Melted or Hardened: A Heart in the Fire of Suffering

Intro

There’s an old Puritan saying: “The same sun that melts wax hardens clay.”

It’s simple, but it’s profound. Two things are exposed to the exact same heat—but they respond in totally different ways. One becomes soft and pliable. The other becomes rigid and brittle.

That’s how suffering works too, and as we look in the world that is why we all experience different amounts of suffering

Suffering doesn’t always change our circumstances, but it always changes us. It either drives us closer to God or pushes us further away. It softens us in surrender—or hardens us in resentment.

In Psalm 22:12–21, we find David surrounded, overwhelmed, and physically and emotionally broken. He’s facing spiritual abandonment and vicious opposition. He feels like he’s on the brink of death. But instead of hardening his heart, he turns to God with raw, honest cries for help.

This passage shows us a man who is being poured out, but not forsaken. He doesn’t deny the pain—but he clings to the presence of a God who still hears. It’s a cry that points prophetically to Jesus on the cross.

The Appearance of a Strong Enemy (v. 12-13)

David goes on to write of how he is perceiving his enemy in this season of life

What he observes:

Surrounded by the wicked

Full of strength

Bashan was a fertile region east of the Jordan River, known in ancient times for its rich pastures and strong, well-fed cattle.

An enemy that seems to get away with attaching and ripping him a part

The disciples:

Would have felt surrounded by the wicked, they were surrounded literally by a crowd shouting crucify him

Jerusalem was the heart of Jewish power

They had just murdered an innocent man

Suffering and pain are very real the wicked having great strength is very real

The wicked flourishing today is still very real

So we cannot ignore this reality, but we have to wrestle with it and put to scripture to see why God allows so much grace to the wicked and seemingly not to us

Is that not what we seem to observe?

Yes very much so, but from our humanly view is everything quiet as it seems?

Was the crucifixion what it seemed? Or was their a power at work they could not see?

Sometimes it seems like the wicked get away with so much, but nothing bad never happens to them, so let us go to Romans 2

Romans 2:4–8 ESV

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Would not shielding people from suffering be an act of kindness?

Our response to the wicked seemingly being spared should not be bitterness

Which is how we often respond

Ephesians 4:31 ESV

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Bitterness distracts us from what God is trying to do our suffering

Bitterness is a great tool of the devil to distract us from the redeeming work of God

Our response to the wicked being spared should be gratefulness and compassion

Grateful God is showing them compassion, calling them to repentance to greatly add on to the undeserved grace they are already being showed

Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Intercede on their behalf, begging for their hearts to be soften and receptive to the gospel

Our response to them continuing in wickedness should also break our hearts because the longer they go on the more wrath they build up for themselves, in other words greater their condemnation

As Romans 2 says, they’re storing up wrath, not out of ignorance—but in defiance of divine kindness

When We Are Weak (v. 14-15)

Let us not forget this is what David was observing at a time when he was at a weak and low time in life

David was left broken, physically, mentally, and spiritually at what felt rock bottom

Very much how the disciples would have also felt after the past 24 hours they experienced

When has suffering seemed to rain down on you? Has not life at times left you feeling that way?

How easy is it for our minds to go to verses 12 and 13, which praise the Lord are only part of the story

Why does it seem “good” people are the ones who constantly suffer? How often do we feel like we suffer more than we should?

1. Who are good people?

Mark 10:18 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

A "good person," biblically, is not someone who never sins, but someone who is made right with God through faith and walks in His ways.

So we cannot use this separation of good and wicked as our basis for why some should suffer more than others, ultimately what separates us from the wicked is the goodness of God

2. Going back to Romans 2 we see one reason kindness is shown sometimes is meant to lead to repentance

Sometimes the unbeliever gets shielded from some consequences of living in a sin cursed world as part of God’s plan to call them to repentance

As a believer we have already came to repentance, so one reason for shielding is to call to repentance, which we have already done

As this hedge of protection comes down, God redeems the pain and teaches us to lean on him

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 ESV

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We suffer not fr our sake, but for the glory of Christ. The world realizes what we go through and how they are spared at times

As they see us walk in weak times they will see the power of Christ on full display

That is why the evil seem to prosper while the good suffer, it is show the gospel can be heard in the most effective manner possible

Let us not fall prey to the comparison game of who deserves to suffer less or more

The Cross and Deliverance

The Gospel is exactly what is foreshadowed as we start getting to verse 16

Which makes us fit the biblical definition of a good person

A "good person," biblically, is not someone who never sins, but someone who is made right with God through faith and walks in His ways.

Also verses 16-18 show the only one person to be truly good, so if any good person did not deserve to suffer it was Jesus

Not only did Jesus suffering make salvation possible but what he went through also gives us confidence for several reasons

We know God is not distant from suffering, He stepping in to redeem it and also has experienced it firsthand

God could have distances himself from pain, he could have distance himself from his creation, but he did not and that is why we are celebrating Easter next week

But also because of his suffering one day we will be delivered from suffering and the oppression of the wicked may came sometimes in this life, or may be eternity

Outro

God doesn’t always explain our pain, but He never wastes it. He transforms it into faith, character, ministry, testimony—and ultimately, glory.

As the disciples experienced the day of the crucifixion they would have felt like the wicked had devoured their movement, and probably thought they were next to be devoured

The disciples probably felt completely overwhelmed

But if they clung to the words of Psalm 22 we can see as we start getting to verses 19-21 their is hope for deliverance, the suffering is not the end of us.

God is orchestrating the suffering in the most effective way to bring his children to hima nd deliver them froma broken world they made