Why Suffering?
Why Suffering?
A sermon by Mike James
If we are human, we suffer. No matter who you are in life, you are going to suffer in life. There is nothing you can do to stop suffering coming into your life. When you look into the news over the last couple of years, we can bring up many incidents. One that is fresh in my mind, because I have a young daughter right now, are the child abduction stories that we have seen on CNN or Fox News that are carried on for weeks and weeks and you are wondering what happened to these children. Many times the child has been sexually assaulted, the child has been murdered. Just think of the family of that child and what they went through over those weeks and months until they found out what had happened to that child of theirs. That is suffering isn’t it? I mean, that is real suffering in this world. There is no doubt about it.
You can think back to World War II. You can think about Hitler and Germany and what happened to 6 million Jews. You know they get off a boxcar at Bergen-Belsen or Dachau or whatever concentration camp they went to and someone would decide. “You look like you are good enough to work.” “No, you are going to go over here.” Where was over here? Over here was into a gas chamber, where people were gassed and died a terrible death. What happed to their family who was still alive working in that camp? They got the word eventually that that particular person in the family was now dead and they had to live in those conditions for a number of years. That is suffering. There is no doubt about it. There is suffering in this world. People will ask the question, why? Why would God allow this suffering in this world? That is a question that people who do not believe in God will throw at us. Those who believe in God, you have this God who is sovereign and is in control. Well, why is he allowing this terrible suffering in the world? It is an issue that we have to deal with as Christians. The Bible does address the issue. The Bible gives a number of reasons why there is suffering in the world. What I want to do today is address the various Biblical reasons that are given for why there is suffering in the world. There is more than one reason. This is a complex issue and you know what? We will not totally understand this issue when we are done with this sermon today. But we will get a better handle on it, I believe, when we look to God’s word to try to understand why there is suffering in the world. Let’s begin to look at this question.
Sin is a cause of suffering in the world.
One of the major reasons that are given in the Bible as to why there is suffering in the world is because there is sin in the world. Sin leads to suffering. It leads to suffering in a couple of different ways. Let me explain. One of the ways sin leads to suffering is because God is just and God must punish sin. So some of the suffering is a result of God’s punishment on mankind. Now, do I have biblical examples of there? There are many biblical examples of that. Remember, this is just one explanation of some of the suffering. It is not explaining everything yet. Turn with me in your Bibles and take a look to see if God brings some suffering on people in this world and we must be honest here and say that he does. Notice what the Lord says:
Amos 1: 3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron.”
Remember now, they are sinning and God is just, so he must punish sin. In a sense, they are involved in this also. When I saw God is bringing suffering, it is because of what we are doing.
Amos 1:44 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.5 I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,” Says the LORD.
So what is God saying here? He says he is bringing punishment on Damascus, which is Syria, because of what they have done to Gilead. We see numerous examples of that, not only in the book of Amos. You can turn to Amos chapter 2 and you see it here in verse 6.
Amos 2:6 6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.”
As you continue to read down through there, you can see other sins that Israel perpetrated and God is going to bring punishment upon them and they are going to suffer because of that, because of their sin. Their national sin. He does not necessarily bring punishment immediately, as soon as someone sins or as soon as the nation sins, but he will bring punishment. He is a just God. He must have justice reign in his world and he will bring down the hammer eventually, whether it is personal sin or national sin. We see that example in our Bible. Whose problem is sin here? Well, it is their problem, because they are the sinners, right? They are the ones who have done these evil deeds and God is about to bring down punishment upon them.
Another example I would like you to turn to on this same theme is over in the book of Hosea.
Hosea 13:1616 Samaria is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
and their women with child ripped open.”
Now folks, that is some heavy stuff there, you know, when we are talking about children getting hurt and women being ripped open, and God is bringing this down on them for their sin. What do we know about God? We know about another resurrection that is going to occur. We know about the first resurrection and about the second resurrection. We know God will bring people back to life, so this is not necessarily the end of these people. When we read about Israel going into the land and decimating and entire population because God told them to, for me that was a difficulty! I had trouble understanding that when I first tried to understand Christianity. But then, I understood what resurrection was all about and what God is doing in this world and why he is doing it and in the way he is doing it. We won’t have all the answers in this life. We can get some of the answers from the Bible. We can get a good deal of the answers, but to totally understand it, and the reasoning of God, we need to look at some other scriptures that will help us better understand that. I want to make the point here, that God will bring some suffering on this world, because of our sin. It is obvious from many scriptures that this is a truth and we need to be aware of it. I am not going to turn there, but if you are taking notes, remember Deuteronomy 28. God says he will bless you if you do this and I will curse you if you do that. So, he weighs it out. He is plain about what he is going to do. He lets us know. It is all there. We have to make that choice. God allows us to make that choice, because of what he is doing with us. We can’t be robots. He is not creating robots. He is creating people who can be part of his family some day. In order to do that, there has to be things you go through, things you overcome, and things to help you understand what love is all about. That is one aspect of why there is suffering in the world.
