On Suffering: Look Up, Not Down!

Suffering is an issue that effects all of us. My intent is to help us understand suffering as a Christian and encourage us to look up, not down.

From a biblical perspective, human suffering is a result of evil. There would be no sin without the presence of evil. Many times we want to go to Genesis 3 and identify Adam and Eve as the ones who sinned and caused suffering. Actually, we need to go back much further to the disobedience of Satan who chose to serve himself rather than God. He gave Eve misinformation that encouraged her to disobey God because Satan told Eve that God could not be trusted. The results were catastrophic not only for Adam and Eve but for the entire human race.

Robert D. Culver states, Evil is allowed in the world for reasons God has never seen fit fully to disclose and which human wisdom has not discovered. I surely don’t have simple answers concerning the relationship of God’s omnipotence, and goodness to the presence of evil. But, I do have a faith in God Who is faithful, omnipotent, and good. I don’t know all things now but I am thankful that I have a personal relationship with the One Who knows all things. On the basis of looking up to God and not down to man, let’s see how we can deal with suffering that has already come and more that will assuredly come in the future. John Newton (18th), Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape from it, and with this I begin and end.

Let’s examine suffering in the light of Scripture.

MAKING SENSE OF SUFFERING WHICH CAN SEEM SO SENSELESS

A. Why bad things happen to Christians

• For instruction/obedience, Hebrews 5:8, Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

• For discipline, Revelation 3:19, Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

• For conformity, Philippians 3:10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

• For spiritual growth, James 1:2-4, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

• For comfort and to be comforters, 2 Corinthians 1:4, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

• For the future, 2 Corinthians 4:17, For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

B. Appropriate responses to suffering for Christians

Concerning the Father and the Son

• Don’t blame God, Romans 8:28, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Thomas Aquinas (13th), God is so powerful that he can direct any evil to a good end. Romans 8:28 does not declare that Christians will not suffer but that God will see us through the suffering.

• Accept God’s grace, Paul David Tripp, God’s grace is not just about your past forgiveness and your future hope but also about everything you’re facing right now. God’s grace often does its best and brightest work when things are the darkest and most difficult.

• Acknowledge God’s love, Christopher Morgan, In Christ’s suffering on the cross divine love and justice meet. The cross is the supreme manifestation of God’s love for sinners.

• Accept what Jesus did, Hebrews 2:9, But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

• Trust God, 1 Peter 4:19, Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. John Feinberg, God never promised to give you tomorrow’s grace for today. He only promised today’s grace for today, and that’s all you need!

• Take your concerns to God, 1 Peter 5:7, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Paul Claudel, Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with his presence.

• Experience the nearness of God, James 4:8, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. A.W. Tozer, Every man is as close to God as he wants to be. Do you want to be out of your troubles instead of into the arms of your heavenly Father?

• Know Jesus instead of just knowing about Jesus, Joni Eareckson Tada, When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, while imitating him and quoting about him and speaking of him. But only in the fellowship of suffering will we know Jesus. We identify with him at the point of his deepest humiliation. The cross, symbol of his greatest suffering, becomes our personal touch-point with the Lord of the universe ... Without a doubt, what helps us most in accepting and dealing with suffering is an adequate view of God—learning who he is and knowing he is in control. Christians are not called to work for Jesus but allow Jesus to work through us.

• Look up - not down, 1 Peter 5:10, And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Paul David Tripp, ... recount all the ways that God in love has guided you, provided for you, protected you, and met you with his grace and mercy. Continuously remember the sign posts of God's grace in your life.

Personal Do’s

• Have a testimony and share it, C. Samuel Storms, God does not witness to the world by taking his people out of suffering, but rather by demonstrating his grace through them in the midst of pain.

• Choose dependence, Dan McCartney, ... suffering has the effect of increasing the believer's awareness of his dependence on Christ.

• Accept suffering as your calling, Philippians 1:29, For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

• Have hope, Dan McCartney, ... the reward for persevering in suffering to the end is glory, glory unimaginable, glory so overwhelming that John in Revelation 20 and 21 can only describe it in fantastic pictures, borrowing from the language of Isaiah and Ezekiel, who themselves were having to search for words to describe what they saw.

• Be equipped, 1 Peter 4:1, Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. William Bridge, Suffering times are teaching times.

• Be humble, 1 Peter 5:6, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

• Be a good example, 1 Peter 2:12, Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

• Resist the devil, 1 Peter 5:8-9, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

• Keep on rejoicing, 1 Peter 1:6, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. Paul David Tripp, ... the way to defeat the dangerous potential of complaint is not by silence but by praise.

• Pursue ministry success, In Acts 11:19 the “scattering” of the church due to persecution is actually the means God uses to spread the gospel outside of Jerusalem.

Personal Don’ts

• Don’t be surprised, 1 Peter 4:12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. Augustine (354-430), God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

• Don’t be confused, Paul David Tripp, Our blessings are never payment for the good we’ve done, and our trials are never punishment for the wrongs we’ve done.

• Don’t be afraid, 1 Peter 3:14-15, But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

• Don’t be ashamed, 1 Peter 4:16, Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

C. A summary of biblical truths concerning God, evil, sin and mankind

• God is not the author of sin.

• God is a fellow sufferer with mankind.

• God alone has the solution for sin - His Son.

• There will be a time of judgment.

I encourage each of us to look up-not down. There will be a sinless new heaven and earth. Suffering is not ultimate - God is! Difficulty doesn’t control your fate - God does! Hardship doesn’t define you - God does. Therefore, look to our Heavenly Father and not down at our sufferings which one day will all be washed away.