Hope in Suffering

I. God’s people can experience suffering. 1-21

A. The sufferer can feel God’s wrath. 1-3

rod of affliction, unlike “thy rod and thy staff” of Psalm 23

Amos 5:18, a day of “darkness, and not light”

The same hand that saves now afflicts. Isa. 59:1

B. The sufferer can feel physical pain. 4-6

bitterness means poison, cf. Jer. 9:15

C. The sufferer can feel trapped. 7-9

Christians in Afghanistan

Job 30:20 ESV

I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

Picture a tiny prison cell and heavy chains on a prisoner. One practice was to leave the sufferer bricked in to die. Even his prayers can’t seem to get out.

D. The sufferer can feel hunted down. 10-12

Christians in Afghanistan

E. The sufferer can feel humiliation. 13-15

The kidneys were considered as the seat of the emotions. “He pierced me to the heart.”

F. The sufferer can feel despair. 16-18

Possibly, “He has ground my face in the dirt.”

Finally, the author has reached the end of his rope. His despair is complete. He has given up.

G. The sufferer can have painful memories. 19-21

Even if pain is past, bitter memories persist.

II. God’s people have an unshakable Hope. 22-39

A. Those who hope in God have all they need. 22-24

B. Those who hope in God wait patiently for Him. 25-27

C. Those who hope in God endure hardship. 28-30

D. Those who hope in God will yet experience His love. 31-33

E. Those who hope in God know He is just. 34-36

F. Those who hope in God know He is in control of everything. 37-39