Be Comforted (2)

Introduction

Chuck Frye was a bright young man of 17, academically gifted and highly motivated. After graduating near the top of his class in high school, he went on to college, where he continued to excel in his studies. Upon completion of his B.S. degree, he applied for admittance to several medical schools.

The competition for acceptance was, fierce, Yet Chuck was accepted at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and began his formal training in September.

During that first term, Chuck was thinking about the call of God on his life.

He began to feel that he should forgo high-tech medicine in some lucrative setting in favor of service on a foreign field.

This eventually became his definite plan for the future. Toward the end of that first year of training, however, Chuck was not feeling well. He began experiencing a strange and persistent fatigue. He made an appointment for an examination in May and was soon diagnosed with acute leukemia.

Chuck Frye was dead by November.

How could Chuck’s heartsick parents, make sense of this incomprehensible act of God?

This young man loved Jesus Christ with all his heart and sought only to do His will.

Why was he taken in his prime despite many agonized prayers for his healing by godly family members and faithful friends? The Lord clearly said no to them all. But why?

Thousands of young doctors complete their education every year and enter the medical profession, some for less than admirable reasons. A tiny minority plan to spend their professional lives with the down-and-outers of the world. But here was a marvelous exception.

If permitted to live, Chuck could have treated thousands of poor and needy people who would otherwise suffer and die in utter hopelessness. Not only could he have ministered to their physical needs, but his ultimate desire was to share the gospel with those who had never heard this greatest of stories.

Thus, his death simply made no sense. Visualize with me the many desperately ill people Dr. Chuck Frye might have touched in his lifetime, some with cancer, some with tuberculosis, some with congenital disorders, and some too young to even understand their pain. Why would Divine Providence deny them his dedicated service?

There is another dimension to the Frye story that completes the picture. Chuck became engaged to be married in March of that first year in medical school.

His fiancée was named Karen Ernst, and she was also a committed believer in Jesus Christ.

She learned of Chuck’s terminal illness six weeks after their engagement, but she chose to go through with their wedding plans. They became husband and wife in July, less than four months before his tragic death.

Karen then enrolled in medical school at the University of Arizona, and after graduation she became a medical missionary in Swaziland in southern Africa. Dr. Frye served there in a church-sponsored hospital until 1992. I’m sure she wonders—amidst so much suffering—why her brilliant young husband was not allowed to fulfill his mission as her medical colleague.

And, yes, I wonder too. The great theologians of the world can contemplate the dilemma posed by Chuck Frye’s death for the next 50 years, but they are not likely to produce a satisfying explanation. God’s purpose in this young man’s demise is a mystery, and there it must remain.

Why, after much prayer, was Chuck granted admittance to medical school if he could not live to complete his training? From whence came the missions call to which he responded? Why was so much talent invested in a young man who would not be able to use it? And why was life abbreviated in such a mature and promising student, whereas many drug addicts, winos, and evildoers survive into old age as burdens on society?

People often ask why God allows suffering. While, this is an intriguing question, we will never be able to answer it adequately.

Solomon wrote in , “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.”

Proverbs 25:2 KJV 1900

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: But the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

states, “Truly you are a God who hides himself.”

Isaiah 45:15 KJV 1900

Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

reads, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.”

Deuteronomy 29:29 KJV 1900

The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

proclaims, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

When God Doesn't Make Sense When God Doesn’t Make Sense

there will be times in every person’s life when circumstances don’t add up

Ecclesiastes 11:5 KJV 1900

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

teaches, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This part of a christians

Isaiah 55:8–9 KJV 1900

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.

Countless people have also experienced the comfort of God, during times that make no sense. We can’t explain that either, but we can experience it.

If we are going to blame God for the suffering, we can become confused and even have a sense of abandonment.

The Apostle Paul expressed it this way: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” ().

Let’s examine Paul’s thinking together and see what Paul teaches us about comfort. As you turn your bibles to.....

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 KJV 1900

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

2 cor

I. What God allows—tribulations (vv. 3, 4a).

A. The Bible never promises a life without problems. The way some people act and talk you might think such a promise has been made, but it has not.

The key word here is expectations.

They set us up for disillusionment.

Wasn’t that precisely what happened to Job?

This God-fearing man of antiquity had done no wrong, yet he suffered a series of staggering losses in a matter of hours. I have heard many sermons based on the life of this remarkable Old Testament character, but the source of Job’s most intense frustration (his inability to find God) has often been overlooked.

B.The human spirit is capable of withstanding enormous discomfort, including the prospect of death, if the circumstances make sense

This God-fearing man of antiquity had done no wrong, yet he suffered a series of staggering losses in a matter of hours. I have heard many sermons based on the life of this remarkable Old Testament character, but the source of Job’s most intense frustration (his inability to find God) has often been overlooked

B. The human spirit is capable of withstanding enormous discomfort, including the prospect of death, if the circumstances make sense

B. The human spirit is capable of withstanding enormous discomfort, including the prospect of death, if the circumstances make sense

The point of the story, Job had lost everything.

