The Universal Reality of Suffering
Tom Shrader addresses the universal reality of suffering, examining five key questions: Is suffering normal for Christians? What causes it? Where is God in the midst of it? What's the purpose? How should we respond? Drawing from James 1:2-4, John 16:33, and other passages, he demonstrates that suffering is not only normal but inevitable for believers, serving God's purposes to develop patience, maturity, and Christ-likeness. He encourages believers to accept suffering as reality, think theologically about their circumstances, remember God's faithfulness, and trust in His sovereignty.
“Faith is getting God's perspective on our situation.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: All of Life
Duration: 43 min
Themes: suffering, pain, trials, perseverance, faith, trust, sovereignty, purpose, experiencing chronic illness, grieving loss, facing persecution, enduring hardship, questioning god, new believer, struggling with doubt, parent
Scripture: James 1:2-4, John 16:33, 1 Peter 4:12, 2 Samuel 12:13-14, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 8:28, Psalm 46, Job 42:5, Genesis 1-4, Psalm 119, 2 Corinthians 4:8
Theological Themes: theodicy, gods sovereignty, sanctification, spiritual maturity, biblical suffering, divine purpose, christlikeness, providence
Full Transcript
We are starting today a four-week series called All of Life. Tim and Paul called months ago and said, "Would you teach?" Whenever they call, I love to do this, so I said yes. Then I asked, "What's the topic?" They said, "Your topic is going to be suffering." I said, "Well, maybe polling the people as I'm doing this will be a good indication of what suffering really is."
The premise of the series is this: when we come to Christ in repentance and faith, our life is transformed, and that relationship with Jesus infiltrates every aspect of our life. We tried to pick topics that would relate to most of us, many of us, in this case, all of us.
Sandy and I yesterday went to a movie. I don't go to many movies. We went down to the new AMC that's been remodeled. It was like sitting in your own chair—the chair goes back. I don't know if I liked it or not, but it was comfortable.
A Roman Soldier's Transformed Life
The movie we saw was called Risen. It's that time of year when the studios put out the Christian films. It always feels to me like they're sucking our money right out of us, but this I thought was really good. It's a story of a Roman soldier who is present when Jesus is crucified. Then he is responsible, when Jesus is buried, to make sure that the tomb stays sealed.
Then—spoiler alert—Jesus rises, and now this guy sees this, so he's sent out to investigate it. I thought it was really gripping from this guy's perspective. There's this moment when he encounters the risen Christ, and he's sitting with Jesus on a rock, and Jesus says, "Do you have any questions?" He said—it was this tender and sad moment at the same time—"I don't even know what to ask."
Then this guy's world is turned right side up, and the implication is that now he can't live the way he used to live. He'll live differently. That's true for all of us. We think about it in some radical ways, but it really impacts the way we deal with everything in our life.
Defining Suffering
When the guys gave me the topic of suffering, I sat down with a legal pad and had notes all over—suffering from tribulation, persecution, all this. I said, "Whoa, wait, stop. Let's go to Webster."
Here's Webster's definition of suffering: the pain that's caused by injury, illness, loss. It might be physical, mental, emotional pain. I go back to my original statement—it's universal.
I've noticed in this discussion on suffering and pain, we have a tendency to compare and contrast and minimize that pain's not real. When you get the little kid that comes up and says, "I have an owie," that's suffering and pain at that three-year-old or four-year-old or, in my case, 66-year-old level. I have an owie.
The Many Faces of Suffering
It goes from there to serious, to accidents, to illness, to broken relationships, to rejection. I was at a high school basketball game this year, and there was a group of about 15 girls. There was one girl—this is me on the outside judging, I don't know if this is true or not—but there was one girl that clearly didn't fit. It felt to me like they were telling her that the whole game. It's that kind of rejection.
Or it's somebody that you said, "For better, worse, richer, poorer, sickness and health till death do us part," and now they say, "I don't love you anymore." Or it's economic hardship. Or it's that friend that says, "Listen, we've got a business venture. We don't need all that legal documentation. We're buddies. We'll figure this out."
Here was my summation: the list is endless. I'm not going to try to create that situation of suffering for you. You know what they are in your life. Pretty good that it fits in that physical, mental, emotional, economic, relational.