Man’s sin upon man is another cause of suffering in the world.
Another aspect relating to sin: Why is there suffering in the world? Man’s sin upon man. Some of these things that were talking about God’s punishment on man had to do with man’s sin upon man, but when we look at this more specifically, let’s think about the last hundred years in this world. Let’s think about Polpot’s Cambodia and the Camir Rouge regime and what they did to that population. Let’s think about Joseph Stalin and what he did to the Soviet Union population. Let’s think about all the despots you can think about in the last hundred years Saddam Hussein or whoever it may be. We know what they did to their population. There is a young lady here who just went to South Korea, but we know who is ruling North Korea right now and what is going on in that population. The massive starvation that occurred there over the last 10-15 years. What is more important to that leader? His nuclear missiles or his military, rather than feeding his people. They are starving! I have seen pictures of those North Koreans, the gaunt looks in the faces and the eyes of the children. It hurts me to see that. Those children are suffering. When you don’t eat, you suffer folks. You suffer. There is a mass of suffering in this world due to man’s inhumanity to man.
Man does it to himself.
We can get even more particular about that and talk about what man does to himself, not just what he does to other men and women. Someone I know in the church recently died. I baptized this guy a couple of years ago and he died due to smoking cigarettes for a long period of time in his life. He got cancer and died from it. Not everyone who smokes cigarettes is going to die from cancer, but many people do and you are hurting yourself when you smoke cigarettes. If you drink too much….I had a friend who was an alcoholic. He is dead today, because he got in his car one day after he had been drinking and he wrecked it! He is dead today because of that. Some of these things we do to ourselves. Not only do we suffer, by either being in the hospital or suffering from a disease, but our families suffer from us not being around anymore to help take care of them. Man suffers also because of what man does to himself. This is another reason that the Bible gives as to why there is suffering in the world. You can look back at the incident of Cain and Abel. Right there at the beginning one brother is murdering another brother. That is inhumanity towards man. That is causing suffering for your family and for you. Man does it to man. Man does it to himself.
God will sometimes use suffering for a greater good.
When you look at the Bible for reasons for suffering, once you find out there has been suffering, the Bible brings up a very interesting point, A VERY IMPORTANT POINT, and if you don’t get anything else out of today’s sermon, I want you to remember what I am going to address right now. So, please wake up if you are sleeping. Nobody here seems to be sleeping, but I want you to get this point. Don’t forget this point about suffering. It does not answer everything about suffering, but it is very important when we look at suffering and when we discuss this subject with someone who does not believe. Think about it, okay? Think about the story of Joseph for a moment, okay. Joseph was the favorite son of his father. Joseph comes out to his brothers one day and he is giddy and happy or whatever. His brothers have kind of had it with him, because they know he is the favorite son and they are tired of him getting the best treatment and he comes out with his new duds on and he is talking about his dream and thus and such, and eventually what happens is his brothers decide, some of them, that they want to kill him. Now, they don’t kill him, but what do they do? They sell him into slavery. Now, things are going so great for Joseph. He is suffering a little bit. If you were a slave back then, there was some suffering you are going to go through. He gets sold eventually to Egypt. Now, he is in Egypt and he suffers a little more, because what happens? He is accused of rape! He ends up in jail. So now this charmed life he has been leading is now not going the way he wants it to go. He has been going through some suffering now up to this point in his life, but eventually what happens? It turns around, and he becomes a chief political figure in Egypt, right? Notice what it says in Genesis chapter 50 and mark this in your Bible. Notice what he says, the inspired word of God, what is it telling us here about some suffering?
