Sunday
Morning Bible Study
May 11, 2003
Why is life difficult?
The shallowness of modern life.
We try hard to live a comfortable life. The questions we find ourselves
asking can be things like,
“Where shall I go to lunch today?”
“Will the Lakers win the championship again?”
“Where should we go on vacation this year?”
“What shall I wear today?”
The book of Job on the other hand makes us extremely uncomfortable. Some of us can get superstitious about the
book, thinking that every time we read the book, bad things happen to us. Others of us don’t like the book because it
makes us ask some very difficult questions like, “If God loves me, why is there
pain in my life?”
As I’ve been preparing to teach through Job, a notion has hit me that
though the book of Job is uncomfortable, perhaps we’re supposed to be wrestling
with these difficult questions. I also
have this idea that perhaps difficult times aren’t supposed to be things we try
to avoid, but rather to embrace.
The book of Job is not a book for shallow people. It’s a book about going deeper with God.
I want to start a three part series dealing with troubles or “trials”. Next week I’ll be talking about surviving
trials. In two weeks I’ll be talking
about how to help people who are going through trials. This week I want to deal with the question of
“Why”. Why do we go through difficult
times? – At this point in my life, I’ll suggest five answers…
1. Sometimes we’re being corrected
(Heb 12:5-11 KJV) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: {6} For whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. {7} If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? {8} But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
God’s kids always get caught. If
you’ve done a stupid thing and you got caught, it’s because God loves you.
{9} Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto
the Father of spirits, and live? {10} For they verily for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers
of his holiness. {11} Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
Sometimes the difficult time we’re going through is a direct result of our
own stupid actions.
If I’m speeding down the freeway and I get pulled over and receive a ticket,
I shouldn’t get mad at the cop.
What I need to do is learn my lesson.
For some of you today, God has allowed you to go through a difficult time
because He needs to get your attention.
He wants you to come home.
Jesus told a story about a young man who took his portion of the family
inheritance, went off and spent it all on wild living. It was while he was wallowing with the pigs
that he finally came to his senses and realized that he needed to go home. He needed to back to his Father.
But …
I can understand tough things happening to bad people, but why to tough
things happen to good people?
Job is a prime example. We’re told
from the very beginning:
(Job 1:1 KJV) There was a
man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and
upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (turned from) evil.
Even though Job’s friends are going to try over and over to convince Job
that his problems are really due to some secret sin, we know that from God’s
perspective, Job is a good guy. These
problems aren’t happening because of some sort of judgment. God Himself will repeat these things about
Job not once, but twice (Job 1:8; 2:3).
Illustration
Washing Hamsters
A young boy, about eight years old, was at the corner “Mom & Pop”
grocery picking out a pretty good size box of laundry detergent. The grocer
walked over, and, trying to be friendly, asked the boy if he had a lot of
laundry to do. “Oh, no laundry,” the boy
said, “I’m going to wash my hamsters.” “But you shouldn’t use this to wash
hamsters. It’s very powerful and if you wash your hamsters in this, they’ll get
sick. In fact, it might even kill them.”
But the boy was not to be stopped and carried the detergent to the
counter and paid for it, even as the grocer still tried to talk him out of washing
the hamsters. About a week later the boy
was back in the store to buy some candy. The grocer asked the boy how his
hamsters were doing. “Oh, they died,” the boy said. The grocer, trying not to be an
“I-told-you-so”, said he was sorry the hamsters died but added, “I tried to
tell you not to use that detergent on your hamsters.” “Well, the boy replied, “I don’t think it was
the detergent that killed them.” “Oh?
What was it then?” “Well, after I
washed them, I had to dry them and I guess the dryer can get a little hot, not
to mention the hurdles they had to do. But I must say they did come out without
that static cling!!”
Frankly, sometimes we can identify with those hamsters. We’ve been through one heck of a wash cycle
and feel like we’re about to die on those hurdles in the dryer. We wonder what in the world God is doing. Can we trust God? More answers …
2. Sometimes God is boasting on us
This is what happened to Job.