Our Need for God's Perspective
Here's the assumption that I have, and I want you to know this going in: the Bible is true. When we talk about suffering, or really any area of life, but the assignment today is suffering, what the Bible says affects how we view and how we see this. I come to this book, and I get my perspective on suffering from this. That's what I need—perspective.
I was listening to a guy teach the other day. I won't tell you who it is, because it will affect the way you view this. I'd rather have you spend the next 33 minutes trying to figure it out on your own and be distracted. But he defined faith this way, and I really liked it: faith is getting God's perspective on our situation. Faith is me beginning to see my life, or whatever the circumstance is, from God's perspective. That's what I want to try to do in the time that we have left.
Five Essential Questions About Suffering
I sat down, and as I thought about the topic, it raised all sorts of questions for me. But I tried to take it down into five pretty simple questions. By addressing these, we're at least going to attack the majority of what we're thinking.
Number one: Is suffering normal? Is this normal for the Christian?
Number two: What's the cause of this? I'm a fix-it guy. Not like fix something that's broken—I call Sandy for that. But like a situation or circumstance, I like to fix it. I was talking to a friend this week about another guy we know, and he said he's a control freak. Here, write this down: everybody's a control freak. Everybody wants to be in control. What caused all this? I need to figure out maybe the cause of it to figure out how to fix it.
Number three: Where's God? At varying levels of one to ten, catastrophic event in my life, where's God in the midst of this?
Number four: What's the point here? Why is all this happening?
And then, for me: What do I do? How do I respond?
We're going to look at those five questions.
Is This Normal?
The first question I want to address is this: Is this normal? And by that I mean, is this normal for the Christian? I became a Christian in March of 1980. Previously to that, my life was filled with rebellion, sin, selfishness - filled with it. But in March of 1980, that changed. It's not to say that went away, but I started to dial back my sin.
Humanly thinking, God, if I was You, I could see if You wanted to zap me before, but why would You do that now? I'm on Your team now. One of the great things God did for me, and it's become more and more apparent in the last three or four months, is that God grounded me with great teachers.
Larry Wright was my role model, my hero, my teacher. He wasn't the only one, but he directed me toward other men who were solid teachers. One of the things that they said over and over again, and Larry had great authority when he said it, is because I come to Christ in repentance and faith doesn't mean my path will be strewn with roses. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
Learning from Suffering
Larry had rheumatoid arthritis and you didn't have to know him to know something was wrong with him physically. All you had to do was see him. He didn't have enough strength to reach and open a car door - he didn't have the strength. So he'd have to back up to it to get enough leverage to pull it up.
He was diagnosed with cancer. We were sitting at breakfast one day and I said, "Doc, something's going on in your neck. I mean, this is not normal. This is just growing." And it was a cancer. So they cut out the cancer.
I'm talking to him one day, and this lady came up. Larry had had a new bout of something - I don't remember what it was. And the lady said to Larry, "Haven't you suffered enough?" And Larry said, "Apparently not." But it was normal. Is this something that shouldn't happen to me? No.
What Jesus Taught About Tribulation
Look at John chapter 16, verse 33: "These things I have spoken to you so that in Me, you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation." Now, it would be helpful for you, just for your own study, to try to figure out what's the first part of that verse talking about. What are "these things"?
If you look at John 14, 15, 16, 17, and you have a red-lettered Bible, the words of Jesus in red, it's almost all red-lettered. This is Jesus the night before He's crucified. And He's been telling them that He'll send them another.
Look at chapter 14, verse 18: "I will not leave you as orphans." Verse 26 of chapter 14: "I'll give you My helper." "I leave you," verse 27, "My peace." Chapter 15, verse 18: "The world hates you because it hated Me. It's going to hate you as well." Verse 26 of chapter 15: "And the helper will come." And that theme is all the way through it. Verse 18: "I'll send you a Spirit of truth."
Jesus says, "I'm going to send you the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. You're going to have God in this very room." There's that old hymn, "In This Very Room." Well, it's beyond in this very room - it's in you. The Spirit dwells in you. Why? Well, one of the reasons is, in this world, you will have tribulation. Is it normal? Yes.
Trials Are Inevitable
In fact, look at James chapter 1, verse 2. Even stronger than normal, it's inevitable: "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance."
Now, I want to take a look at that verse. But before I do, let me read you three alternate translations, really paraphrases. The Phillips says this: "When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resist them as intruders, but welcome them as friends."
