Weathering the Storms of Life
Weathering the Storms of Life
How Do I Respond to Tragedy & Disaster
Reference 1:1
1. INTRO: Slides
Ø Normally I prefer to take Scripture and try to explain it and then relate it to life. Sometimes, though, certain events of life demand that we explain them from the Scriptures. That is why I changed my sermon topic yesterday, and got started last night about midnight.
2. Scripture Joel 2
3. Why does it happen?
Ø Matt. 7:24-27. The parable of the two foundations shows us that storms will come.
Ø God uses disaster and tragedy to work out His good purposes in out lives.
Ø Why does it happen? Many reasons are listed in Scripture, and it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to know why, unless God supernaturally reveals it. Some of the reasons Scripture gives are “God’s not telling” - Deuteronomy 29:29; Discipline - Isaiah 10:6-7; Heavenly Glory & Instruction - Job 1:8-12; Global Revelation of God’s Power - Romans 9:17-88; Personal Revelation of God’s Power - John 9:1-3; Spiritual Opposition - John 16:33, 1 Peter 5:8-9; Ephesians 6:11-12;
Ø Does God only bring calamity on the worst of us? NO! He disciplines His children, more than others. He brought judgment on both Israel and the nations. I am not saying that this storm revealed that the folks of New Orleans or the gulf coast were better or worse than us. I am not saying the exact reason of the many we mentioned is the reason for this tragedy. I am saying that God works through all of these things to bring people to Himself to bless them in the end; to bring beauty from ashes, gladness from sorrow, and peace from despair.
Ø Luke 13:1-5; Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Ø God mysteriously works out His purposes to bring us to bow before Him so that we might be eternally exalted. Being exalted any other way almost always leads to eternal disgrace.
4. Responding Inwardly
Ø We may hate the idea. It seems repulsive; repugnant. Yet who are we to judge God?
Ø We feel this way partly because we cannot be sure that it will really produce more good than evil. God is not so similarly limited.
Ø Another reason we feel this way is that we struggle to evaluate on any scale that reaches beyond the temporal into the eternal. If we could really feel the weight of eternal joy & eternal misery, we would devalue the temporal versions of joy & misery.
Ø And I think we also hate the idea because we hate facing the fact that we are not the captains of our own fate, and that we too will fall under God’s hand if & when it is necessary.
Ø If we seek to solve the problem of evil by absolving God of responsibility by making him a clock maker who has left the clock alone to run on cause and effect, then we are left alone. We cannot count on Him for hope in distress.
Ø It is better to place the burden of our discomfort with God allowing and even orchestrating tragedy on our limited ability to understand the consequences of an action on the entire world through the course of all eternity!
Ø The passage from Joel 2 speaks of God bringing calamity and restoration just as easily. Since the final fulfillment of the passage is at Pentecost, we see that the suffering set the stage for the greatest good the world has ever known. Suffering is often the only thing that makes us seek Him, and then we are ready to receive what He wants to offer. God demonstrated His love for us most clearly by dying for us while we were still in sinful rebellion against Him.
Ø Did you notice on the news that when the National Guard arrived bringing order and comfort that some praised God, and some complained of the slowness of response?
Ø They may not measure up to the enormity of the suffering of Katrina, but each of us experiences a measure of suffering.
Ø It is good to be able to answer for ourselves, but maybe better not to answer too quickly to others who are in the midst of suffering.
5. Responding Outwardly
A. We mourn:
Ø Job 2:11-13 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Ø (for ourselves and/or others) Jesus said in Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
B. We pray: Joel 2:12, 13, 15
C. We tell:
Ø We leave here more conscious of the need everyone has to know God; for help & comfort in the suffering now, to lessen the need for God’s megaphone in the future, and to ensure their eternal comfort later.
D. We aide:
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