Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 93

00:00:00.000 Hello, everyone. Welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

00:00:06.060 I know last week was an absolutely crazy news week. A lot happened. Today, we are not going

00:00:14.940 to talk about the news. We're going to talk about something strictly theological. Today,

00:00:19.480 we're not going to talk about the news. Monday is supposed to be Theology Monday. I hope everyone

00:00:23.760 had a great weekend. I know last week was a crazy news week with Jussie Smollett, the Green New Deal

00:00:31.780 being voted down in the Senate. Of course, all the stuff still going on with Mueller in the aftermath

00:00:37.700 of all of that. Today, we're not going to talk about the news. Monday is supposed to be Theology

00:00:43.640 Monday. Sometimes it is mixed in with news and culture, but today is going to be strictly a

00:00:51.240 biblical topic, a pretty evergreen topic. The reason we're going to focus on this is because

00:00:55.620 I actually got an email. Someone asked me to talk about affliction and talk about suffering.

00:01:02.560 At first, I didn't think that was something that I really wanted to cover today. I tried to make it

00:01:06.360 kind of as timely as possible, but I thought, you know, this could reach people or maybe even just

00:01:13.620 one person that needs to hear a particular message from the Word of God. That's what we're going to

00:01:18.320 focus on today. We are going to focus on what the Bible says about suffering and what the Bible says

00:01:22.780 about affliction, because how Jesus and how the gospel of Christ tells us to handle suffering is

00:01:28.760 one of the many things that sets Christianity apart from every other faith. I know this doesn't seem like

00:01:35.140 a happy way to start your Monday or to start your week, but I hope that it does encourage you.

00:01:39.500 I hope that it does edify what you already know about God, and maybe you'll learn something new from

00:01:46.640 His Word. So all of us have been through something, varying degrees of suffering. Maybe you have

00:01:55.920 gone through a miscarriage in the past year. Maybe you have struggled with infertility. Maybe you are

00:02:03.300 suffering from deaths in the family. Maybe you are suffering from a chronic illness. Maybe you are

00:02:08.520 struggling with a child who has walked away from their faith and you don't know what to do. Maybe you're in

00:02:14.200 the midst of joblessness and you are trying to find employment and you haven't been able to do that.

00:02:18.620 And you're just trying to provide for your family and for yourself. Maybe you are going through an

00:02:23.640 affair. Maybe it was you who was unfaithful to your spouse, or maybe it was your spouse who was

00:02:29.420 unfaithful to you. That's not necessarily just suffering. That's sin. But the aftermath and the

00:02:35.760 consequence of all of that has been a hardship on you. The list goes on for all of the things that we

00:02:42.100 could be struggling with, all of the darkness that we could be in the midst of right now. Maybe you

00:02:46.900 were struggling with anxiety, with depression, with paranoia, whatever it is. All of us have dealt

00:02:54.040 with some kind of suffering, with some kind of feeling that we are lacking something. From a secular

00:03:00.500 perspective, people look at this and they say, okay, well, bad things happen just because they happen.

00:03:06.260 There's no real reason to find the why behind it. I mean, people are selfish. We know this. There are

00:03:12.580 promises that are broken. People betray you. Cancer metastasizes. Babies die in the womb. Adoptions

00:03:21.620 fall through. The car doesn't stop in time. These are just things that happen. I mean, maybe you have

00:03:28.040 gotten that phone call that has changed your life forever. Maybe you have been met with that

00:03:32.600 overwhelming feeling that you just cannot take whatever burden was just handed to you. And in

00:03:39.400 that moment, you probably ask yourself, why? Why is this happening? How did this happen to me?

00:03:46.240 That feeling of panic that you have, it eventually kind of gives way to devastation and then it goes

00:03:51.180 back to panic and then to sorrow and to despair and to emptiness and to confusion and all of these

00:03:56.580 different emotions that are associated with loss. It feels just too much for us to carry.

00:04:03.880 And there is something in that moment and in the moments after in all of us that says it shouldn't

00:04:09.320 be like this, that children shouldn't die of leukemia. Marriages shouldn't end. They shouldn't be broken.