The Message: "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. Listen to this, Eugene Peterson's paraphrase. You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows your true colors." I'm going to show you what's really there.
The New Living Translation: "Brothers and sisters, when troubles come of any kind, consider it an opportunity for great joy. You know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow."
Three Key Words
So we're talking about, is this normal? I want to grab three words out of there for you. The first one is "when." "When you encounter various trials." It doesn't say "if." It doesn't say that these trials are mandatory or optional. It says that these trials are inevitable. James is writing this letter to followers of Jesus, to you.
"When you encounter" - the next word is "various." Literally, it means multicolored. They come in all shapes and sizes. There's a physical test. All you have to do is sit out by the doors, and you see people, and you can watch them come in, and you see just physical challenges there. You talk to people, and they begin to talk about a brokenness in a relationship. You sit with guys, and they talk about, "I'm on the verge of losing everything."
Let me flip this really quickly, because there's a test you'll miss. For the test of adversity, there's also the test of prosperity. Thomas Carlyle, the historian, says, "For every 1,000 people that pass the test of adversity, there's only one that can handle the test of prosperity." These tests come at you in all shapes and sizes, all magnitudes and scope - some little, some big.
The Purpose Behind Trials
And then the third word is my word that sets it all up: "knowing." When these inevitable trials come into your life, of all shapes and sizes, know this. Know that that test produces endurance. It produces endurance.
Is it normal? Yeah, it's way beyond normal. It's for your own good. I know that doesn't sound right, but it's for your own good. Why? Because when you first entered into this relationship with Christ, you said, "Jesus, I want to grow."
I hang around with a lot of old people. And all they do is say, "I want to finish strong." That's persevere. If you want to persevere, James tells us the key essential ingredient to perseverance are trials. So when you pray, "God, God, please, I want to finish strong," He hears, "Let me suffer."
might rethink that prayer, retool it, get it back into the Greek and work it somehow, wordsmith it. Is it normal? Well, one more passage, 1 Peter 4. "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals among you. Why do they come? For your testing. Don't think they're strange."
Again, let me read you three of the paraphrases. "Don't be bewildered or surprised when you go through fiery trials." Here's another one: "Don't be astonished." Yet one more: "When life gets real difficult, don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job." I like that. That's from The Message. When these things come, don't be surprised. Expect them. Are these trials normal? Absolutely normal for everyone in life, but especially for the Christian.
What Causes Suffering?
Here's the second thing. What causes this? What causes this suffering? You could list this, and we could fill up slides forever. I've got four or five things here.
Number one, all of suffering traces itself back to the fall. If you could do it—it's probably impossible, but if you could do it—read Genesis 1 and 2 with a fresh set of eyes. Skip Genesis 3 and read Genesis 4. You're going to go, "A big part of the puzzle's missing." Genesis 2 ends with Adam and Eve in the garden, naked, innocent, unashamed. Genesis 4 begins with strife, bitterness, anger, murder. What happened? Well, it's Genesis 3. Death, pain, grief, illness, loneliness—they all come. Genesis 3 explains everything. You cannot understand the world around us without understanding Genesis 3. That's why man is the way he is. That's why toil now replaces work.
Here's the second thing: our own sin. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, Nathan has confronted David about his sin. And David finally confesses. 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 13: "David said to Nathan, 'I've sinned against the Lord.' And Nathan said to David, 'The Lord has taken away your sin. You shall not die.'" Verse 14: "However, because by this deed you've given occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that's born of this shall surely die."
Some of the time—not all of the time, some of the time—in our life, we reap what we sow as it relates to sin. You sin and there's consequence. You sin and there's discipline. God loves you. How do you know? He disciplines. When the girls were small, we spanked. Well, we spanked one of them. Didn't have to spank the other one. We spanked Sarah. Didn't have to spank Haley. She learned from Sarah.
Well, we spanked Sarah. We disciplined Sarah. We disciplined Haley, but it's amazing—we didn't spank any other kid here in the church. And there were hundreds of them that needed it. And I wanted to. But I didn't spank them. You know why? They weren't my kid. God loves you, and because He loves you, when you sin, sometimes there's consequences.
Man's Inhumanity and Natural Disasters
Here's the third thing. This suffering could be a result of man's inhumanity to man. War on a big scale. I taught at a church downtown, New City Church. I taught there about a year ago. When I was done, there were a couple that came up and introduced themselves, and we talked. I said, "What do you do?" She said, "I do the weather on one of the local channels."