Eventually, however, Job reached a point of despair

Eventually, however, Job reached a point of despair.....

Dr. James Dobson, When God Doesn’t Make Sense, n.d.

My complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say. Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me. There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge. But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. ()

Are we to assume that this inability to find and communicate with God in certain times of personal crisis was unique to Job? No, I believe it occurs in many other cases, perhaps to the majority of us at some point in life.

B. The human spirit is capable of withstanding enormous discomfort, including the prospect of death, if the circumstances make sense.

The human experience can’t build it’s life based on a certain theological understanding, it will collapse under the weight of “Pain & Suffering.”

One example of this is Nathan Hale moments before he was hanged.

He said to his English executioners, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

Soldiers will throw themselves into battle and die valiantly to achieve military goals.

The Human Experience can’t build it’s life based on a certain theological understanding, it will collapse under the weight of “Pain & Suffering.”

The absence of purpose is what makes ask “Why”

C. Instead, Job fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” ().

I challenge you to worship God through the circumstances, this only invites the compassion of God to find us like a father would find his Son.

The Parodical Son Looked to see into his Fathers face, He experienced the strength of his arms that surrounded him and smelled his odor that he remembered from his home of safety and had longed for the peaceful sounds of the birds from his early morning starts of the day.

Experience the comfort of God when you

B. The Bible specifically states that we will face trouble. God did not leave us to discover this truth by ourselves. He warned us in the word that we would suffer.

Co

The word “Blessed” to the start of Ver 3 is to be “Praiseworthy”

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

II. What God promises—Is comfort (vv. 3, 4b).

II. What God promises—Is comfort (vv. 3, 4b).

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 KJV 1900

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

A. While he does not promise a trouble-free life, God does promise that He will comfort us in all our troubles.

A. While he does not promise a trouble-free life, God does promise that He will comfort us in all our troubles.

HANG ON

Paul had experienced both trouble and comfort (1:4).

B. He is described as the Father of all compassion. Any act of kindness is ultimately reflective of God’s love.

It’s a principle of life that we receive in order to give encouragement.

Paul applied this principle to the help God offers us when we are dealing with hardships.

As a result, no sorrow in our lives needs to be wasted.

B.Our ability to empathize with another comes from our firsthand experiences of life.

David wrote the song of confidence in that God was his shepherd.

Make a list of difficult times in your last year when you experienced “handles” you know were God-sent.

The good shepherd is Christ.

Only he can restore my soul, The shepherd Lay’s me (As a Sheep) by Feeding us (tender grass) Pastures (Habitation, or house of God) (Creates a turning point) when he restoreth our soul, He leads us by (Quiet rivers) and anoints my head with Oil.

Goodness and Mercy shall fowllow.

David experienced the comfort in God as he sang himself confident.

If you can apply this confidence as David did, you will be comforted.

C. He is the God of all comfort.

Any feeling of comfort is ultimately prompted by God.

Matthew 9:36 KJV 1900

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

The Greek word for compassion (Gut)

He felt the limp crippled.

He felt the hurt of the diseased.

He felt the loneliness of the Leper.

He felt the Embarrassment of the Sinful.

Once he felt their hurts he couldn’t help but heal their hurts.

As your Shepherd he guides and cares for you.

III. What God expects—caring (vv. 5–7).

John 10:3 KJV 1900

3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

A. If we have received comfort from God, then we should share it with others. After all, we should remember how God used other people to bless us.

My wife in the Hospital

B. In turn, others will share comfort with us when we need it. I’m ready to start a cycle of goodwill and blessing.

I can use my own struggle in helping Amelia’s mother who is in ICU right now as I speak.

C. Will you dare to become a part of the Comfort Connection? Someone’s life may depend on it.

Someone’s life may depend on it.

When we know how precious the gift is, we should be prompted to reproduce it over and over. Will you dare to become a part of the Comfort Connection? Someone’s life may depend on it.

Conclusion

God has made a great provision for our lives. We need to know that we can receive help whenever we need it from our Christian brothers and sisters and from God as well.

Illustration

Many times, when we face trouble, we are prone to ask, “Why me?”

That is understandable, but upon further reflection we should be able to say, “Why not me?”

She was a young woman who desperately wanted to bear children. After much prayer it seemed certain she would not.

After much heart-wrenching consideration, she decided to turn around her bitterness and begin training to become an obstetrician. (Nurse deliveres babies)

She finds great satisfaction in helping others safely through childbirth.

God will either change our circumstance or change us.

And Either is a great blessing.

Have you noticed the phenomenon of a support group?

What is the theory behind it?

It is hoped that those who have been through a problem (e.g. childlessness, cancer, phobias, addiction, etc.) can be of help to others going through the same problem.

The Bible describes this very thing as a ministry and outreach of the church.

No one understands what you are going through like someone who has been there.

Conclusion:

Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Come, Those who are fatigued with life circumstances, those who are carrying a heavy Load.

At the Alter you will find rest, refreshing wind of the comforter, the HG