00:04:15.880 Abuse shouldn't happen. People shouldn't be taken advantage of. They shouldn't be treated unfairly.

00:04:20.940 Promises should be kept. We all have this profound sense of what should and what shouldn't be. We all

00:04:29.500 have this longing for wholeness. We all have a longing for peace, for reconciliation. We have

00:04:35.020 this pull towards justice and we are completely and totally and sometimes painfully aware of the

00:04:43.100 brokenness of life and the feeling of unfairness that follows tragedy and wrongdoing. And what I

00:04:51.960 would suggest to you is that that feeling that you have that it shouldn't be this way. I would suggest

00:04:59.900 that the reason that you feel the shoulds and the shouldn'ts inside of you, that it should be this way

00:05:04.700 or should not be this way. The reason that you feel that, the reason that you feel lost, the reason that

00:05:11.540 you feel heartache and anger when the unthinkable happens, when tragedy strikes is because your soul

00:05:18.080 rightly longs for things to be made right. And you just have to ask yourself, if you are someone coming

00:05:26.140 from a secular perspective, if that perspective is true, that things just happen, period. Why? Why would

00:05:35.180 every single human soul that's ever existed long for this intangible fullness and completeness and

00:05:42.580 healing and reconciliation if it's not there somewhere? I mean, are these just chemicals in

00:05:49.080 our brains making us feel this way? Is this really just a product of evolution that somewhere down the

00:05:54.620 line it helped our ancestors to feel sad or angry and tragedy? I just don't see how. And quite frankly,

00:06:01.620 it takes more faith than I have to believe in that. I'm just not sure logically, and from the secular

00:06:09.540 perspective, sheer material logic is all we have. I'm just not sure from a logical perspective,

00:06:15.840 natural selection, if that's all that there is, if survival of the fittest determines alone who

00:06:23.500 subsists and who dies out, I'm just not sure why this longing for ultimate restoration and the

00:06:29.760 abolishing of sorrow and pain would be there in all of us. Where would we get that idea? Wouldn't you

00:06:37.060 think after millennia of experiencing death, of knowing that it's inevitable, that all lives are

00:06:43.500 going to come to an end at some point, that we would have gotten used to that? Like, wouldn't we have

00:06:47.600 evolved to the point of being able to accept death? Even an early death is just kind of like a fact of

00:06:54.940 life. And don't you think we would have evolved at some point into knowing that love is just this

00:07:01.800 chemical hormonal reaction passed down to us to encourage us to reproduce? And so we would be able

00:07:08.560 to rationalize ourselves out of anger when we're betrayed by our significant other. Why haven't we

00:07:14.940 been able to evolve out of emotional pain? If this world is all there is, if natural selection and

00:07:23.200 evolution is really all there is, if the material world is really all there is, why haven't we evolved

00:07:28.820 out of searching for meaning and purpose? Why haven't we evolved out of seeking to be whole,

00:07:33.800 seeking for things to be made right? And what I would suggest is that the reason our pain,

00:07:41.300 our feeling of incompleteness, our sorrow over loss and our anger at injustice, I think that the reason

00:07:49.000 that we feel those things is because there is a spiritual reality that is beyond this world.

00:07:55.560 That all of this is not a consequence of evolution. It is a longing for a place that exists beyond the

00:08:01.580 physical universe. It is a longing for heaven. It is a longing for our creator, the only one that can

00:08:07.260 really make us whole. So when you say to yourself in the midst of hardship, it shouldn't be this way.

00:08:14.260 You are right. You're right. In one day for the Christian, it won't be. Revelation 1, 3 through 5

00:08:24.580 says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with

00:08:29.380 man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their

00:08:36.120 God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be

00:08:42.480 mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. And the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on

00:08:50.240 the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. This is what your soul is longing for. This is what

00:09:01.300 you in the deepest parts of your being, what your soul wants. This is what it will mean to never have

00:09:08.340 any lack, to never know loss, to never know jealousy, to never know sickness or anger or sorrow.

