Content in Tough Times

Tough Times

We all go thru tough seasons in life.

There is no way around them, we have to go thru them, no one is exempt from them.

In many cases, we all go thru the same things. In some cases, we go thru something less common.

But thru all of them, that where we learn whether or not it’s worth it, or a waste of time to have faith in God.

Peter wrote this:

1 Peter 1:6–7 NIV

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

You would expect this from a guy on the ground floor trying to build a new organization. Is this just a marketing ploy to get ppl to sign on. Or, is this truth?

Before you very quickly declare, “truth”, remember how you felt while you were in the trial, not just after you came out of it.

Honestly, did you believe while you were in it?

Many of you know Sara and I are in a season w/ her parents right now. For the last few years she’d been suffering from dementia. A type 1 diabetic so remembering when to eat, what to eat, insulin; it was a challenge and it tested the strength of the relationships in the family.

Not to an extraordinary degree. It was just hard.

She passed in March.

About 3 weeks ago, Sara’s 89-year old dad fell, hit his head, knocked himself out cold.

Not long, but out.

SIL was right there, she is family practice doc, she checked him out, he was okay.

Even if you have a concussion all they do is watch you for severe symptoms before any treatment. So, they didn’t go to the hospital.

Going to the ER during a pandemic presents so many challenges. So, you really need the ER if you’re going to go.

Anyway, after a few days the concussion symptoms came on hard.

Severe headache, nausea, short-term memory loss, fatigue. Classic symptoms that may not be such a big deal if you’re not 89.

Sara went down to Tucson for a week. It was a tough week. She was right there, it was hard to see her dad go thru this.

We’re all grieving, still the loss of mom. Worried about dad.

He’s getting better, Sara is here. We’re making it thru.

So many of you have been, are, will be right where we are right now. Aging parents, we get it.

Thru it all we saw God’s hand and involvement.

For instance, when Sara’s mom passed we let the nighttime care-givers go. Kept the daytime care givers we knew dad would need them.

1 of the nighttime ppl moved to CA. The other took a new client.

The 1 that moved to CA just moved back and is available again. The 1 who took a new client, that client just passed and is available again.

So, we were able to hire them back to be w/ dad during the night. PPl he knows, likes, is comfortable w/. Coincidence?

We went thru another tough season a few years ago around moving here.

I went a year w/out a job before God led me here.

I knew God loves me but I had a wonderful plan for my life that did not include being unemployed for a year.

We saw God’s hand in our lives the whole time, but it was tough.

Then, moving here, we got a contract on our house in LR, came here put a contract on a house here, then the contract on the LR house fell thru.

We spent the next year w/ 2 houses and 2 house pmts. Not part of the plan.

And, here we are. It didn’t destroy us financially, our marriage survived, and the church is going strong. Coincidence?

The emotions are real. We didn’t sugar coat anything, tried hard not to live in denial or a fantasy faith world. We just tried to walk 1 day at a time w/ Jesus.

Here’s what we discovered, and here’s what you will discover, too, when you go thru hard times like these:

When you have faith in the God who gives life and the God who restores life, He will also keep you content in life during the toughest of times.

This is the message that comes thru when God performed a miracle thru Elisha for a faithful woman who had no children in a culture that saw that as a tragedy.

It’s written in 2 Kings 4. First, the context. vv 1-7 that I talked about last week.

Context

This was the message from last week. But, in this case it’s more important to keep this context in mind.

A poor widow w/ 2 sons, deep in debt and no way to pay.

But, she had a deep, abiding faith in God and He performed a miracle for her.

Her faith did not bring God’s power to her house, it was already there.

Her faith did not bring God’s provision, put oil in the jar, God did that.

Her faith prompted her to ask God for help and collect empty jars from her neighbors.

She didn’t need a lot of faith. She just needed a little faith, but placed in a great, big God.

The number of jars she collected was based on her view of how big and how powerful God is.

The oil kept flowing as long as the empty jars kept coming. The flow ended when the last jar was filled.

She ended up w/ enough oil to sell to pay off her debt and live off the proceeds for the rest of her life.

A little faith in a big God who provided in a big way.

Next, a related but different story w/ a message about faith in big God and what He can do for us in tough times.

Content

2 Kings 4:8 NIV

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat.

2 Kings 4:11–13 NIV

One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’ ” She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

Notice this. Last week it was about a poor widow.

This week it’s about a wealthy wife. God will work miracles regardless of socio-economic status.