Genesis 50: 19 Joseph said to them (his brothers), “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
The point I want to make is: God will sometimes use suffering for a greater good. That is an important thing to remember about allowing suffering in this world. That God will sometimes use it for a greater good and not necessarily that God has brought this suffering about. Okay? Not all suffering is something that God has caused in this world; in fact, most of it is not caused by God. God will use suffering for a greater good. What was the good here? This family that God used to build a nation with is now going to sustain itself and live, because of what happened to this individual. Now, you can extrapolate out into your life. You can probably think in your life of incidents where something bad happened to you and when you think about it years later, you say to yourself, “That actually was good for me.” I don’t need you to go there to tell me what it is, but I know that is true in my life, okay? I can give you examples from my life, where something that was bad for me initially. I thought it was terrible. You know my breakup with a girl I wanted to marry. I thought it was terrible when it first happened, and for 6 months after that I was thinking it was bad, but from that experience, I began to try to get my Masters degree. I was forced to try to do other things to get my mind off her and it led me to get my Masters degree. It led me into volunteer work, which I continue to do to this day, and all the enhancements that has given me in my life. Those incidents may have occurred later in my life, I don’t know, but I know it was directly related to breaking up with that girl that I wanted to marry. I also learned a valuable lesson about relationships and how people may say things, but not do things in life. It was a valuable lesson that I could not have had unless it hurt like it hurt at that time. That is one for me, and I am sure you can think of one from your life. God uses these things in our lives that do not necessarily go the way we think that they should go for our betterment. To enhance who we are as individuals and build that character that he is trying to develop in us. We see this example here in Genesis and it is in other places in the Bible. Take a look with me over in Acts Chapter 8 for a moment.
Acts 8:1-3 1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
Be at Jerusalem with these people in the church. You are now persecuted. People are after you. Stephen has been killed. He has been martyred. He is one of your leaders. What are you starting to think? Wow, this Christianity thing might not be such a good deal. What happens? Imagine people came into your house here in Ohio and said you are going to prison because you worship on the Sabbath and you keep those Holy Days. We are putting you in prison. You wouldn’t like that would you? You would have some issues with that right? That is a little suffering if you go to prison.
Acts 8:4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
Acts 8:9-109 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”
Simon had some issues there with understanding what exactly they were getting across, but the Samaritans came to believe. Some of these Samaritans who the Jews did not get along with came to believe in this Gospel message. Many of the Jews were even afraid to go speak to them because they had issues with them, but this scattering that was caused by the persecution led to the message getting out there. Do you think God was behind that? You think God had something to do with getting that message out there? I definitely believe he had something to do with getting the message out there. Taking the bad and making it into a good. Another example of this can be found in John 11. This deals with death, which is a big deal in our life as humans. Death is something we all have issues with. We want to keep living, don’t we? Some people don’t. Some people do commit suicide, so let me preference that saying that a lot of people will commit suicide, but most people want to keep living and therefore death is a problem. Death is suffering for us. When you think of losing a loved one, you suffer a little from that because you loved that person and you miss that person. You miss that person. They are not there like they used to be. There is some suffering that comes from death or for us in this life. But notice this especially and be thinking about the fact that a death has occurred here in this particular incident.
John 11:1-4 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Do you get what he said there? He said we are going to use this incident for the glory of God. Get that point! What did Jesus then do?
John 11:5-7 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
Did he run to Lazarus to try to heal him? They knew he was a miracle worker. He had performed miracles already. They knew who they were dealing with. That is why they asked for him. What did Jesus do? Verse 6. He stayed two more days in the place where he was! Then he said let’s go.
John 11:8 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you, and are you going there again?”
What happens before Jesus gets there? Lazarus is dead folks! Lazarus has died and has been dead over 3 days and 3 nights. We recognize that the Jews understood that people might come back to life sometimes before 3 days and 3 nights were over, so that is an important idea to have in mind as to why did he wait a couple extra days. He wanted to make sure that everybody there knew: THIS GUY IS DEAD. He is not coming back. He is dead. The point I want you to get here is Jesus allowed his good friend to die. Now we know he is going to raise him from the dead, yea, but aren’t his sisters going to suffer for a few days? Right, just like people in this world suffer for many days when a little child is dead. Keep these things in mind. Jesus let a good friend of his die. His let his sisters suffer. Now it is only for a couple of days. I get that, but get that in your mind that he let this happen. He had the power to stop him from dying. He is Jesus Christ. He is God. But he let him die for what? For the Glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it. There was something he wanted to get across here….some greater good to him that was going to happen. What was that greater good? The miracle of raising someone from the dead. That is going to blow some minds folks. When these people realize this guy is dead and he is now alive and this guy told him to come out of that grave, Whoa! People are going to say, “Wait a minute, who is this Jesus Christ?” That is going to influence some people to get involved with Christianity once they find out that this is now a new way, a new path to follow. It is going to allow the church to grow because of this particular sign that Jesus showed in raising this individual from the dead. You have to remember God is totally in charge. It is his world! Although Satan is running around in it and ruling it right now, God is the one in charge. He is going to do things his way and he is God! Who are we to question God and understand all the motivations and reasons he does things, although he does give us some scriptures that can help us understand a little further, and we will look at those in a few moments. Here is another example I want you to get: God does allow this suffering to bring about a greater good at times. God can use suffering to bring about a greater good. There are numerous other examples in the Bible. I don’t have time to get them all, but if you are taking notes, just let me have you jot down a couple.