00:09:16.500 So as Christians, that is the ultimate comfort that we have in our pain. And there are two things that

00:09:24.160 we deduce from this for those who are in Christ. Number one, our pain, our suffering, our affliction,

00:09:30.220 whatever that is, it will not last. And number two, these things are doing something. Number one,

00:09:39.820 they will not last. And number two, they are doing something. The pain that we feel, the afflictions

00:09:47.280 that we have, the sins that we struggle with, and I'm talking really struggle with, we are fighting

00:09:52.860 against them. We are trying to lay them down with the help of the Holy Spirit, with actually just the

00:09:58.360 full power of the Holy Spirit. We are struggling. All of these things might last a lifetime. There may

00:10:04.740 not be a day on this physical earth of reprieve for you or for me, but they will not. The promise

00:10:12.100 for the Christian is that they will not last beyond that. And this life is a blip on the span of eternity.

00:10:20.440 God is suspended in the eternal now, meaning that he is just as present at the beginning of the universe

00:10:26.320 as he is right now. And we are tiny, tiny specks in history. So everything that has ever happened,

00:10:35.240 not just to you, but to anyone will one day be long gone. They will one day be long in the distance.

00:10:42.100 And those who are in Christ will enjoy never ending fulfillment in hand. There will be one day

00:10:47.780 a new heaven and a new earth and believers will know fullness of joy forever and ever.

00:10:53.780 So your pain, no matter how big, no matter how deep it is, no matter how raw it is,

00:11:01.960 no matter how long lasting in this life will not last forever. We also know though, that it's not

00:11:10.620 just that our pain won't last. That is a supreme comfort that we can all cling to, but we're not

00:11:17.280 just subsisting in our pain right now. Our pain is doing something. That's the second point. Our pain

00:11:23.940 is productive. It is actively working towards something. That's exactly what the Bible tells us.

00:11:30.540 Second Corinthians 4, 16 through 18. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away,

00:11:37.180 our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an

00:11:43.260 eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen,

00:11:48.760 but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that

00:11:54.060 are unseen are eternal. Think about how amazing heaven has to be for the suffering of today to be

00:12:01.560 called light and momentary. I mean, think about some of the suffering that's either happened to you or

00:12:06.380 is happening around the world. Think about calling sex trafficking light and momentary. Think about

00:12:12.500 calling abuse light and momentary. Think about calling starvation, imprisonment, injustice,

00:12:18.960 martyrdom, cancer, light and momentary. And yet the Bible does not because God didn't really

00:12:26.420 understand suffering. Jesus understood suffering better than any of us. He understood rejection better

00:12:31.860 than any of us. That's why the Bible says we have a high priest who can empathize with their

00:12:35.780 weaknesses. That's the beautiful part about God becoming flesh. The Bible still calls all of these

00:12:42.080 sufferings, all of these injustices, both systemic and individual, both on a personal level and on a

00:12:50.060 big picture level. He calls them all light and momentary in comparison to what we will one day

00:12:58.420 experience. So think about how awesome eternity with God has to be for all of these things to seem like

00:13:06.840 nothing. For all of these things to one day be so insignificant that we consider them nothing. Think

00:13:13.600 about how great it has to be to be with God, that the horrible, atrocious things that are happening

00:13:19.460 today are considered light and momentary. And that's exactly what the Bible says that they are.

00:13:25.200 And not only that, but what we suffer now, it's not just light and momentary in comparison to

00:13:31.940 eternity, but the verses that we just read says that it is preparing for us an eternal weight of

00:13:38.660 glory. Our suffering is momentary, but our glory in Christ is eternal. It is doing something,

00:13:44.700 is working towards something. It is building something up. There is an end result for our suffering

00:13:50.640 and that end result is glory. It is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. In 2013,

00:13:59.100 John Piper did a sermon on these particular verses that we just read. And there are excerpts from it

00:14:05.760 in a music video, actually, of the song Though You Slay Me by Shane and Shane. And because I like all of

00:14:12.480 the excerpts from this sermon put together in this way, I'm going to play that part of the music video.