So I thought, "Okay, this is Sunday. First of all, we'll see if she's telling the truth. I assume she is, but let's check her out." So the next day, I turn on local news. I never watch local news, but I turn it on. So at 5 o'clock—Sandy gets up at 4:45, so I'm always up by 5—I get my little coffee cup, and I sit down. Life is beautiful. And I sit down, but the weather doesn't come on until about 5:10. So I've got to sit from 5 o'clock to 5:10 and watch local news, which every morning is "so-and-so killed so-and-so, so-and-so robbed so-and-so."
Last week, it was a couple in their mid-80s who answered the door. It was a guy that said, "I don't have any money." And he came back the next day. Do you know the story? I don't know if you follow. Wanted more money, and he killed the 86-year-old guy. I did what you guys just did. There's a disgust in that. There's something about that. But it's man's inhumanity to man.
Here is the fourth thing: natural disasters. Jamie Rasmussen is the senior pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church. He and I are friends. His son goes to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Cedar Rapids is about 20 or 30 minutes north of Iowa City. Remember Jake Each on our staff? Jake is pastor of a church there in Cedar Rapids. And Jamie texted me the other day. And he's staying in downtown Cedar Rapids. And they really have refurbished, remodeled all downtown. Well, there was a giant flood that came through there like 6 years ago and just wiped out everything. They weren't ready for it.
So there's natural disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes. I don't know if you saw in the paper last week, but the tornado that hit Tucson—did you see that? Did $15 million worth of improvements. It was amazing. It was stunning what happened down there.
And then Satan's attack. You have a real enemy, Satan. And he has demons. And their desire is to destroy you. And they'll attack you. So when we go, "What causes this?" Well, it's that, and you have nuances of that.
Where Is God in All This?
Here's a big question. Where's God in all of this? I mean, here comes this God. He's supposed to love me. Supposed to care for me. We've been singing about it. Where is He in the middle of this? Is He just impotent? He can see this, but He's powerless in the middle of this? Does He not care? Does He not care that I'm hanging out here and suffering? Is He in control with authority, and He's just kind of a sadistic God? That's many people's view of God—that He's just sitting up there looking for people to destroy. That He's vengeful. That He's irrational.
I took two examples here. One from Job and one from the blind man in John 9. In Job, Satan comes and asks God for permission to test Job, and God gives it to him. Puts some parameters around it,
him, but he keeps moving him back, back, back, back, back. And finally, Job has lost everything. And Job says, "Though He slay me," speaking of God, "I'll trust Him." And his friends are saying, "Listen, you're suffering because of your sin." And we never really get a conclusion. We just see that what God does is reveal Himself to Job.
Job finally hits a wall in there. I don't know if you remember that, where he said, "Okay, I'm going to ask God about this. I want to ask you something, God." And God says, "Wait, hang on one minute, because I want to ask you. Where were you when I? How does the ocean find its limits? Where do we store the snow?" And this goes on for chapters. And finally God said, "All right, Job, what was it?" And he said, "You know what, I'm going to email you these questions, because now might not be a good time." So I might not always get it.
The blind man in John 9, it's a beautiful scene. Jesus and the disciples come into town. There's a man who's blind, and the disciples said, "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" And Jesus said, "None, but that you might become a display case for the work of God." Your suffering puts you in this incredible position where you become a display case for God's grace and mercy.
What we see in these two illustrations is not that God doesn't care and He's not loving. We see He's in control and that He's very involved and very intentional. And I wrote this, and then I wrote after it, "That sounds so trite." God really cares. He's not removed. He's not distant. He's not lost track of you. It's not that His capacity to monitor mankind was maxed out at 7 billion. He's God. And in the midst of this, He's there.
When We Can't Figure It Out
I can't always figure this out, which in its own way becomes comforting, because if I could, it doesn't seem like He'd be much of a God. Here's my third question. What's the purpose of all this? There's a popular phrase, "Everything happens for a reason." And the implications of that is that somebody must be in control, somebody must be all-knowing, somebody must be all-powerful, somebody must have these things under their jurisdiction.
