GOD AND OUR TRIALS

Introduction

-Purple Sunday is a day recognizing that we go through storms in life, and yet God is faithful. Sometimes He will deliver in seemingly miraculous ways. Sometimes God’s work in our storms takes a little longer than we want. And sometimes God delivers us from our storms by bringing us into His eternal presence.

~But it is a biblical truth that in our storms and in our trials God is active.

-There was a young woman named Anne Steele who had encountered one trial and disappointment after another. Her mother died when she was three, and when she was nineteen she suffered a severe hip injury that left her an invalid. Eventually she fell in love and was engaged to be married, but the day before the wedding her fiancé drowned.

Later Anne Steele penned the following song:

Father, whate’er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies,

Accepted at Thy throne of grace, let this petition rise:

Give me a calm, a thankful heart, from every murmur free!

The blessings of Thy grace impart, and make me live to Thee.

-After all she went through, why would she turn to God and even come to a point where she pens a word of praise that speaks of how the trials drove her to live for God even more fervently? Because she knew that God is faithful and that He works wonders in His time—He will act on behalf of His people

-In the passage we are looking at today, God’s chosen people have been in 400 years of slavery. And even though they had been enslaved all those centuries and called out to God for centuries, God finally acts—in His time, in His way, through His chosen vessel.

~God appears to Moses in the burning bush and reveals that the trials and sufferings of His people matter to Him and He is going to take action.

-And we learn in our passage that even though we may go through sufferings and trials for a time, everything we go through matters to God and He will take action on our behalf. Maybe not when we want or how we want, but He will take action.

-May we be led to call out to God in our trials and to trust God to act in our trials according to His goodness and wisdom.

Exodus 3:7–12 ESV

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

I) God is aware of our trials

-After 400 years of enslavement it would be very easy to believe that God has forgotten you (at best) or abandoned you (at worst). You cry out to God for 400 years and see absolutely no movement of God among you.

~It could be easy to see this as a time of despair and despondency. It is a time of questioning, a time of doubt, a time of frustration.

-As they were going through this, you can see in your mind’s eye someone shouting out at God:

LORD, WHERE ARE YOU? WE HEARD WHAT YOU DID FOR ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB. BUT WHAT ABOUT US? WHERE ARE YOUR COVENANT PROMISES?

~And this heartfelt plea is only answered with complete silence.

-And, as much as I described what happened to the Israelites some 1500 or so years ago, some of you are going through something very similar. No, you have not been a slave for 400 years (I don’t think anyone here is quite that old), and yet you have this trial that you have been going through that has been met with what you might describe as agonizing silence.

-You hear testimonies from people who went through a trial and then God did some wonderous work in their lives, and as great as the testimony is it leaves you wondering: GOD, WHERE IS MY MIRACLE? WHY AREN’T YOU WORKING IN MY LIFE NOW LIKE YOU DID IN THEIRS? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ME? ARE YOU EVEN THERE?

-The Israelites were wondering the same thing. And this is what God said to Moses, and this is what God is saying to you. Look at v. 7:

I have surely seen the affliction of my people

I have heard their cry

I know their suffering

-God sees, God hears, God knows

~God is completely aware of what you are going through. God is completely aware of how you feel. God is completely aware of what you’re thinking.

-And that sounds all well and good and seems to line up with our theology (God is all-knowing, everywhere-present, etc.)—but if it is merely theology it leaves us cold.

~It’s not just that God is aware, but it’s also that God cares.

-Think about me as a parent. If one of my kids was really sick and really hurting and they pass out in the middle of the floor in the kitchen. And I walk into the kitchen to get a snack and just step over them and get my snack and step back over them again to go back to watch TV or whatever, that’s be a serious problem.

~I mean, I can definitely be accused of being unaware of what’s going on around me, but that would be extreme even for me.

~I’d definitely be aware that there is something wrong with someone I love.

-God is aware of what is going on in your life, and if you are His child through Jesus Christ He cares, and He does love you. God sees, He hears, He knows. And not only is He aware:

II) God is present in our trials

-At the beginning of v. 8 God tells Moses:

I have come down to deliver them

-Now, in the most literal sense, God did not have to literally come down. We know that God is everywhere. God has no need to move because He is just there.

~But this is what is called an anthropormorphism which means that the Bible (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) uses human descriptions to communicate God in a way that humans can understand—it’s an analogy

-In the Ancient Near East, they had this idea that God’s heavenly abode was literally up in the sky (and we’ve also taken up those descriptions although it is not literal)—and so, to say that God has come down means that God is manifesting His presence in some way and is becoming directly involved in whatever the situation might be. God is making His presence known.

-So, God is declaring to Moses that the time has now come for God to show Himself and reveal Himself to His people and act on their behalf—God is making His presence known to Israel, and God is making His presence and existence and power known to Pharaoh

-But this is God’s way of saying that His people are not alone—after 400 years it sure felt like it, but they have never been alone through this affliction and suffering, and they are sure not alone now as things have worsened

-And the trial that you are going through right now makes you think that God is off in some faraway land not paying any attention to you—but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He is present with you right here, right now.