Elisha would regularly visit Shunem, her home town. She provided a place for him to stay whenever he did. She and her husband added a room to their house for him. And, they would feed him.

Elisha wanted to repay the favor. He’s thinking he could speak to the king on their behalf. Elisha had a relationship w/ the king of Israel and he could get some tax relief for them.

Who wouldn’t want their taxes lowered?

They were wealthy, they paid the same percentage as everyone else. But, the amount was much more.

10% of $100 vs. 10% of $100,000.

Her response was that she was very content w/ where she was.

She had a home among her ppl. Everyone had homes. Hers might have been a nicer home.

But, what she meant was she had a deep sense of contentment in her life. It was not tied to her wealth. She could have been poor.

Paul wrote,

Philippians 4:13 NIV

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

The context of this verse is financial. We quote it at times in wrong ways.

Paul had been a wealthy, powerful Pharisee. Then, he was a poor prisoner as a church leader.

He had learned contentment regardless of circumstances. And he had circumstanced in all sorts of ways and knew what it was like to both wealthy and poor, yet content in all situations.

That’s this woman’s story. She was deeply content.

Her bank acct was full. But there was something in her life that was empty.

Much like the widow from the context, there was an emptiness that she had learned to cope w/.

It didn’t mean she wasn’t content. It didn’t mean she was in denial. It meant in spite of a tough situation she felt God’s presence to fulfill her even though she experience this emptiness.

What was it she was lacking that made her situation tough?

God Knew

2 Kings 4:14–17 NIV

“What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!” But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

She didn’t bring it up. God prompted Gehazi to mention it.

And the language indicates not just that they didn’t have a son to inherit their land. They had no children. And by now her husband was too old to conceive.

No hope. Her situation was impossible. Yet she had learned to be content in her situation.

Culturally, it was tragic that a woman was unable to conceive. It was even seen as a curse from God.

So there’s that. The entire town would see her, talk about her behind her back, assume so much about her.

She knew they talked. She knew what they said. Whatever feelings that stirred, it would have been little compared to the disappointment she felt all her life.

There were cultural expectations as well as personal expectations.

All of her childhood, like all the other little girls, they played w/ dolls dreaming of being a mommy. And, I’m sure they were told, like we tell our teenagers, “It only takes once so don’t ever do it.”

Then, you’re married and it takes more than once. Okay, more than twice. Okay, more than a year, two, three, four,…and so on.

This was her dream. This is what women did. They didn’t think about education or a career. They fixated on family.

Every month she was reminded she wasn’t pregnant again.

I can say as a man I don’t fully understand. And Sara and I have 3 kids.

But, when you live w/ conception difficulties it affects you in ways you never thought possible. And for a woman, whose whole life looked forward to motherhood the affect is even deeper.

Now, think about how it piled on when the village women whispered behind her back that she didn’t have any kids and assumed why.

I’m sure for years she cried out to God for a child. But, she had long since given up that prayer as now her husband was too old. And, she had learned to be content.

Contentment is not w/ some raw emotion. If someone goes poking around in an area that caused a deep wound don’t be surprised if the emotion comes to the surface.

Don’t pressure yourself to believe that you cannot be content, or are not content, even if there are some emotions that come out at certain times.

It’s real. It’s raw. But, God is still good and will provide a filling where you’re empty so you can say you are content even though something is missing from your life.

Admit the emptiness. Don’t deny it.

But also experience the fulfillment of God around the emptiness.

She didn’t ask for a child. God knew she still wanted one. When Elisha suggested she’d have one, she couldn’t go there if it wasn’t a sure thing.

She’d dealt w/ it. She was okay w/ it. Don’t go there if it’s not really going to happen.

The God she has faith in, the God that led her to contentment, is also the God who gives life. He gave reproductive life to her and her husband and created life in her womb that brought them a son.

He was born healthy. An amazing miracle. But this wasn’t the last miracle in this family’s life.

This was good. It was going to become great. But between good and great, it was real bad.

In spite of it all, she kept her faith.

She Kept Her Faith

She had faith and was content. She was thrilled when God gave her a son and faith was easy. Then, it got hard when things went bad.

Her son died.

2 Kings 4:18–20 NIV

The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.

Don’t know why. Doctors have speculated. Sunstroke. Cancer. it doesn’t say.

This was her worst nightmare. Worse than never having a son in the first place. Being given a son, a healthy son, then losing him at a young age.

