If you could ask God any one question and you knew he would give you an answer
right now what would you ask him? What would you ask? Well it may not be
surprising but by far the number one questions that Americans ask is why does
God allow pain and suffering in the world does that surprise you
didn't surprise me you know if you've never asked the question why is there
suffering why is there pain in the world the chances are you will when it strikes
you full force or it strikes a loved one full force and you know what it's gonna
come it's gonna come Jesus was honest Jesus said you're gonna have suffering
Jesus said this in John 16:33 he said you will have suffering in this world
you will but why all I could do would be to look at you and give you a four word
answer I do not know I don't know I don't know I cannot stand in the shoes
of God and give a complete answer to that question I don't have the mind of
God I don't have the eyes of God first Corinthians 13 verse 12 says now we see
things imperfectly like puzzling reflections in a mirror but then we will
see everything with perfect clarity all I know now is partial and incomplete
but then I will know everything completely just as God now knows me
completely so if you ask me why do individual events of pain of suffering
happen friends honestly in this world you may not get a full answer
and frankly if you're going through something like that today if
you're going through a era of your life with a lot of suffering and a lot of
pain then the last thing you really need is some theological treatise on pain and
suffering because no amount of words are gonna be sufficient for you it's always
gonna sound trite when you're in the middle of suffering what you need is the
very real presence of Jesus Christ in your life but having said that and this
is equally important even though we can't understand everything about why we
suffer there are some things that we can know even though suffering is not good
God can use it to accomplish good now you might hear that and you say well no
wait a second hold on let's not let's that's skim over that I've gone through
some horrific suffering in my life I've gone through some awful pain in my life
and honestly I don't think that God even God can find any good to emerge from the
suffering that I've gone through friends if that's the way you feel today let me
just remind you of one thing and that is that God is so powerful and so good that
he was able to take the worst possible thing that could ever happen in the
history of the universe which is deicide the death of the son of the God on a
cross he was able to take the worst thing that could ever happen and turn it
into the best thing that has ever happened which is the opening of heaven
to all who follow him so you have to say to yourself if God
can take the worst possible thing that could ever occur and turn it into the
best possible thing that could ever occur could he not take my pain and my
suffering and cause good to emerge and the answer is of
course he can yes he can and he will he will he would use your suffering perhaps
to draw you into a deeper and more intimate relationship with him
he may cause your suffering to point other people to salvation through Christ
he may use it to mold and to shape your character in ways that never could have
been shaped had you not gone through that experience there are a myriad
number of ways that God can and he will cause good to emerge from your suffering
if you are committed to following him
we decide we decide whether we're gonna turn bitter or turn to God for peace and
courage we make that decision when tough times come we're gonna turn bitter are
we gonna turn to God and receive peace and courage
we saw seen examples in our lives of how the same kind of suffering has a
completely different effect on two different people some people became come
angry and bitter in and turn it inward because of the suffering they've gone
through and yet somebody else can go through the same kind of suffering and
they come closer to God and closer to people and more loving and more tender
In other words someone can lose a child to a drunk driver and turn inward with rage
and bitterness for the rest of their life
but someone else has a child lost to a drunk driver and they go out and they
start mothers against drunk driving one philosopher said this to me he said Lee
I believe all suffering is at least potential good an opportunity for good
he said it's up to our free choice to actualize that potential
he said not all of us benefit from suffering and learn from it because it's
up to us it's up to our free will so we make the choice are we gonna
run away from God or we gonna run to God so let me finish
that quote that I started this message with because I only quoted part of this
verse John 16:33 I want to put it into context now the entire verse says this I
have told you these things so that in me you may have peace you will have
suffering in this world but be courageous I have conquered the world in
other words he offers us in the midst of our suffering the two very things we
need the most he offers us peace for the present and courage for the future how
because he's conquered the world because through his own suffering and through
his death he has deprived the world of having ultimate power over you suffering
does not have the last word anymore pain does not have the last word anymore God
has the last word Jesus is the last word see God's ultimate answer to suffering
is not just an explanation it is the incarnation suffering is a
personal problem therefore God sent a personal solution in Jesus Christ
God is not some distant and disinterested deity he through Jesus
Christ entered into our pain in and into our suffering and Psalm 34 verse 18 says
this the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are
crushed in spirit
this wise philosopher that I got to sit down with said this to me at a time in
my life when I was going through some tough times
he said Jesus is there in the lowest places of our lives he said are you
broken Jesus was broken like bread for you are
you despised Jesus was despised and rejected of men you cry out that you
can't take it anymore Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
did someone betray you Jesus was sold out for thirty pieces of
silver are your tenderest relationships broken
Jesus loved and he was rejected do people turn from you well guess what
they hid their faces from him like he was a leper
does he descend into your deepest hell's yes he does in fact from a Nazi
concentration camp Corrie ten Boom wrote these words no matter how deep our
darkness he is deeper still he is deeper still every tear we shed
becomes his tear and then the wise man said this to me said it it's not like
God just sympathizes with you like a close friend would any close friend if
you're going through pain and suffering any close friend of yours gonna sit on
the couch next to you and it's gonna put their arms around you and it's going to
empathize and sympathize with you that's true of any friend but he said if Jesus
is in you if you are his child he is inside of you and if he is inside of you
he is closer to you even than your closest friend and therefore your
sufferings because of his sufferings and your sorrow becomes his sorrow and so
friends when tragedy strikes and it will or when pain comes into your life and
you know it will then you have a choice to make
do I turn away from God and turn bitter or do I turn to God and find hope and
peace and courage peace for the present courage for the future