00:14:18.480 Not only is all your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to

00:14:27.540 eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful. Every millisecond of your pain from the

00:14:42.720 fallen nature or fallen man, every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing

00:14:51.360 a peculiar glory you will get because of that. I don't care if it was cancer or criticism. I don't

00:15:02.340 care if it was slander or sickness. It wasn't meaningless. It's doing something. It's not meaningless.

00:15:11.260 Of course you can't see what it's doing. Don't look to what it's doing. When your mom dies, when your kid dies,

00:15:20.320 when you've got cancer at 40, when a car careens into the sidewalk and takes her out, don't say,

00:15:29.380 listen, it's meaningless. It's not. It's working for you an eternal weight of glory. Therefore,

00:15:38.740 therefore, do not lose heart, but take these truths and day by day focus on them. Preach them to yourself

00:15:52.260 every morning. Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind until your heart sings with

00:16:02.020 confidence that you are new and cared for. It is not wasted. It is not meaningless. There is hope in

00:16:11.020 that. There is comfort in that. Whatever suffering you are going through or will go through is preparing

00:16:17.060 right now in this very moment, even in your tears, in your sorrow, in your brokenness, whatever

00:16:22.060 it is, a glory that we can't even see right now, that your finite mind cannot even imagine. It is

00:16:29.500 laying the bricks down for eternal glory. I personally, I don't know how that works. I don't

00:16:36.260 even really know what that all means. I mean, my mind really is too small to understand a glory that

00:16:42.880 outweighs this world. I can't even comprehend it. But God is so good. He's so kind and so gracious that

00:16:50.920 he didn't just say that one day there won't be suffering. He said that right now, our suffering is

00:16:56.780 working towards something that we have hope for the future and for today because God is using it. So

00:17:03.260 that means that nothing in the believer's life goes in the garbage. Nothing is wasted. The God of the

00:17:10.620 universe makes beauty out of the ashes. He finds what is lost. He makes whole what is broken. How

00:17:16.440 unbelievably gracious of a heavenly father to use our pain for something great for his glory and for

00:17:23.440 ours, the Bible says. He did not have to do that. He didn't have to tell us that our suffering is doing

00:17:29.140 something now. He could have just said, hey, one day it's all going to be okay and you're going to

00:17:34.040 forget about this. But he says, I'm giving you hope for today too. That is because he is a God of

00:17:39.180 compassion. He is a God of infinite goodness and mercy. So he makes our suffering actually mean

00:17:45.400 something to us right now. And not only, not only is it building up something for the next life,

00:17:51.000 it actually has an impact here. Romans 5, 3 through 5 says, we rejoice in our sufferings,

00:17:58.060 knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces

00:18:04.100 hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into your heart through the

00:18:10.560 Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So it's producing something even now. It's not just laying

00:18:18.220 up glory in heaven, which is a wonderful, beautiful thing that's happening as we speak. But it's also,

00:18:23.880 as we speak, producing endurance inside of us and endurance, the Bible says, produces character and

00:18:29.840 character produces hope. How amazing that God is taking care of us in this way that he doesn't let

00:18:35.600 anything just go. It makes something. James 1, 2 through 4 says, count it all joy, my brothers,

00:18:45.020 when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness

00:18:51.600 and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

00:18:58.560 So what this tells us is that suffering is something that not only is good for our souls,

00:19:09.260 but is good for our characters. It is good for our lives today. A lot of times we hear this kind of

00:19:14.020 health and wealth message, both from a lot of female feel-good teachers and from, you know,

00:19:21.120 the Joel Osteens of the world that if you're going through something right now, it's either A,

00:19:25.760 because you're not praying hard enough or you're not doing the right things. We kind of hear that

00:19:30.400 from the more prosperity gospel crowd. And from the me-centered crowd, we hear that don't worry.

00:19:37.780 This means that there is something better for you tomorrow. God closes one door. He's going to open

00:19:43.600 up another for you. And that if you're suffering, you just need to kind of love yourself more and you

00:19:49.920 need to feel better about yourself and you need to give yourself a pep talk and wash your face.