II Corinthian 1: 3-7 talks about those who suffer are then able to help others who suffer later. I am able to counsel people now who have bad relationships with a girlfriend or boyfriend. I have been there and I understand it. I can help people who have suffered having a loved one die of cancer, because I have experienced that. Many of you have too. That is another reason we see there is a greater good coming through this suffering. You say, but why the suffering? We are going to get to that later.
II Corinthians 12: 7-10 Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh. He asks God to remove that from him, but God did not. What did Paul get from it? You know what? This is working for me. This is keeping me humble. This is keeping me active. Having this thorn in the flesh keeps me maintained and focused on what I need to do and where I need to go and what I am about. God used that to keep Paul on the right path. What happens sometimes to people? Sometimes people get a big head. When they are important as Paul was, they can sometimes take that a little too far, and God was keeping Paul humble. Sometimes he does that by different methods and different ways.
Satan will bring about suffering.
Another reason why there is suffering in this world. There is an evil force in this world. There is an adversary in this world called Satan the Devil. He is outside trying to mess us over. Think of the book of Job. Why is it in your Bible? It deals with the issue of suffering folks. Read the whole book, if you haven’t in a while. Satan is involved in some suffering in this world also. A great deal of suffering. He will be involved in suffering in the end of time. He is involved in suffering right now in this world with his minions, his demons. They promote their thoughts into the culture, into the air. Look at this world! Look at the people who do the things that they do in this world. Remember those folks. They were little children like the little babies we have in here right now. They were innocent little babies at one time in their life and look what they have turned into. Is it all just because something went wrong in their brain or is there an evil influence in this world that helps promote people getting bad in the brain? I submit to you that there is an evil force in this world and God allows that evil force in this world. As you read through the book of Job, you get a handle on that. Great suffering came to Job in his life. He had a lot going for him and he was a follower of God too! He was going the right way, yet suffering came upon him too. We all have the ability to suffer and the capacity to have suffering inflicted on us, even as Christians. In fact, the Bible says as Christians you may have more suffering than others in this world. But it is not all about this world. It is not all about the here and now. It is about the later. This world is a short period of time. Think of a flower. Think of the summer season. That’s how it is. It is short. It is a wisp and it is gone. We need to recognize what this life is all about and recognize what is coming. It is difficult to do, because this is all we know. I know. I know. That is why we suffer! Because we are physical. Because we think this is it, you know. But it is not and this book tells you it is not. That is why you have to stick your nose in this book and stay with it. Satan is in this world. Satan will bring about suffering.
In Revelation 12:9 says that Satan is the great deceiver. He has brought deception on the whole world. How has he done that deception? Why do those people commit suicide? Because they have no hope. They don’t believe there is any hope in going on and they kill themselves. Okay? Satan has brought despair into the minds of people because they think there is no hope. This book is all about hope! This book tells you that you can live forever as a glorified being. That is AWESOME and unbelievable! If you know that. What is the suffering in this world? What is it? It is for a short time. Don’t forget that. It is going to be there. It is painful, yeah, we feel it. I know it. I feel it too. I am not a robot, although my wife tells me I am sometimes. You know I am not as emotional as she is. She is right; I need to work on that. I do. But the reason I am not as emotional, I guess, is because I believe this. I believe it and I say it is going to happen. Everything is going to be cool someday. That is what keeps me going. That is what sustains me not matter what happens out here. That keeps me going. We have to believe that. I believe that we believe it because why are we here if we do not believe that. Now that is another reason why there is suffering in the world.
Time and chance happens to anyone.