-But, here again, this could sound like cold theology—God is everywhere present. And it can come across as mere cliché—God is aware, God is present, God loves, God cares.

~Because when you are in the midst of the trial none of that FEELS true. You are thinking right now: If God is aware and if God is present then why am I going through…

-And that’s the kicker—at the time of the trial we don’t know why, and maybe if we get out of the trial we still don’t know why.

~That is where faith comes in. We FEEL God is not aware and we FEEL that God is not present, but our feelings don’t dictate reality. God’s Word dictates reality. And God’s Word says He sees, He hears, He knows, and He comes down

-I imagine it this way (although it might be a weak analogy). When you have a baby in the family, and you are trying to teach the child to fall asleep on its own or to sleep through the night or whatever, often you will place the child in the crib or bed and then walk out and close the door and allow the child to cry themselves to sleep.

~From the child’s perspective you have left them and abandoned them and they feel lonely and scared and mad because they think that you are not present with them and they do not like the situation they’re in.

~But where is the parent? Right outside the door listening, having their heart ripped right out of their chest having to do this because it is best in the long run.

~The child feels abandoned, but the truth is the parent is right there. The child can’t see the parent and doesn’t know what the parent is doing, but the parent is present

-We don’t see God, we don’t see Him doing anything, we don’t think He cares—but where is God? He is present with us at our time of need. And not just that:

III) God is working in our trials

-God goes on to say in v. 8:

I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land

-God promised to deliver them and bring them out, but not just to undo the trial, but also to bring them into the good land

-Our God not only works on our behalf to stop the bad, but then He also works on our behalf to deliver the good. He takes us out of problems and into (spiritual) prosperity.

~He took the Israelites out of Egypt, but then didn’t just leave them wandering, He led them to the Promised Land full of milk and honey.

-GOD WORKS IN OUR TRIALS

~Now, He may not work when we want Him to work or how we want Him to work, but God is at work and He does it His way, which is the best way

-When God works He doesn’t accept suggestions nor is He open to negotiation. When God works He doesn’t take an opinion poll nor does He look at the latest statistics.

~Job 12 says that God has wisdom, might, counsel and understanding

~Psalm 147 says that God is abundant in strength and infinite in understanding

~Isaiah 55 says that His thoughts and ways are way higher than ours

-So, when God works, He does so from His eternal character, His infinite wisdom, His own holy counsel—and, again, it is up to us to trust regardless of feelings

-And with that background in mind, Paul then says:

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

-God is at work in our trials for our good—and, yes, somehow these trials are part of His purpose in us and through us

~He might work on our faith

~He might work on our stubbornness

~He might work on our independent spirit

~He might work on our worldliness

~He might work on our self-centeredness

-God has His reasons—but one way or another, God is at work

IV) God uses us in others’ trials

-Not only is God aware and present and working, but God gets other people involved in our trials to be instruments of His work; and He uses us in other people’s trials to be conduits of His blessing

-You notice in v. 10 that God said to Moses:

Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt

~And after Moses protests, God says in v. 12: I will be with you

-God says to Moses that He sees and hears and knows and is coming down to deliver

~Moses is probably thinking: That’s awesome! God is finally going to get my people out.

-Then God says to Moses: I’m sending you and I am going to be with you and I am going to use you to get the people out.

~And Moses is like: SAY WHAT? God, I’m all for you doing something to help these people in their trial, but I thought you were going to do all the work. I don’t ever remember signing up for anything like this.

~Well, if you are one of God’s people, you’re automatically drafted—God is going to use you for His Kingdom, and that includes being a conduit of blessing

-Just last week those tornadoes ripped through central Tennessee. Danny and the PAR disaster relief team left Friday morning to go to Mt. Juliet, TN, that was devastated by those tornadoes.

~The people in Mt. Juliet are going through trials. God is using Danny and PAR to be used by Him to be an instrument of His work in helping the people in their trials.

-Are you open to God using you in whatever way He sees fit and necessary?

Conclusion

-I want to close with this:

How do I know that God is aware and present and working in our trials?

Because that is reflected in the gospel message

~After the fall of mankind, God was aware of the spiritual state that humanity was in—He understood much more than man did because God’s just, holy character had to punish mankind’s sin. If He didn’t, He wouldn’t be God.

~He was completely aware of man’s problem, and aware of mankind’s inability to do anything about it.

-And so, God came down and His presence was found in the God-man Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh and dwelt among His people

~And God did the only work possible to fix humanity’s sin problem. Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sin, and He rose again to defeat death.

~Man’s greatest trial, being a sinner with a sinful nature that brought about sinful actions that would only result in the wrath of God—God was aware, He came down to be present, and He worked to save us. And now God uses us to declare that message. But what will you do with that message?

-If you have never repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus…

-Maybe you are a Christian who is going through a trial, come to the altar and ask God to strengthen your faith so you know that He is aware and present and working

-Maybe you are looking for a church home where God can use you in the lives and trials of others…