(Job 1:6-12 KJV) Now there
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and
Satan came also among them. {7} And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest
thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the
earth, and from walking up and down in it. {8} And the LORD said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? {9}
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? {10} Hast
not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he
hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance
is increased in the land. {11} But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that
he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. {12} And the LORD said unto Satan,
Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine
hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Satan was then allowed to take Job through a horrible time, where he lost
all his livestock and even worse, all his children were killed.
Yet God was correct. Job didn’t
curse God, instead he worshipped God.
Satan then challenged God once more and Satan was allowed to afflict Job’s
body with disease, yet even then, God was still correct.
When Job’s wife was frustrated and told Job that he ought to just curse
God, die, and get it all over with, Job refused:
(Job 2:10
KJV) But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his
lips.
Could it be that God is bragging on you?
Could it be that He thinks you’re up to it?
Illustration
As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle
bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder
loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal
payload. The train was then driven to
the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, “Are
you trying to see if we can break this bridge?”
“No,” the builder replied, “I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t
break.”
Illustration
Robert Chesebrough believed in his product.
He’s the fellow who invented Vaseline, a petroleum jelly refined from
rod wax, the ooze that forms on shafts of oil rigs. He so believed in the healing properties of
his product that he became his own guinea pig.
He burned himself with acid and flame; he cut and scratched himself so
often and so deeply that he bore the scars of his tests the rest of his
life. But he proved his product
worked. People had only to look at his
wounds, now healed, to see the value of his work—and the extent of his belief.
-- Ralph Walker, Concord, North Carolina.
Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 1.
In a way, we are God’s hands. He’s
proving to the world that His product works.
He can show the world the scars on His hands.
Sometimes we have this idea that God must be angry with us, and that is why
we’re going through tough times. But
what if we have it all wrong. What if
instead of being angry with us, God is actually very proud of us.
3. Sometimes we’re being refined
It’s not that we’re bad, it’s not that God’s boasting, but perhaps God
wants to make us better.
(1 Pet 1:6-7 KJV) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a
season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: {7} That
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
God refines our faith like a goldsmith refines gold. It’s my understanding that a goldsmith will
heat the gold ore until it’s in a molten state.
As he keeps the heat on, the impurities all come to the surface. The goldsmith will keep skimming off the
impurities until the gold is pure. He
knows it’s pure when He can see His own reflection in the gold.
Illustration
Charles Spurgeon said: I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire,
and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever
learned anything except through the rod.
When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most.
Illustration
A ship, like a human being, moves best when it is slightly athwart the
wind, when it has to keep its sails tight and attend to its course. Ships, like
men, do poorly when the wind is directly behind, pushing them sloppily on their
way so that no care is required in steering or in the management of sails; the
wind seems favorable, for it blows in the direction one is heading, but
actually it is destructive, because it induces a relaxation in tension and
skill. What is needed is a wind slightly opposed to the ship, for then tension
can be maintained, and juices can flow and ideas can germinate; for ships, like
men, respond to challenge.
-- James Michener, Chesapeake
Illustration
A young man had worked for years to establish himself as a peach grower and
had invested his all in a small peach orchard which bloomed bounteously. Then
came the frost. He didn’t go to church the next Sunday, nor the next, nor the
next. His minister went to hunt him up and inquired the reason. The discouraged
young fellow exclaimed: “No, and what is more, I’m not coming any more. Do you
think I can worship a God who loves me so little that he will let a frost kill
all my peaches?”
The old minister looked at him a moment in silence, and then replied
kindly: “Young man, God loves you better than he does your peaches. He knows
that while peaches do better without frosts, it is impossible to grow the best
men without frosts. His object is to grow the best men, not peaches.”