We use the term "accident," but what I think the Scripture teaches is that there really isn't an accident in the sense that everything that happens in our life is either caused by or allowed by God. And it seems to me, in the midst of suffering and pain and hardship and difficulty, that even what makes it worse would be the idea that there's no purpose to this.
I have a list here of 22 reasons why we suffer. I'm going to kind of put them up there and you can work your way through them. Number one, and boy, does suffering do this, it teaches us patience. I was teaching at Christ Community Church in Tucson and I don't remember the passage but I know there was a suffering component to it and I was talking about suffering and hurt and I don't know, this was 20 years ago.
A Story of Unexpected Interruption
And I needed to get back to teach Sunday afternoon up here. So they said when they put the service together, "Did you have anything?" I said, "This sounds terrible and I hate when speakers do it but could you put a song after me so I can sneak out the back?" And I said, "I just can't, I'm on a tight schedule." So they said, "Sure." So I finished, out the back door I went.
I'll give you the lead up to this. I'm getting ready to teach and I finish the first hour and I say "Amen" and people are lined up 25 deep. I've never seen a response. They're down the aisle. The first guy comes up and he said, "You got on a brown shoe and a black shoe." 25 people, not moved by the message but they got, "Your shoes don't match."
So I sneak out the back and I'm coming down a hallway and there's a lady, as I remembered, about 30 in a wheelchair and what I'm sure is her caregiver in my story, my narrative, her mom. And so I'm coming and I see them and so I say, "How you doing?" "Good, doing good. That was a good message." I said, "Well thank you. I'm talking about suffering and hardship, challenges clearly. You know, you're living it."
A Lesson in Patience
And she said, "No. No, it was really good." And her mom said, "Show him what you can do. Show him what you learned this week." And her mom lifted out a stick with a flat metal piece on the end with a hole in it. And she put it in the girl's mouth. The girl couldn't use her hand and she dropped that hole over the joystick. And she could move herself with her mouth.
I said, "Wow." She said, "I was the most impatient person in the world and God is teaching me patience." Or the fruit is joy. "Weeping lasts for the night, joy comes in the morning." There's that breakthrough kind of thing. Runners know this.
By the way, those of you that ran yesterday, Phoenix Marathon, congratulations, we admire you. We felt the burden of eating for two all day yesterday. So we were there for you, but you hit that wall. So there's kind of that wall then you break through.
The Purposes of Suffering
It produces maturity. "Knowing that the testing of our faith produces perseverance and maturity." It silences the devil. It teaches us. We understand through affliction. Psalm 119 says through affliction it drives us to His Word.
You can look at the others here. It purifies us, makes us like Christ. Number nine, 2 Corinthians 12. I wanted to sound presidential. What a joke this thing has gotten to be, but I'm not up here every week to tell you about that. To prevent us from sinning, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. "For God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I'd rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ dwells in me. I'm content with weakness and insults and distress and persecution for Christ's sake."
It chastens us. It proves our sonship, that's what I said before. It reveals ourselves to ourselves.
The Gap Between Classroom and Laboratory
Well, one of the things that happened in the first hour is I'm trying to close this message. I realized all this stuff makes sense. And the vast majority of you are going to say "Amen," and it's true. Here's the challenge. This is the classroom. That's the laboratory. It is.
I've watched people who can quote scripture left and right, and along comes the slightest little hiccup and their whole life is ruined. I've also watched people that I thought were so fragile, and along comes something that's beyond anything I can comprehend, and God just fills them with a spirit and they rise to the occasion. You see yourself revealed.
Does it help our prayer life? I've been at the oncologist when the report comes back and he says everything is clear, and you know what we say? "Where should we eat?" I've also been there when he says, "Hey, this is serious," and all of a sudden the next phrase is, "Let's pray."
We Become Examples and Counselors
We become an example. We qualify ourselves as counselors. Second Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort others in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God."
There's something powerful about saying, "I've been there." The church was very small when we were on Dobson—small numerically, I'm saying maybe a hundred and fifty people—so statistically what I'm about to tell you is almost impossible. We had three families in a period of six months that lost a baby either right before birth, at birth, or right after. Really hard, and I'm not trained for that. I didn't prepare for any of that.
I remember being there with that first lady and her husband, and I just waddled through it. The second one, I was in exactly the same position. Then all of a sudden, the lady—the first lady—came in and she said to the second lady something I could never say: "I know how you feel." All of a sudden you have a story to tell about the grace and mercy and magnitude of God.
