels.

In verse 19 he lost all of his children.

He lost everything.

God knew Job he knew what his faith could stand.

Many times this type of suffering is to uncover pride in us, false self-sufficiency, and the pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality.

We can’t make it on our own.

You suffer tragedy like this and what will your self-sufficient self do?

You will break and fold.

You will have terrible friends like Job had come alongside you and not comfort you.

But when you fear God as Job did, you can make it through this suffering.

It takes faith in God to make it through life and hardships without falling down into despair.

Job had deep faith he had a faith that could carry him.

Questions? Yes he had questions but he knew that God was in control.

That is the key to making it through suffering.

Bad happens but it is not out of God’s control. It is under his control.

He stops so much more evil than we even know. But the evil He allows to continue to happen are to grow and develop us.

Like Job he lost it all then he was hurt in his own body and had his wife tell him to curse God and die.

Look at Job 2:7-10

Job 2:7–10 ESV

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Severe suffering and tragedy and still he trusted God.

That is knowing God has a plan for all things.

We experience all evils for a purpose.

Nothing is wasted. Yet, God does not make them happen or command them, He allows them.

He allows them because He knows exactly how He will bring good from them.

Could He stop them all?

Yes, but that is not what is best for us.

As hard as that is to think about as hard as pain and suffering is, it builds us up.

In Romans 5:3-5 Paul says it builds character and hope and endurance which all lead to a faithful life. In James 1:2-3 he says it builds a steadfastness (committed life), and in 1 Pet. 1:6-7 it makes our faith even more genuine and purer.

In all of this God wins more and more because He is a faithful and sovereign God.

We grow and that is victory because as the next observation says...

Satan Thinks Tragedy Will Draw us from the Lord

In Job 1:9-11 “9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

Satan tells God that pain and suffering would draw Job away because he was only with God for the good things.

That is one reason why the prosperity gospel is a heretical bag of garbage.

Life is hard and there is suffering even to the most faithful, like Job here.

So saying “if you only had more faith, this would go away, wouldn’t happen” is a lie and junk.

We face struggles and it is part of the growth period.

Satan says we will fail in times of trial.

God says differently because God knows you.

So if you are facing trials and struggles today, it is not because God is against you, it is because He knows you and loves you and desires you to grow closer to Him.

He knows that you can make it through with Him, but only with Him, and that you will be stronger for doing so.

Your suffering is not because of a punishment for sins. Christ covered those, as long as you are in Him and saved by Him.

Sufferings are to silence the blasphemous Satan and show him that as a child of God you will honor God in spite of all the things, family, and wealth you have lost.

That is powerful because the world is watching now.

The world will see if we honor what we preach. If we put to practice the life we say all should live. Will we stay committed to God in the face of suffering or will we give in and let Satan win?

Well, Job does not let that happen when he gives us the final observation.

The Proper Response to Tragedy

In Job 1:21 and 2:10 we see

21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

All of his family and wealth was gone in one swoop. In one day.

He lost it all and yet these are the words he said.

Everything is gone. He lost it all.

It can happen to us too.

Wrecks, tornadoes, or any other natural disaster.

War, disease, or many other horrible things.

Maybe like the man who wrote the beautiful hymn, “It is Well.” He was in Chicago and was to catch another boat to England behind his family.

The ship his family was on sunk and he lost everything but his wife. He lost all of his children. Each and every one of them died.

It was gone in one day. His whole world was gone and he wrote one of the most beautiful songs of the church because of it.

His faith was strengthened rather than destroyed because he had the proper response like Job.

Remember 9/11?

Many lost everything in one day. Wealth and family all in one swoop just like what happened to Job.

It can happen and when it does will you be strong in the faith and be able to respond like Job did “Naked I came, Naked I go, The Lord gave and the Lord takes away–blessed is the name of the Lord.”

He acknowledged that all he had was because of the Lord and all is the Lords. Who is he to curse God?