Here is another one the Bible gives us. Let’s turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. I want you to go to Chapter 9 verse 11.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
12 For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.
Folks, why do some people die in airplanes and others survive? Why do some people die in car crashes and others survive? Why can a tornado come through a town and on one side of the street all the houses are fine –on the other side of the street all the houses are decimated and people have died? Why? Because there is risk in this world. Time and chance happen in this world and there is nothing you can do about it. Can God stop a tornado? Yes. Can God stop an auto accident from happening? Yes. Can he stop a plane crash from happening? Yes, he can! But does he do it all the time? No, he does not. The Bible is clear that there is time and chance! God has allowed risks in this world for a specific reason. That reason has to do with who we are becoming and what he is trying to do with us. For that reason, there has to be risks in this world. There has to be choices that you make in this world and there will be suffering in this world. That is just the rules of the game. If we think of it like a game, and I am not saying it is a game. People can take that the wrong way. There are certain rules in games, right? You are just in this game with certain rules. There are parameters and this is the way it is and we have to accept the way it is. I am going to get to something a little later that I want you to get at the end. Time and chance happen to us all. Another good scripture for that is over in Luke 13. Back then, a lot of people thought it was all due to sin. That everything bad that happened to you was due to sin, and notice what Jesus says here. Some people have issues with Ecclesiastes. I don’t. I believe all scripture is from God. Notice Luke 13:1
Luke 13:1-3 1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Where is Jesus’ mind set? Where is his focus? It is on that future kingdom and getting into that kingdom. He is not totally focused on this life, although he knows you suffer. He knows about that because he suffered too in this world. He came to this world to get that.
Luke 13:4-5 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
What is his point here? What is the real perishing he is talking about? He is talking about the second death. That is the TRUE perishing, okay. That is the one you don’t want to go through. That is what the focus is here. Yes, he understands your suffering in this world. He feels your pain. He is your mediator. He also wants you to realize the focus is not on this. It is on that which is to come. That is what we need to focus on and remember. Now, you still say, “Well, why do these bad things happen to good people?” There is a book with that title. Does what I have already told you totally explain all suffering completely? NO, I don’t think it explains all suffering completely, but let’s see if we can go a little further with this as we start to conclude the message. Let me have you look at a couple of scriptures here. We are not going to go to Job, but you notice in Job chapters 38, 40, and 42, what you will see is that God finally comes to Job and says, “Who are you to question me?” Job has been having this dialogue with his buddies about why all the suffering has befallen him. Job is thinking he has been doing things the right way, so why is all this stuff happening to me? His friends give him all the reasons and he thinks of some reasons, then God finally says, “I’m God, who are you?” He starts to tell Job about all the things he has done and asks him, “Do you realize who you are dealing with here?” What happens is Job finally gets it! Job finally realizes, WOW! Who am I to question God and what God is doing? I can’t question God and what He is doing. That is the conclusion that Job comes to about all this suffering that has befallen him. Something to think about is this. How many millions of people have looked at the question of Job over the years and how many of those people were possibly aided in some way by looking at the book of Job? I know many people will not be aided by looking at the book of Job, but I know there are many people who do believe in the Bible and they look at the book of Job as an example of God is beyond us! And what he is doing is something we cannot totally understand where we are at right now. We get some inkling. We look through the glass darkly, but we do not get the totality or complete understanding of it yet. Yet, these scriptures can help us understand it to some degree.
Romans 11:33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 “For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become His counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
What is this verse telling us? That God’s judgments, God’s ways are past our understanding right now. We can understand it to some point, but only to a point. We cannot totally understand it all. We need to accept that fact. We need to deal with that fact. That is the way the rules are ladies and gentlemen. That is the way the game is played. I think there is more that we can see here.
We talked about the second resurrection, people coming back to life again, and that is an awesome thing to remember, because this church and some other churches are some of the few churches that believe in that truth in your Bible. That there is a second resurrection. That all the suffering people have gone through will have the ability to get through all that and come out on the other side, if they follow God’s way. We have that to help us, but let me have you to think about you in comparison to the ant or say a monkey, who is being tested for some drug that may help thousands of people. Now, for the monkey or the ant in the ant farm that you are playing with. I had this little ant farm in sixth grade science when we had to do something with insects. I created an ant farm and put the ants with some dirt into this container and eventually the ants did not do so well in there because there was not enough air and I did not realize it. To make a long story short, it was not a good deal for the ants. Okay? Maybe that is not a great example. Let’s go back to the monkey example for a moment and how certain animals are tested for certain drugs. Some of these animals experience things that are not good, of course, but a greater good comes from it, which is that human beings are being able to live their lives for a longer period of time. Now, for the monkey that is not a good thing. I got that! But let us compare God to us in relation to us to a monkey or to an ant or something like that for a moment. Let’s say you had the ability to bring that monkey back to life someday or to bring that ant back to life someday. In allowing the suffering that the animal went through maybe there is some learning that animal made.