00:19:54.760 Well, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible does not give us a guarantee that things will

00:19:59.000 be better on this earth tomorrow. God doesn't say God is closing one door so he can open up another,

00:20:04.920 unless you mean that the other door is glory in eternity. That's the one thing that he promises,

00:20:11.140 and that's more than we could ever think of or deserve. And so this worldly message coming from

00:20:16.640 pseudo-Christian teachers telling you that you don't deserve what's happening to you right now,

00:20:21.360 and that if you just take your prayer life more seriously, then maybe you wouldn't be suffering.

00:20:26.920 Or on the other side, that if you just wash your face and tell yourself how awesome you are,

00:20:32.400 you'll be able to get over all of this stuff. And God's going to come through and he's going to

00:20:36.380 restore everything for you. That's a lie because God doesn't promise that for us.

00:20:41.820 But he does promise that whatever you're going through right now will not last. And he also promises

00:20:48.460 that it is going to do something. It's going to build character and hope in you now, and it's going

00:20:53.500 to lay up glory for you later. It's also going to glorify himself in what we know throughout the

00:20:59.920 Bible. This is probably the most uncomfortable truth I think about God is that he is so relentlessly

00:21:06.120 committed to his own glory that he is willing to do anything to get it. I mean, you look throughout

00:21:13.000 the Old Testament and some of the suffering that happened, God used all of it to glorify himself

00:21:19.600 and to bring his people to himself. And you wonder, why did God let that happen? Why did people have

00:21:25.460 to go through suffering, through slavery, through oppression, and have to survive pain and go through

00:21:33.980 their loved ones dying? If you look at the history of Israel, God always uses these things

00:21:40.400 to bring people to himself. And he will do anything to do that. It's a very uncomfortable reality about

00:21:48.060 God. And it's not something I don't think our finite minds can fully understand. But this suffering,

00:21:55.980 this affliction that we endure, it's not just doing something in heaven, as we have already established.

00:22:02.680 It's not just doing something in your life today. It's not just doing something in your soul. It is

00:22:08.220 also doing something for other people. Your testimony has great power. Your account of God's faithfulness

00:22:15.880 in your life, his commitment to you, even in your despair, has great power. Your choice through the

00:22:22.840 empowerment of the Holy Spirit to trust in his promises, even when everything was falling down around

00:22:28.520 you, gives you hope or gives hope to those who are faint of heart. Your testimony means something.

00:22:36.260 It is doing something. It is showing the power of Christ to others. Now, does this mean that suffering

00:22:43.720 is going to feel good? Does this mean that we look forward? We're excited about loss. We're excited

00:22:48.900 about pain and sickness and being unfairly treated of being unjustly criticized. No, of course not.

00:22:54.800 We like joy. We enjoy happiness. We want good times. Of course, we want good things.

00:23:01.580 And it's wonderful to be happy, and it's wonderful to enjoy the times of abundance.

00:23:08.720 And when we suffer, when we lose, there will be sorrow. We will be sad. We will wonder

00:23:14.540 what this is all for. And yet for the Christian, we have this amazing choice, this amazing hope

00:23:21.100 that we can choose to remember what is true, that this is temporary, and that this is doing

00:23:27.160 something, and both of those things are for the glory of God. Many people, I've heard it said,

00:23:35.140 in the midst of suffering, and this is really just a product of the me-centered Christianity that we talk

00:23:40.080 about so much, that really the most important and the most virtuous thing for you is to just be yourself

00:23:46.220 and to let yourself hang out and to let your emotions run wild. We hear that a lot, especially

00:23:51.560 from female Bible teachers, that the most important thing is that you're just you, and God is here to

00:23:56.040 affirm you. We also hear from this crowd that it's okay to shake your fist at God in the midst of

00:24:02.100 suffering. It's okay to curse at God. It's okay to yell at God and to say, why would you do this to me?