Jeremiah was complaining to the Lord about how unfair life seemed. All he could see was that wicked people were
doing just fine, while those who tried to follow the Lord like Jeremiah had
such tough lives. God responded to
Jeremiah by saying:
(Jer 12:5 KJV) If thou hast
run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend
with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied
thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
God was saying that Jeremiah needed to grow stronger. Muscles are built by hard work and increasing
difficulty. There would be even tougher
times ahead for Jeremiah and God needed him to be strong. Trials are a little
like “God’s Gym”, they build strong spiritual muscles.
Years ago there used to be a joke among Christians about trials and
patience. James tells us that trials
produce patience and because of that, some guys used to joke, “Never pray for
patience!” But God wants us to have not
only patience, but so many, many more things.
And one of the surest ways to grow as a Christian is to go through
trials.
4. Sometimes God wants others to see Jesus in you
And the only way they’ll see Jesus in you is if you’re broken.
(1 Pet 4:12-14 KJV) Beloved, think it not strange concerning the
fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto
you:
Don’t think it strange you’re going through a trial. You’re not the first person to go through a
difficult time.
{13} But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with
exceeding joy. {14} If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
I’ve usually understood the phrase “when
his glory shall be revealed” to refer to the Second Coming of Christ. But as I’ve thought about the context of this
passage, perhaps its talking about the glory of Jesus being revealed in your
brokenness. Verse 14 says that we can be
“happy” because the “spirit of glory” is resting on us, not in the future, but
during our trial.
Our sufferings reveal His glory
Illustration
Gideon finally had his army down to the size that God wanted. Three hundred Israelites would be facing
150,000 Midianites. They had a very
unique strategy. They took clay pots and
put torches inside them. At the sound of
the trumpet, they would break the clay pots and let the lights shine.
The light would shine when the clay pots were broken. We too are clay pots.
(2 Cor 4:7-12 KJV) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. {8} We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in
despair; {9} Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; {10}
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. {11} For we which live are
alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. {12} So then death worketh in us, but
life in you.
I think God wants to break the clay pots so the light inside can be seen.
Paul talks of being broken but it all works for the sake of others, that
Jesus’ life might be shown.
When I’m in a state of being broken, all I usually can think about is myself
and how much pain I’ve got. But perhaps
God would want us to think a little past ourselves to realize that He can be
using and even wants to be using our brokenness.
Illustration
Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote,
When the green leaves decorate the trees and the season is fair, one cannot
readily find the birds’ nests, but when the winter strips the trees, anyone
with half an eye may see them. In the same way the Christian may scarcely be
discerned amid the press of business and prosperity; his hidden life is
concealed amid the thick and throng of the things of earth. But let affliction
come, a general sickness, or severe losses in the family, and you shall see the
Christian man plainly enough in the gracious patience by which he rises
superior to trial. The sick bed reveals the man; the burning house, the sinking
ship, the panic on the exchange—all these make manifest the hidden ones. In
many a true believer, true piety is like a drum which nobody hears of unless it
be beaten.
It’s possible that what you’re going through may be bigger than you. It may be that God has others in mind, others
who are watching you. They need to see
Jesus.
5. Sometimes we won’t know why
This is the hardest answer.
God does have purposes for our lives – but He doesn’t always tell us what
it’s all about.
As Job went through his difficulty, he didn’t know why.
We have to trust in God’s love, power, wisdom. He’s not some silly boy washing his hamsters.
He’s proven His love at the cross.
(Rom 5:8 NASB) But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
You may think that no one has suffered like you.
But there is one person who has suffered more than all others, even more
than Job.
Jesus suffered on the cross, taking the weight of all the world’s sins as
He died in our place.
He knows what you’re going through and if He has allowed for you to go
through a difficult time, He knows exactly what He’s doing.
Job didn’t get answers. He got more
of God. At the end of his difficult time, he said,
(Job 42:5 KJV) I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Illustration
A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines
is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age
methods to our relations with God. We
read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up
for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening
to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from
afar. The tragic results of this spirit
are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow
religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel
meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities,
quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic
personality for the power of the Spirit; these and such as these are the
symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.
... A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
[1948]
God isn’t beating you up. He’s
taking you deeper.
(Pray for those going through tough times.)