Suffering Transforms Our Witness
It furthers our witness. It gives us insight into God's nature. That's Job 42:5—Job after all this testing says, "Before I heard about You, now I've seen You." It drives us to God.
You can read that list. Probably number 22 is the overarching umbrella for all of this: it shows the sovereignty of God. We know God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
How Do I Respond to Suffering?
So how do I respond to this? I was at our Arcadia campus years ago, and one of the guys was teaching. They were closing up and he said, "Let me give you four points." I thought these are really good. I can't remember what he was talking about, but I thought this works for many things, and it certainly works here.
Number one: when that suffering, hardship, or difficulty comes, accept it. It's a reality. It does hurt. You don't have to be the Christian superhero that says, "Oh, it's nothing." It hurts. It hurts physically. It's hard. It's hard to be the caregiver—that's sometimes way tougher than being the one that's going through it. Then you feel bad, and you feel guilty about feeling guilty. This is real.
Number two: think theologically. That's why we come back to the scripture. There's a phrase I don't hear as much anymore, but you'd hear it all the time when somebody would say they're having a real difficulty or challenge, and then somebody would say, "It is what it is." That may be one of the most dismissive, damaging things you can do. I'm sitting here in the middle of hurt and pain, and your answer to my pain is, "Well, it is what it is"? Bad roll of the dice? I guess that's how it goes?
Think Theologically
So I've changed that and expanded it: "It is what it is, and He is who He is." I need to think theologically. The problem with our theology so often is it doesn't ascend high enough and let God be God, or descend low enough and put us in the middle of our sin. All of a sudden this reveals us to ourselves, and we need to think and gain God's perspective on our situation.
Here's the third thing: remember what God has done. Remember what He's done. You've been in this place before. You've seen this movie. You've seen His faithfulness. You've read about it. That's the beauty of reading, especially Christian biographies and stories—your own story.
One of the things I regret (and that list is 48 million miles long) is that I never journaled. I've taken a couple runs at it, so I'm being a total hypocrite here, but if I acknowledge it maybe it's not as hypocritical. The power of journaling is going back to see what you were thinking, to remember what God has done.
Trust Him in the Uncertainty
And then trust Him. You don't need to turn there—I'll just give you the reference. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8: Paul says we're afflicted in every way, we're perplexed, we're persecuted, and we're struck down. He talks about being beaten, stoned, imprisoned. At the end of this he said, "But here's the lesson: God says My grace is sufficient for you."
Martin Luther writes this: "Until a person experiences suffering, he cannot know what it means to hope." Part of the difficulty of suffering, beyond the physical or the emotional, is all of a sudden the uncertainty that comes with it. Well, there is a certainty. The certainty is that God's in control in the midst of all of this. It's not an accident. It might be beyond your comprehension, but that's okay—you're not God. You don't need to figure this out. You know these things are true.
Be Still and Know
So here's the catch-all. Here's my basic go-to in the midst of this: Psalm 46. Here's what I need to do: "Be still and know that I am God." Trust me, Tom, I got it under control.
See, here's what happens. God's going to kick away all those crutches. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He'll make your path straight." See, all of a sudden suffering comes, and I want to trust who I know, or what I know, or what I have, or what I can do, or my creativity, or my friends. Or that old standby: I'll start to worry. I'll just start to worry. I'll take control of—
This doesn't mean—make sure you hear me—that doesn't mean it isn't hard. I get it. I understand it more today than I did four years ago or ten years ago. I'm not at all minimizing that, but God will use it. He will use you for a purpose and a reason. He's got you right where He wants you.
You are not wandering around fighting His plan. Your suffering, your hardship, your difficulty is part of His plan, and He's going to use you in some marvelous way for His glory, for your good. This is His classroom, His laboratory.
That doesn't mean it's always smooth sailing. It doesn't mean you aren't going to have times where you're going to wonder, "I'm not sure. Should I be praying for a miracle?" Well, I don't know. The God that I'm asking to take it away is the God who gave it to me. I don't need to overthink this. Be still and know that I'm God.
Father, that's the truth. Help us trust You. Thank You for what You've done in our life. I pray for those people right now who are sitting there, who may be even fighting against this, who are saying, "You don't know me." I don't, but God, You do. Give them comfort and peace and encouragement. We ask these things of You in Christ's name, amen.