"God's Prescription for Life: Suffering"

     Dear Friends in Christ,     

   Remember when you were a little boy or girl and you got sick and you had to take medicine?  Now I’m talking mainly to you older folks here today – and I would include myself in that category – because nowadays they make medicine pleasing to the taste.  You can get it in grape flavor or cherry or even bubble gum.  But back when many of us were children, the pharmaceutical companies were not so kind and caring and compassionate.  And most medicine we took was tough to swallow.  I remember one type of cough medicine that my mom used to force down me.  It was called Pertussin.  I really believe the only reason it made you stop coughing is because you were afraid if you did cough, you’d have to take some more of it.

   Well, 2 weeks ago in my sermon we looked at one type of medicine that God prescribes for his children that can help bring spiritual healing and wholeness to our lives.  And that was repentance which we learned is more than just feeling sorry for something you’ve done wrong.  Rather, repentance carries with it the idea of doing an about face, of turning away from your sin and turning back to God, of giving up your sin and heading in the opposite direction.   And I think most of us would agree that when we do that and we align ourselves with God’s will rather than Satan’s will, we really do feel a whole lot better and life goes a whole lot more smoothly for us. 

   This morning, however, I want to spend our time taking a look at another type of medicine that God sometimes sends our way.  It’s a medicine that reminds of that Pertussin cough syrup that I referred to earlier because it can be pretty tough to swallow.  For the medicine that I’m talking about is suffering.  Now that may strike you as rather odd to hear of suffering as being something that could actually be good for you.  But as I thought about it and began to reflect upon some of the benefits that suffering can have in our lives, I realized that it can be a very positive thing which God can use to his advantage as well as ours.  So let’s spend some time this morning considering the question: What good is suffering? 

   The first point I want to make is that God sometimes uses suffering to get our attention.  Some years ago I read a book by Billy Graham entitled Storm Warning.  Toward the beginning of that book he tells of how his daughter and her family were living in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew wreaked its havoc upon their area.  At one point he writes: “In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew’s devastation, as my grandson Stephan-Nelson, was working night and day helping survivors to get water and food, he noticed a sign on the roof of one house which read: “OK God.  You’ve got our attention.  Now what?”

   In a very similar way I have often seen God get the attention of individual people through trials and sufferings that have come their way, some of whom I never dreamed would draw close to him.  I saw a good example of this just recently in my 1^st cousin, Dave Kindelspire, who was on our prayer list for some time and who died a few weeks ago at the young age of 57.  Dave, by his own admission, had been away from the Lord for much of his adult life.  Even though he was raised in a Christian home, went to parochial school from 1^st through 8^th grade, was baptized and confirmed, and attended church every Sunday while growing up, once he got out on his own, he began to neglect regular worship and just didn’t have time or room for God in his life anymore.  But when he was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, even though he had beaten it 12 years ago, he understood the gravity of the battle that loomed ahead of him because apparently the doctor had made it very clear to him that this would be a battle that he would not win.  And with the help of one of his sisters who is a solid Christian, he began to think about how he had spent his life on this earth and where he would spend his life in eternity.  He then asked his sister to call me and ask if I would be willing to talk with him.  Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.  And over the next few weeks we had a number of phone visits in which he asked a lot of questions and did a lot of soul searching.  And by God’s grace, I saw my cousin come back to the Father’s house, just like the prodigal son did in that familiar story, and I saw him wholeheartedly embrace Christ as his Savior and Lord again.  In fact, so much so that the day before he died, he told his sister that he was looking forward to going home.  By home, of course, he meant heaven.  And I now look forward to seeing him again when I arrive there some day.  But the point I’m getting at here is that had he never gone through that battle with cancer, I’m not sure whether he would have ever found his way back to Christ again.  So that’s what I mean when I say that sometimes God uses suffering to get our attention, to wake us up, and to draw us closer to him.

   Then secondly, God also uses our trials to shape our character.  During the Great Depression a good Christian man went through what so many men experienced back then.  He lost his job, then he exhausted his savings, and finally the bank foreclosed on his home because he couldn’t make the payments anymore.  As if that wasn’t enough, his grief was compounded by the sudden, unexpected death of his precious wife.  The only thing he had left was his faith, and it was rapidly weakening.