00:24:08.780 He can handle our anger, we hear. He's big enough to handle our anger. He's big enough to handle all of

00:24:14.400 that. And while that's true, of course, God is big enough to handle all those things. What's not true

00:24:21.020 is that that is okay. In reality, that is a sin. Who are we to question God? Romans 9 says,

00:24:28.740 who is the clay to say to the potter, why have you made me this way? No, we are not supposed to talk

00:24:34.940 back to God. We are not supposed to shake our fist at God. We are not supposed to curse God. That is not

00:24:40.580 what we are called to do in the midst of suffering. I'm not saying that that's not a visceral

00:24:44.360 reaction. Of course it is. I've done it myself and I will do it. I'm sure throughout my life,

00:24:49.980 but it is also a sin that we have to repent from. If you look at the book of Job, if you consider Job,

00:24:56.940 who was a servant of God, who kept God's law, everything was taken from him. He was something

00:25:02.780 who from a worldly perspective, he was someone who didn't deserve all of this stuff to be taken away

00:25:08.680 from him from our human perspective. But his house, his livestock, his entire family came to ruins.

00:25:15.380 He was utterly and totally afflicted. In Job 31, he one last time seeks to justify himself. He insists

00:25:24.960 upon his innocence that he in no way brought all of this upon himself. He suggests that his suffering

00:25:32.420 is unjust. He says, I've kept God's law. I have been holy. I have been generous. I have provided for

00:25:38.680 the people that work for me. I've provided for people who are in need. I have done everything

00:25:43.500 God has asked me to do. And all of this has come upon me. God's response to him was not,

00:25:50.720 yes, Job, and I'm sorry, you're right. Let me just, let me just give you a little side hug. Let me give

00:25:57.840 you a comforting pat. Or my bad, Job, I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have treated you like

00:26:04.920 that. You know what God's response is in Job 38, one through seven, in the following chapters?

00:26:11.020 Here's what God says first to Job. Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

00:26:17.880 Dress for action like a man. I will question you. This is God to Job and you make it known to me.

00:26:22.880 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding

00:26:27.800 who determined its measurements. Surely you know, or stretch the line upon it on what were its bases

00:26:34.600 sunk or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted

00:26:40.420 for joy. So he's saying, Job, were you there when I created the universe? Do you have the power that I

00:26:46.300 do? Do you have the knowledge and wisdom and the authority that I do? I don't think so. Who are you

00:26:51.960 to talk to me? God says, using sarcastic rhetorical questions. And then Job 41 through 2 says,

00:27:02.560 and the Lord said to Job, shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God,

00:27:09.380 let him answer it. And then verses 8 through 9, will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me

00:27:16.580 that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God? And can you thunder with a voice like his? I

00:27:23.360 really encourage you to read Job 38 through Job. I think it's 40. Maybe it's even past that. I don't

00:27:31.960 have the references right in front of me. It might've been actually through 42 when God lists all of the

00:27:38.600 times that Job wasn't there. All of the things that Job can't do because God is so supreme and so

00:27:44.760 sovereign over every corner of the universe that Job, a little speck on the span of eternity like

00:27:50.620 the rest of us has nothing to say to God. So God is saying for you to question your suffering, for you

00:27:56.540 to even wonder or hint that maybe I'm not righteous in my precepts, that maybe I didn't do the right

00:28:04.140 thing for allowing your suffering or for being sovereign over your suffering. Let me tell you

00:28:10.060 something, Job. You're not in charge. I am. I made the universe. And who are you, Job, to talk back

00:28:16.940 to me? Surely, sure, you might have kept my laws. You might have been what even I consider, God is

00:28:24.760 saying, a good person. But you have no authority to talk to me about what is righteous and what is not.

00:28:33.580 And you know what Job's response is to God asking him these rhetorical questions? He says,

00:28:39.080 I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this

00:28:46.500 that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too

00:28:52.020 wonderful for me, which I did not know. Here and I will speak. I will question you and you will make

00:28:58.220 it known to me. He's quoting God there. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see

00:29:04.100 you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. And God, of course, forgives him.

00:29:11.900 That should be our response when we realize that we have blasphemously questioned God and questioned

00:29:22.200 his goodness and questioned his rightness. I have done that. I have asked God why. I have wondered,

00:29:28.300 why would you do this to this person? Why would you allow this to happen? Why would you, if you were

00:29:33.820 so in control and you are so sovereign, why would this happen? How can you possibly say you're good?