When things like this happen the most difficult choice to make is to either regret what you don’t have, or appreciate what you had.

Easy for me to talk about here. But this choice will make or break your life. Regret not having a son grow old, produce grandkids, take care of you when you’re old.

Or, be grateful you had him for a few years.

A nearly impossible choice after a completely impossible conception.

But, she kept her faith.

Her husband never had much faith, if any.

2 Kings 4:22–23 NIV

She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.” “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” “That’s all right,” she said.

Her faith prompted her to cry out to God thru Elisha. She desperately wanted to go to him to cry out for help.

Her husband’s response was, “Why?”

Maybe he didn’t know the boy died. She didn’t want to get into a long discussion about whether or not she should go to Elisha.

She tells him it’s all right. But she’s going.

He’s thinking religious rites and rituals. That’s when you call the religious leader to your house.

Superficial religious activities w/ little or no faith in a God who is personally involved w/ those who believe.

He’s certainly not thinking healing or miracles. And she didn’t want an argument or long, drawn out discussion. She wasted no time.

She just wanted to go, now. She was determined.

She had lost her son, but not her faith, whether or not her husband ever had any.

2 Kings 4:27–28 NIV

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.” “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”

She fell at Elisha’s feet. Her posture communicated to him, and us where she was w/ God.

She was humble. She believed he could do something about her situation. And, when you wanted to make a request of your king or someone in authority, like God, you knelt at his feet.

She is there to make a request. It was assumed. Even tho’ there is no question in the grammar, Elisha got the message.

She was desperate and broken-hearted and he knew exactly what she was saying to him.

Please, would you come and ask God to do something miraculous for my family.

He did. And, He did.

Life Restored

2 Kings 4:32–35 NIV

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

There is not much to be made about how he did it. This is just what God led him to do as he cried out in prayer to God for the boy.

This wasn’t a magic trick.

Just as the mom laid prostrate before God at Elijah’s feet, he laid prostrate before God on the boy.

God gave the boy his life back thru Elisha’s life.

The same God who miraculously gave the boy life originally, restored the boy’s life and as far as we know he lived it out normally.

This is a message that Israel was going to need desperately.

God had miraculously given them life thru the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

They are about to go thru the most difficult time in their history to that point when Babylon invades and exiles them. To every casual observer it would appear Israel was dead and gone, forever.

But, God promised that would never happen.

They needed to remain faithful in their toughest time that the God who gave them life, would restore their life and give them contentment throughout.

This is a message we need, too. B/C we will go thru seasons of tough times.

Faith is not for the good times. It is. But, faith is mostly for the tough times. Faith is confidence that God is at work in ways we cannot see doing good things. The good times will arrive in time.

In the meantime, we can be content.

He is the God who gives life and the God who restores life.

Our faith doesn’t produce the power or make the light come on. Our faith prompts us to flip the switch that opens the flow of power to the bulb that provides the light for us.

And our faith is in the God who gives life, restores life, and gives us contentment while we wait for life.

Applications

Contentment

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

We can be content if we are confident about the future and certain about the present.

Confident that what we hope for, really hope for, not just want, will come to be b/c God has promised.

Certain about God being at work in the present doing good things that we cannot see right now.

That is a choice.

Choose to be content. It’s possible, not b/c of our ability to muster up faith, but only b/c or who our faith is in.

We don’t need much. We just need to place what little faith we have in our Great, Big God.

God Knows

God knew what this Shunamite wife wanted more than anything w/out her having to ask or make it know to anyone.

God knows you need and is at work providing it for you w/out you having to talk about it.

You may not even know what you need. But God is doing it for you.

Trust that He knows, is capable, and is doing exactly what you need for Him to do about it.

Giver and restorer of life

Is there something in your life that is dead that you need to live?

Your marriage? Relationship w/ a friend or family member?

Maybe it’s just inside you. You feel dead.

God is the giver of life and restorer of life.

Open your heart, your marriage, relationships; whatever feels dead, open it up to the only One who can bring it to life.

He will do that for you.

Faith is not for the good times. It is. But, faith is mostly for the tough times. Faith is confidence that God is at work in ways we cannot see doing good things. The good times will arrive in time.

In the meantime, we can be content.

He is the God who gives life and the God who restores life.

Our faith doesn’t produce the power or make the light come on. Our faith prompts us to flip the switch that opens the flow of power to the bulb that provides the light for us.

When you have faith in the God who gives life and the God who restores life, He will also keep you content in life during the toughest of times.