Who are we to curse God?

One thing Job does not do here is say God is an evil and malicious God who gives us things just to wickedly take them from us to laugh at us.

No, he said all is God’s and since it is when we lose it all God did was come and retrieve what was His to begin with.

If we can grasp that, If we can get that as our known fact; then when tragedy strikes we can take it and grow because we know God just took what was His home to Himself.

Job had a firm faith in the Lord that could not be shattered.

Shaken? Yes. But not shattered.

How? Because Job 19:25-27

Job 19:25–27 ESV

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

He knew the goodness of God.

Now, there is some application for this left.

The first application is

Application

We don’t have all the answers, lean into the goodness of God that you know.

We don’t know it all. We do not fully understand why things happen.

Since we do not understand God’s ways, it is best we trust Him who is far superior to us.

So when you are suffering and hurting, look back to the goodness you have known of God in your life.

A birth of a child or more.

Your family, your spouse, your career, living and many other things can demonstrate the goodness of God.

Do not focus on the suffering but look at all the blessings God has given you before.

If you do this you will remember the goodness He has for you and know that this misery is for some reason you may not know but that you know is for your best interests.

Next...

Listen to the Spirit of God speak to you through His word and true friends.

Here is your best bet on getting through.

Job had three miserable friends who were not helpful at all but caused him more grief.

When we look outside of God’s word and faithful Christ following friends, we open ourselves up to grief and more suffering than help and love.

God’s word will give you comfort in times of grief.

So we need to read it and read it regularly. We need to do this with a good group that is not just the church.

Get with a small group of people who will be real with you but do it in love. People who study the word with you and know they are sinners too and need you just as much as you need them.

Stay focused on the Lord in all things and let Him guide you and this group. Jesus had 120 disciples according to the upper room. He had 72 more faithful ones he sent out according to Luke 10:1. But he had the 12 that were closer than them. And within that he had the three Peter, James, and John.

A good tight group is helpful and biblical.

Next...

Know that God is in control.

Nothing happens outside of God’s control and knowledge.

You may feel alone but God is with you and guiding you.

He is directing you and helping you in life.

He wants you to rest on Him in all things. He wants you to say “I can’t do this, You can Lord, Help me.”

He wants you to say Mark 9:24 “I believe; help my unbelief!”

He is sovereign, meaning he is in control of all things but not necessarily controlling of all things.

But nothing is beyond Him and maybe you just need to have a deeper prayer life.

Pray hard. Pray everyday. Pray anytime you feel the urge.

God is listening and you never know when you will reach the point He wants you and relief will come.

Just like the persistent widow from the Gospels. Keep praying and keep going to the Judge, you never know when He will say enough and all is right.

Finally...

Love what you have, but hold it loosely because it is really God’s.

Love deeply and love hard, but know that we really have nothing that is our own here.

Children even though from our genetics are not ours.

No, Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”

Your money is not yours Psalm 50:10 “10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”

Everything is the Lord’s we just manage it for a time.

When He decides it is time for our management of that to end, He ends it.

So, know what we have is a gift and a blessing from Him.

This is not telling you to hole up and distance yourself from people and things.

It is saying the opposite.

Because in this life we are blessed with each other and others. We are blessed with kids.

Love them because love gives joy. Even in loss we have love to give joy.

Love hard but love the Lord more in all of it because He is the giver and sustainer of life.

But I want you to look at the last chapter of Job real quick.

What we have now is great and wonderful, but the best is always for the last.

Job had great wealth and great family, but at the end he had more.

Now, don’t think this means you will be double blessed in this life, but look at what this means.

The best is always for last. The best wine was at the end of the wedding at Cana in John 2. Jesus saves the best for last all through the Bible.

Sometimes we suffer here so we do not fall to in love with this world and so we will rejoice more in the eternity to come.

In Job 42:12-13

Job 42:12–13 ESV

12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.