00:29:39.080 How can you possibly say that you are powerful? How can you possibly say that you're all knowing and

00:29:43.640 all present and all of these horrible things happen? How can you do that? God's response to us

00:29:51.000 is his response to Job. Were you there when I created the earth? Do you know the things that I know?

00:29:56.880 Are you privy to the secrets of the universe that I am? Are you above and in and through all of

00:30:03.460 creation like I am? Are you on an immovable throne like I am? And our answer is no, I'm sorry. I repent.

00:30:11.840 I should have never questioned your holiness. So this idea that in the midst of our suffering,

00:30:18.320 it is righteous and it is good to shake our fist at God is wrong. Not only is it blasphemous,

00:30:25.120 but it also is going to hurt you. It's not going to help you because remember suffering is not

00:30:33.760 permanent for the Christian anyway, and it is doing something. And so the Bible tells us amazingly,

00:30:41.900 amazingly, this is what makes Christianity. So just counter to what the world says,

00:30:46.640 we are supposed to rejoice in our suffering and that rejoicing is a choice. I am quite sure that it

00:30:53.080 is not always a feeling. And God has sympathy for us. He has compassion for us. He heals the broken

00:30:59.760 hearted, Psalm says, and he binds their wounds. He cares about our suffering. Remember Jesus wept

00:31:05.820 when Lazarus died. He has emotion for us and probably not in the sense that we think of emotion,

00:31:13.260 but he feels for us. He has moved for us. So he cares about your personal pain,

00:31:19.020 but your personal pain does not justify shaking your fist at God. That's what the story of Job

00:31:25.580 tells us. And like I said, I really encourage you to read the last few chapters because the majesty and

00:31:31.360 the power and the authority of God is so on display. And that's something that is people who have,

00:31:37.040 um, who really don't care anymore. It seems like about the holiness of God, that's something that

00:31:42.140 we need to be reminded of. So our response to suffering and affliction as Christians should be one of

00:31:47.660 trust, to be one of obedience, to be one of gratitude. Remember Job says that no plan of

00:31:54.900 yours can be thwarted. None can be thwarted. So no matter what happens to you, God is still in control.

00:32:02.900 Um, and this is not to say again, that our suffering is easy. I am young. There's still a lot

00:32:10.280 that I am going to go through in my life. And so I'm not speaking from someone who's been there and been

00:32:14.900 through it all, but I've seen the stories of people who have, I have, um, heard the testimonies of the

00:32:21.560 saints who have been through far more than I have and have remained faithful to the power of Christ

00:32:27.100 because they chose to believe that suffering means something and that it's laying up for us

00:32:36.180 an eternal glory that bars, far outweighs all of this. So I do hope that this was a message of

00:32:42.440 encouragement to you today. I hope that it didn't like get you down for your Monday. Um, it's just

00:32:48.240 something for you to think on for the rest of the week and maybe to come back and listen to at some

00:32:53.040 point, these are truths that come from the Bible. They're not just my opinion that we can all rest

00:32:57.800 our souls on and just how good and how gracious and how wonderful and how kind God is that he gives us

00:33:02.680 these promises that it's not just a Bible that tells us what to do. Although of course his,

00:33:08.100 his precepts are perfect and they're extremely important for us to live lives that are set apart

00:33:12.960 in holiness as Christians, but also that he gives us comfort, that he gives us this kindness,

00:33:18.120 that he is such a sympathetic and such a, um, compassionate God that he would give us this

00:33:24.720 comfort for our suffering. He didn't have to do that. And he did. So thank the Lord for that.

00:33:29.900 Thank him for Jesus, that he, uh, sent Jesus to die a brutal death on the cross and then rise again,

00:33:38.840 taking care of our sins and making it so that we could live eternity with God and that our suffering

00:33:45.300 would actually mean something and that it wouldn't have to go to waste. And that one day we wouldn't

00:33:49.800 have to worry about it anymore. So thank the Lord for that. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope

00:33:55.100 that you have a great Monday and Tuesday, and I will be back here on Wednesday morning with some news.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 01, 2019

Ep 93 ｜ Biblical Suffering

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