Today’s message is based on a reading from Job 23:1-9

Today, it just seemed like a good time to talk about suffering. Shirley Green’s sister Linda had a very major surgery on Wednesday to battle cancer, Chris Mott lost her job, we heard of Phyllis DeBreuil’s passing, and are reminded of her almost ten years with Alzheimer’s. Though I didn’t mention it to very many, my father had surgery for skin cancer on his face, near his eye. They had to cut from his hair line to his temple. Every Sunday, we hear of others, like Jessie Cimino, and Mary Ann LaSure, who are suffering from cancer. 

Suffering is all around, and at one point in our lives, it’s touched all of us. Suffering is a condition that none of us are exempt from. Some seem to suffer more than others, but no one is immune. So this morning, we’re going to take a look at suffering.

First, let’s look at how we react to suffering. How do you react to suffering? Quite often, and this isn’t very flattering, by my reaction is often similar to Job’s. God just seems to feel very far away while I’m suffering. Like Job, I look for him, but I can’t seem to find him? Is that true with you? I sometimes feel removed from God in my deepest hours of suffering. I think this is common. In fact, I think it’s so common to mankind that even Jesus felt this way. 

We see an indication of this in Matthew 26:38-39. Remember when he was fervently praying in the Garden on the Mount of Olives just before he was arrested? “He said to them (speaking to his disciples), ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the found and prayed, ‘My Father, if is possible, may this cup be taken from me.’” We’re going to get back to this story again, but here He is pleading with God to remove this suffering. And haven’t all of us pleaded for that at one time or another?

I think we feel that God should help us because we’re basically good people. That was Job’s response, wasn’t it? He felt he was just and upright, and in our passage this morning he knew that if he could present his case to God he would be found blameless. Don’t we do that, too? We don’t deserve to suffer; we don’t deserve to be sick. Sometimes our pleading even turns into deal making, doesn’t it? Take away this cup and I’ll pray more often, my prayers will be better, I’ll be more faithful, I’ll love you forever, I’ll be more active in the church - just get me out of this, Lord!

A few years ago, a lady had told me about her brother who had lost a child, he suffered terribly because of that. He wasn’t a Christian, and when ever he was approached later with the Gospel, he was very adamant that he could never put any trust in a God that let that kind of thing happen. I’ve heard that reaction from many others, people have trouble accepting a God who loves us yet allows us to suffer. That’s another way that some people respond to suffering.

In putting together this message, I looked for God’s reaction to our suffering, and I found two very different reactions. If you recall, in the book of Job, God’s reaction isn’t too comforting to those of us who may be suffering. We find God’s reaction in chapters 38-42, a very long response. And God never directly addresses Job’s suffering, God addresses Job’s pleading. God addresses Job’s questioning. 

That’s not the kind of response we might want when we suffer. In chapter 38, God says, “Who is this who darkens my council with words without knowledge?” In fact, God questions Job like this for four chapters. God makes it very clear that he is the creator and we are the creation. That we have no reason to doubt God, and no right to question God. That’s not apt to make us feel any better when we’re suffering, is it. In the end of the book, things work out for Job. He is restored, in fact even better than before, he’s wealthier, he has more children, he has a better house, all the way down the line. 

So the book of Job certainly confirms that God is in control, and that things will work out for the best, and we do see that God’s response to Job’s suffering is to eventually restore him 

There is another response we see. It’s in the story of Jesus raising his good friend, Lazarus, from death. Let me read from John 11:33-35: “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept. Jesus had compassion for the suffering that he saw, and he wept. Jesus has compassion for us in our suffering, too. Know that. Know that if you’re struggling to find God, when you’re in your deepest despair, he is there, and he has compassion for you. And when you shed a tear in anguish, the Lord weeps with you.

I mentioned we were going to get back to Jesus praying at the Mount of Olives. We already looked at a couple verses from Matthew, let’s look at Luke 22:39-44: 

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stones throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

I see two things in this passage that might help us in our suffering. First, notice that Jesus is suffering.  Really suffering. I’ve had some problems in my life, but never like this, I’ve never had sweat pour off like drops of blood. We heard the word anguish. This is extreme distress. We can know, from this, and from the events that follow his arrest, that he suffered greatly. When we plead to God, He knows what we’re going through. He knows because He’s been there. He understands. And He cares.

But something else that I saw when studying this passage. Maybe you have seen it before as well. Did you notice? An angel came from heaven and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly. So Jesus prayed, God strengthened, and Jesus, being in anguish, prayed even more earnestly. Does that sound right to you? Jesus was just strengthened! Why was he still in anguish? Shouldn’t it be all better now? The angel strengthened him. Shouldn’t the suffering stop when the strengthening comes? That’s what we expect, isn’t it. 

But that’s not how it is. When we are suffering, God will strengthen us so we can get through whatever it is. But that doesn’t mean he will take away the anguish. It doesn’t mean the suffering will end. We will be able to endure it. But it won’t necessarily go away.  

When I first noticed that, it was such a relief. That might sound strange. We’ll still suffer, and that somehow relieves me. Before, I was more like Job. I would call out to God, but my suffering continued. I thought that meant God didn’t care. I thought God was somehow out of reach or out of touch with what I was going through. Because I was still suffering. He couldn’t have answered my prayer if I’m still suffering, right?

But what this tells us is that God will strengthen us to get through the suffering, but he won’t always remove the suffering. You see, I was strengthened to get through it, but I didn’t know it because I was still suffering, and because I was still suffering, I thought God wasn’t around. But He was. He strengthened me so I could get through it. He was there. And He does care. And He will stay with us through it all, even though we may not realize it at the time.

There’s one more passage I want to look at this morning, and it’s found in 1 Corinthians 10:13. If you’re suffering this morning, or if you think you might ever maybe suffer sometime in the future, take a look at this passage, and cling to the promise it gives. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

Before you complain too much about my using a passage about temptation in a message about suffering; let me suggest that the word temptation might not be the best English translation of this word. The New Living Translation and the New Revised Standard use the word test. You haven’t been tested with anything that isn’t common to man. 

The word that Paul uses is the word, pirasmos, and it can mean adversity, affliction, trouble: serving to test or prove one's character, faith, or holiness. Perhaps a better translation may be either adversity, or affliction, or trouble. I think this could even be translated suffering. 

No adversity, no affliction, no trouble, no suffering has come upon you except what is common to man, it happens to lots of people, not just you… That doesn’t make you feel better when it’s happening to you, but you’re not singled out, and you’re not suffering alone. And God is faithful; he will not let you suffer beyond what you can bear. But when you do suffer, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. He will strengthen you. That doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer anymore, but it certainly means that He will see you through it. 

Somebody once asked C.S. Lewis, “Why do the righteous suffer?” “Why not,” he replied, “they’re the only ones that can take it.” That was a fairly light hearted reply, the truth is everybody suffers, righteous or not. There was only one perfect human being that ever walked the earth, and He suffered far more then we do. 

And if I can comment on C.S. Lewis’ answer, I don’t suppose that we can take it any better than anybody else on our own, without God. But then, we’re never asked to suffer without God. God is with us in our suffering, God understands our suffering; and He strengthens us so we can endure our suffering. He sees us through our suffering, and that makes all the difference.