Break Glass
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A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."
More and more these days suffering and tribulation is something that modern Christians are having to deal with today. What a huge shift that has happened in our culture right before our eyes. Huge and exponential change has come since our COVID-19 complication. Not just for our country but also for the church. Hardship, persecution, getting canceled are just some of the ways Christians experience hardship in our culture. But it is not just in our time today… hardship and suffering has always been a problem for Christians. For suffering is the heritage of all people.
It has been said… “Suffering is the heritage of the bad, of the penitent, and of the Son of God. Each one ends in the cross. The bad thief is crucified, the penitent thief is crucified, and the Son of God is crucified. By these signs we know the widespread heritage of suffering.”
And remember the words of Peter
Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
The difficulties that we face today are not in it of itself a bad thing… suffering and tribulation are those things that shape us and mold us into the vessels that God has called us to be. Our life with the Lord has deeper roots and when real difficulties hit… We will rise and not be ruined. When the difficulties in life come Christians are not supposed to crack, we are supposed to conquer.
Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They're the only ones who can take it."
Well is he right? In my experience, in 30 years of ministry, trials and tribulation or suffering and circumstances, the thing that the Bible says transforms us into the brightest of stars making us mature, complete, and not lacking in anything, is most responsible for causing the apostatizing of Christians. The thing that causes Christians to quit, to give up, to walk away from Christ. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t hold on anymore. I can’t do this anymore. God left me. God abandoned me. He promised to never leave me nor forsake me… He is a liar. He does not keep His promises. I am miserable. I am unhappy. I am always suffering. I am always struggling. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
But is there no hope for us? Are there no directives? Is there no guidance as to what we should do? There are clear directives, but what is funny… these directives are the last things we want to do when suffering. The stuff I mention is the stuff people do not want to hear when they go through difficulty, but is the very thing urged by our Psalmist today… the section is called Zayin. Lets take a look.
Remember your promise to me;
it is my only hope.
Your promise revives me;
it comforts me in all my troubles.
The proud hold me in utter contempt,
but I do not turn away from your instructions.
I meditate on your age-old regulations;
O Lord, they comfort me.
I become furious with the wicked,
because they reject your instructions.
Your decrees have been the theme of my songs
wherever I have lived.
I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord;
therefore, I obey your instructions.
This is how I spend my life:
obeying your commandments.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
Hot Air
Its Not Fair
He Does Not Care
He is There
The first thing we will look at today is how we instinctively dismiss the Word of God as unhelpful and useless in suffering. Just hot air. Second, we will see how we instinctively see suffering as unfair and something we feel we don’t deserve. Third, we then come to the place where we feel as if we were abandoned by God and conclude and complain that He does not care. Finally, we will see the wonders of the gospel and how God truly displayed how He never abandoned us by sending Christ to come to bring life and life more abundant.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world causes us to lose heart and faith during suffering and circumstances, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see the reason and result of suffering and see the reason and result of our purpose in life… giving glory to Christ and Christ alone.
I. Hot Air
- It just does not help.
A. I remember telling an individual who was going though a difficult time that they need to go to the scriptures for it is your only hope. And he said that it was not encouraging to hear that… the Bible. It does not help. It’s just a bunch of Hot Air. What happened here? When we are going though difficult times is it not helpful if we had hope? If we were revived and encouraged? If we had comfort? We could make it through if we had that right?
B. The psalmist shows us that we have all of this with the Word of God. It is the Bible that will bring us hope, revival, and comfort. It is your promises… Lord. Your promises … again that are my only hope. Where else are you gonna go? The first interesting thing is that he does not ask the Lord to be delivered by God from his suffering. He does not ask the Lord to stop the pain or eject him from the circumstances. Lord, be faithful to your Word. Be faithful to Your promises. Because the in the reality of all of the things in this world, there is only one thing that can give us hope today. The Bible is not just his hope it is his only hope. Again, from last week, where else are you gonna go? So my answer to the man I was counseling… he said, it does not help. Its just a bunch of Hot Air. I asked where else are you gonna go?
C. It is the Bible that will revive our souls. Maybe a better way to understand this is that it will renew our strength and courage. It will give us the strength and courage we need to make it though our trials and circumstances. And through this we will find the comfort we need during our difficulty. And this will only come from the scriptures and the psalmist knew it. Where else are you gonna go?
Spurgeon writes, The worldly person clutches his wallet and says, “This is my comfort.” The squanderer points to his high spirits and shouts, “This is my comfort,” and the drunkard lifts his glass and sings, “This is my comfort.” However, the man whose hope comes from God feels the life-giving power of the Word of the Lord, and he testifies, This is my comfort.
No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
D. In the world there are people who have comfort but no affliction. There are those who have affliction without comfort. But for a Christian we have comfort in our affliction. Afflicted? No comfort? Go to the Word of God. But it does not help. There is no place else to go.
II. It’s Not Fair
- I can’t take it anymore.