   Then one day when he was combing his neighborhood looking for work, he stopped to watch some men who were doing some stonework on a new church building.  He was especially intrigued by one of the men who was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock.  Not seeing the spot where it would fit, the man asked the worker where he planned to put it.  He pointed toward the top of the building and said, “You see that little opening up there near the steeple?  That’s where it goes.  I’m just shaping it down here so it will fit up there.”

   Tears filled the Christian man’s eyes as he walked away, for he knew that God had just spoken to him through the words of that worker: “I’m shaping it down here so it will fit up there.”  He realized that that’s exactly what God does with us when he allows us to feel the hammer and chisel blows of life.

   In the light of that story, I want you to think about your own life right now.  When are the times you have grown the most?  When are the times you have learned the biggest lessons in life?  Are they when you’re prospering and life is sailing along smoothly for you and the bluebird of happiness just seems to follow you wherever you go?  Are those the times you grow the most?  Probably not.  Now don’t get me wrong.  We certainly enjoy those times and appreciate those times and long for those times.  But I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that we grow the most during the tough times.  Like one of our members used to remind me years ago, where there is no pain, there is no growth.  The Apostle Paul states this so clearly for us in Romans 5 when he writes: “We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” 

   Now I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t care for the blows of the hammer and chisel when they’re falling on me.  But when I remember that God is the One who is in charge of the hammer and chisel, that he is the One who is shaping me down here so I’ll fit up there, I can more readily accept those blows and understand why suffering is an essential part of his prescription for our lives.

   Then a third purpose that suffering can serve in our lives is that it gives us a splendid opportunity to witness to our faith.  Kind of like the farmer who many years ago had an unusually fine crop of grain growing out in his field.  But just a few days before he was to harvest it, the entire crop was demolished by a terrible hail and windstorm that swept through the area.  After the storm was over, the farmer went out onto his porch to survey the damage with his little boy.  As they looked out over what was formerly a beautiful field of wheat, the boy glanced up at his dad with tears in his eyes, expecting to hear him utter some words of despair or shake an angry fist in the face of God.  Instead, his dad started to softly sing, “Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”  Years that little boy now grown to manhood loved to tell people that story.  And he would always end it by saying that that was the greatest sermon he had ever heard.

   Many years ago I heard a television preacher make a statement that I’ve never forgotten.  In fact, I have shared it numerous times with people who were facing difficult times.  It goes like this:  “Only those who suffer greatly have the opportunity to demonstrate great faith.”  I pray that the Holy Spirit will so infiltrate our hearts with his presence and power that when trials do come our way and people see us or visit us or talk to us, they will find evidence of a faith that absolutely cannot and will not be shaken and the door will be opened to share with them where our inner strength and peace comes from.

   And that brings us to one more great purpose that trials can serve in our lives and that is they have a way of directing our eyes to heaven.  Corrie ten Boom, who underwent severe torture and persecution at the hands of the Nazis in WW II, summed up this point so well when she said, “The worst can happen, but the best remains.”  And isn’t that precisely what the Apostle Paul is telling us in our text for today?  Listen once again to his words: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

   So our trials direct our eyes heavenward.  They create in us a hunger, a thirst, an intense desire for that better life that the Apostle John describes for us in Rev. 21 as one where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and where there shall be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain for all the hurts and hardships and heartaches of this life will have completely passed away, never to bother us, never to touch us, never to affect us again.

    And as we all long for that perfect, bliss-filled life, let us never forget that there is one and only one way that it can be ours.  And that is through Jesus, who himself knew what it was like to suffer for he gave his life into death on the cross as the supreme sacrifice and payment for our sins, all so that we might be able to enjoy life forever with him.  May he be your source of strength then.  May he be your Rock of Ages, your fortress and shelter, your strong deliverer when the storms of life come your way.  And may we all one day know the joy of seeing him face to face in all of his glory, no longer needing any more medicine for our lives as our every need, our every longing, our every desire finds its perfect fulfillment in him.

   Amen.