1 Peter 4:12-14 12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.[a] On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
So there is a little inkling here that if you go through some stuff that it is a good thing. Why is it saying it is a good thing? It is saying Christ also suffered. Is there some relation here to Christ’s suffering and our suffering? Bear with me on this because remember who Christ is. Christ was the son of God. He came to this earth and suffered like men do and then he went back to being God, right? We are man and it says in Genesis that he made us in his likeness. Why? What do we believe? We believe we can become like him. It says in scripture we can become like him, doesn’t it? (I John 3:2) What is that all about? He comes here and he goes through what we go through. Now we are going through it. We have some issues with it. He went through it. He took it. He took it a lot worse than many of us will have to take it, didn’t he? He was hung on a cross. He was beaten, scourged, despised, spit upon. He took it. Hold this thought. Let’s look at another scripture.
Romans 8:18-19 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
We have not experienced it yet, but these sufferings we are going through do not compare. We just don’t get it and we can’t get it. What is coming is going to make all that you are experiencing now understood and acceptable. That is what I am getting from this scripture. We cannot totally get it. You go somewhere and you experience something and you try to tell someone about it, do they REALLY get it like you got it when you went through the experience? No. They don’t really get it like you got it by having lived through the experience. Is there something about the experience of suffering that does something for us? I submit to you that there is something about the experience of suffering that does something for us and we do not have the total answer to it yet, but I submit to you that is a good answer! God is in charge and he says it is going to be okay. These scriptures give us a little inkling into that.
Romans 9:14-17 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”[b]
Again, God allowed what happened to Pharaoh in Egypt because God’s plan was paramount. God’s purpose was paramount! We are too concerned with Me, Me, Me and I, I, I. It is about God and his purpose and his plan.
Romans 9:18-20 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
It is saying, He is the Creator. He is the Sustainer. He is what it is all about. He knows best. You remember the program, “Father Knows Best.” Okay, who is God? God is Father. He knows best. I am a father now and my daughter is starting to develop her personality and starting to branch out into some things she shouldn’t be doing and I have to let her know---no, no, no. You are not going to do that. She may not like it, but I know better than her right now, just like Father knows better than us right now. Right now, my daughter is not going to get it. She is going to scream and complain, right? Just like we scream and complain sometimes, because of the suffering we have to endure. But I am telling you, FATHER KNOWS BEST. Someday, my daughter hopefully when she is a teenager or maybe later, I don’t know, but hopefully she is someday she is going to realize, Dad did know best. We are going to realize, as we read in scripture there, when we finally see it all and get it all, that yes, it was for a good realize. We have got to trust God. That is part of being a Christian. You have to trust God!
Hebrews 2:10 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Now this scripture has puzzled some people at times, because they say, if God is perfect, and He is, how can he be perfected through sufferings? This has caused some issues for some people. We have to realize something about this. Was God ever physical? Was he ever flesh and blood man? Yes, we have that record in the Bible here, but why did he become like man? So man could have salvation, of course. What is all that about? It is about what God is about. It is about love. What is God? God is love. He goes through suffering for us and he is love, right?
Think about the suffering you have gone through in life. Is your capacity for love enhanced by the suffering you have experienced in life? Think about that for a moment. Has your capacity for love --understanding love, accepting love, or giving love been enhanced by the suffering you have experienced in life? Let me tell you something. A friend of mine a few years ago died of colon cancer and I saw him suffer through that cancer and I got something from his suffering through that cancer that I can give to other people now. Because of that suffering I saw him endure and how strong he was in that suffering, I was enhanced by it. I know that is hard to understand maybe, but I was enhanced by his suffering and I am hopefully getting that across to you right now, because that I feel that suffering enhances our capacity to love. What are we trying to get to? We are trying to get to be like God. God is love. Jesus died for us, so we can have that love with him. Suffering is part of it. We need to accept that and be with it. When you can be with it, life is so much easier. It is about the love we experience.
1 John 4:7-11 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Your experience of suffering can enhance your capacity to love one another and love is what God is. Love is what we need to become.