A. Not only do we go to His Word for hope, life, and comfort. We have got to remain faithful. When we say we cannot take it anymore. We gotta keep taking it. When we say we cannot hold on anymore, we gotta hold. When we say we can’t walk anymore, we gotta take another step.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
B. And the world, the enemy, and the flesh, will indeed come against us. They will not help. They will ridicule us. They will make fun of us. They will laugh at us praying to the Lord… saying there is no God. Why do you pray to an imaginary sky daddy? They will laugh at us for putting our hope in the Bible… its a fictitious book full of myths, legends, and tall tails. And they will be the popular, they will be the influential, they will be on the big screen, the small screen, social media, conferences, TED talks, government officials, the successful, the powerful, and even the violent. They will tell you that it is all for nothing, it is all a waste of time, it is adolescent, it is delusional, and if it is true… its not fair. Do yourself a favor and just walk away.
C. In the face of all this… we have got to remain faithful. What they are doing is reprehensible and the psalmist expresses true feelings and passion. V 53. Zalafa - seizes him. Hot and furious anger has taken hold of him for those who speak against the word of God. Remain faithful and recognize that those who are speaking against God and His Word… it is not OK. We do not entertain what is coming against the Lord … it is bad enough, that it should give rise to extreme indignation. We do not get angry with our neighbor whose dog messes in our yard, we do not get angry at the TV when a politician is giving a speech, we do not get angry when someone steals the last open parking spot, We do not get angry in traffic, but it should enrage us when people speak against the Word of God.
D. We remain faithful by not turning away from the Word of God and recognizing that those who try to lead us away form God and His word are doing something that deserves not just anger but hot indignation. We do not take our cues from the world. In suffering, we must not turn from God, we must not turn from His word which is our only hope, life and comfort, and we do not embrace anything that would cause us to walk away from the faith … we reject it. We passionately reject it in anger. We reject anything that will lead us to say its not fair. And point three we reject anything that will lead us to believe that God does not care.
III. He Does Not Care
- He left me and He has forsaken me.
A. What is more… Christianity is a singing religion. And even more so when it comes to suffering.
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
B. And one of the ways to encourage is to sing.
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
C. It is clear that the Word of God is a true source of joy and wonder that it motivates a believer to sing. Come on… even movies today illustrate this. When something awesome happens. When something amazing happens. He got the girl… and its time to sing. Get out of my dreams… get into my car. We are soo happy and we rejoice in song!!
D. But Shane I cant sing… that’s ok. Just make a joyful noise!! And that would be better than the typical way we respond when we go through difficulty. Instead of singing we resort to complaining. And in the wilderness remember the complaining of the people and the constant judgement that God inflicted upon them for this awful thing. All the complaining that they did and the complaining that we do is not the problem it is a symptom. What it shows is that we don’t believe and we do not trust God. And after all God has provided and all He has given, to complain is to believe that He is a liar and do we not think there will be consequences?
So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
D. The reason for the unbelief is the belief that God is not good. The Bible does not acknowledge an unbelief that God does not exist, it is always the belief that He is not good. Ahhh… the knowledge of good and evil? Hmmmm. This is the motivation for all our sins. We do not believe that He has our best interest in mind. This is why the complaining. We complain because the person is not doing what they can and are supposed to be doing. God can and He doesn’t so it must mean that He does not care.
E. And the murmuring and complaining continues. When suffering we reject the Bible, we turn away from Christ when pressured and we accuse God of not caring. The very things we are encouraged to do by the Psalmist. Turn to His Word, Be faithful to our Lord, and Rejoice in song.
IV. He is There
- He has never left us nor forsaken us.
A. The reality is that our suffering is that thing that will cause us to grow in patience and patience must finish its work so that we may be mature complete and not lacking in anything. It is training that the Lord wants for those who he loves. Refined by the fire. Purified in the furnace. Sharpened by the friction of affliction.
B. But it is our own ignorance, self-centeredness deception, and rebellion motivated by the flesh that cause us to see that our suffering as a Christian as if something strange is happening to us. We reject His training and discipline… which is what God does to those He loves. Our sin confuses our purpose in life, our reason for living, our understanding of God’s will, and causes us to call evil good and good evil. And again, God would punish the complaining and unbelief of the Israelites, you better believe we will also be judged. Our complaining in light of the wonderful promises of God shows us just how far we have fallen.
C. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. The wages of sin is death. If you have broken the smallest of commandments you are as guilty as one who has broken all of it. But there is salvation for us...
D. He has not left us nor forsaken us and He proved it when He sent Jesus in the world to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
E. The promises that bring hope continues… All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. All of this is written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and you will have life in His name.
F. Suffering will happen. It is inevitable. But it is an honor to suffer for Christ as we share in His suffering. We rejoice that we have the privilege of suffering for His name. And no that even when we are not faithful to Him, He is always faithful and His mercies are new every morning.