Why Suffering Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Today we will continue to look at God and our suffering.
Main points:
Main points:
God is in control
God allows, and limits
God is the Compassionate Shepherd
Review
Review
Root Causes of Suffering:
Satan’s Rebellion
Man’s Rebellion
Fallen Creation
Points about God and suffering to keep in mind from verses we have seen:
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
In all their distress he too was distressed,
God does not willingly cause suffering.
God does not delight in suffering.
God suffers with his people.
God gives purpose to suffering.
What is the purpose?
Retributive
Educational / Disciplinary
Vicarious
Empathetic
Doxological
Evidential / Testimonial
Revelational
Eschatological
What is the Purpose?
What is the Purpose?
I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
That we may know Him
That we may be like Him
(brought to repentance & trained in righteousness)
Since we know that suffering is ultimately due to sin, does that mean God is not in control?
The Journal of Biblical Counseling: Volume 22, Number 4, Fall 2004 A Compassionate God
“Bad things do happen to good people in this world. But it is not God who wills it. God would like people to get what they deserve in life, but He cannot always arrange it.
“ God wants the righteous to live peaceful, happy lives. But sometimes even He can’t bring that about. It is too difficult even for God to keep cruelty and chaos from claiming their innocent victims.
“ God does not want you to be sick or crippled. He did not make you have this problem, and He doesn’t want you to go on having it. But He cannot make it go away. This is something too hard, even for God.”
Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Harper & Collins, 1981), p. 42, 43, 129.
You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
God is in control
God is in control
God created… and now things run by natural law, and Satan is the prince of this world, evil people do, nature is corrupted.
While that is true… it isn’t.
What do we do with...
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mold in a house in that land,
the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a defiling mold in my house.’
“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.
However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate.
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
Matthew 6:25–33 ““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,…”
We ask God because He gives. If we believe God is in control and gives us good, then why wouldn’t we believe God is in control when suffering comes?
God did create, and things follow his set commands, and Satan is the prince of this world, and evil people do, and nature is corrupted, but God is Sovereign and in Control.
And he uses Satan, evil people, and nature to accomplish his goals.
“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme.
God is in control, but he does not sin, or tempt people to sin
God is in control, but he does not sin, or tempt people to sin
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
God allows and limits
God allows and limits
Example of Pharoah
Example of Pharoah
Romans 9:16–17 “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.””
Example of Jesus
Example of Jesus
This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”
Example of Job
Example of Job
God uses Satan
God uses evil People
God uses nature
Job 2:10 “He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
Job 38-42 - God is God. God is Sovereign. God is in control of all His creation. Light, Darkness, Rain, Snow, Ice, Lightning, Thunderstorms, Frost, Wind, Floods, Drought, all creatures.
He is the One who gives justice, who can question Him. He is the One who humbles, and who pours out blessings and wrath.
Job 42:1–6 “Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.””
God allows and limits to achieve his purposes
God allows and limits to achieve his purposes
This is important!
Suffering is in the world because of Sin: Satan’s and Mankind’s.
If God was not in control, who would restrain Satan, evil people, and corrupted nature?
And if God was not going to make things work for His purposes, suffering really is meaningless, and hopeless.
God being in control means there is a purpose being fulfilled, and suffering is not hopeless. Rather, we have hope through the suffering because we know the end to which He is taking us
Why is the purpose important? It helps us to have hope as we bear the burden.
But at the same time… there being a purpose is not enough… tell someone who is suffering God has a purpose. How does that feel?
it was great that your son died so young. Or, Joni, really, a lot of good will come out of the fact that you’re a quadriplegic and can’t do anything but bat your eyelids. Really, six good things have happened already. People are praying. Isn’t it good to get people praying who haven’t been praying? Aren’t you glad to be lying motionless in a bed because now people are praying?
We need more than just a purpose…
Joni’s illustration - carrying a burden through a maze/carrying your child through a hospital
Suffering in itself has no meaning.
The relationship gives meaning to the suffering.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
God is the compassionate Shepherd
God is the compassionate Shepherd
Fellowship of his sufferings. Remember, when we suffer, God is suffering with us.
He is the father of the prodigal, suffering as he looks longingly down the road.
He is the shepherd, leaving the 99 to look for you, the one.
Think of Psalm 23.
He is the shepherd, walking through the wilderness with us, leading us through the blazing heat, being beaten by the sun, sandblasted by the wind carrying the desert sands, all so he can lead us beside the still waters when we get there.
He is the shepherd walking with us through the valley of the shadow of death, his rod and his staff giving us the guidance and comfort we need.
He is the shepherd preparing a table for us in the presence of our enemies.
He is the shepherd fighting our battles for us with the bears and lions.
He is the shepherd guarding us as the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.
He is the shepherd leading us all the way until we are finally home, in the presence of the Lord forever and ever.
The relationship of knowing him, and being conformed to his image is what brings sense out of the otherwise meaningless suffering of this world.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
He limits, an is with you, providing a way out.
What is the way out? He is!
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
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.
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.
Purpose and Hope because He is with us, making us, shaping us.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,
because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
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.
Fix your eyes on Jesus!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
God is in control!
God allows and limits!
God is the Compassionate Shepherd!
It is about the relationship!
Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”
