The Meaning of Suffering // My Redeemer Lives, Part 4

Christianityworks Official Podcast

With Easter done and dusted for another year, it’s kind of easy to forget about the Cross, Christ’s suffering, the resurrection and the empty tomb … and just get on with life. What do all those things have to do with what I have going on in my life now? But that sort of attitude can get us into a lot of trouble.

THE RIGHTEOUS MAN DESTROYED

It’s funny how we build rituals into our lives that we repeat year after year. There’s Christmas, then New Year’s. For those in the southern hemisphere, that normally means some sort of summer break. Then all too quickly, Easter rolls around, but that happens so quickly that if you blink, you miss it. Although for those in the northern hemisphere, Easter is a sure sign that their summer break is just weeks away. That’ll always give you a bit of a sense of anticipation.

Yeah, Easter is a bit of a marker in the calendar, but for many, that’s all it is. It happens and just as quickly as it came. It disappears again. And I think if that’s how we treat Easter, then we do so at our own peril because there are some lessons in Easter, there are some vitally important truths in the Easter story that can sustain us and bless us all year round, particularly if that year is not looking like it’s going to be a particularly good one.

I was having coffee with a young man the other day. He’s kind of in his mid-thirties, which may seem young from where I sit somewhere on the other side of fifty, and this young man has it all. He has a successful career as a speaker and an author and a business coach. He earns lots and lots of money, a lot more than me, certainly; and he’s a good-looking guy. Emotionally he has it together; he has everything to live for: A beautiful wife, a happy marriage, the ability to travel all round the world to all sorts of fantastic places, and his wife gets to come with him sometimes. We’re also friends on Facebook, and forever I’m seeing photos of him white-water rafting in Thailand, and popping up in London and New York, and he doesn’t fly at the back of a plane either, I have to tell you.

My point is this: If ever there was a guy that you and I would point to and say, ‘Wow! God’s blessed that person’, it would have to be this guy, without a shadow of a doubt. And yet there’s one hurt in his life. He and his wife haven’t been able to have a child yet. They’ve thrown money at the problem; in vitro fertilisation; they’ve prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and still, nothing.

You see, it doesn’t matter who we are; where we live; what our circumstances are. It doesn’t matter how incredibly blessed someone is; there is always something in our lives that isn’t to our liking. There is always something in our lives that we want to be able to change. There is always something in our lives that causes us pain.

You and I, we would look at this guy’s life, then look up at God and say, ‘Yes, please, Lord. I’ll have one like that, thanks.’ We keep thinking that if only I could earn a bit more money; if only my husband, or my wife as the case may be, would love me just that little bit more; if only I could find the right job; if only my children would grow out of this difficult stage that they’re in at the moment; if only I could lose a few extra pounds; if only I could afford that little bit of cosmetic surgery; if only, if only, if only … then I would finally be happy. That’s a lie that most people tell themselves most of the time.

Of course, if you had a quick look back at the cross for a moment, and saw this Jesus who’d never done a single thing wrong in His life hanging there, nailed to His cross, hands and feet, gasping for air, slowly dying that excruciating death, we’d realise that bad things happen to good people all the time. Suffering happens. God didn’t even spare His own Son from that.

And while sometimes we suffer as a result of our own mistakes and stupidity, more often than not, the suffering that hits our lives is completely unfair; no rhyme or reasons. It just happens, and while we’re asking ourselves why, while we’re asking God why and when will it end, it’s in the middle of that place that we need to know beyond any shadow of a doubt. It’s right in that dark place that you and I need to be able to declare, ‘My Redeemer lives’.

Sure; that’s the title of a great worship-song – “My Redeemer Lives”; quite a happy-clappy song as I recall, a great one to sing, but for me, it’s way, way more important to be able to mutter through gritted teeth as I’m dealing with pain and uncertainty and fear in my life – ‘My Redeemer lives!’ And that’s what we’re going to be talking about on the programme today and through the course of this week.

Those words were first uttered by a man called Job in the Old Testament. Now Job was a wealthy, successful man, just like the one I described earlier. He’d never set a foot wrong in his life, always honoured God, and then one day, whammo! Have a listen to this.

One day, the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’

Satan answered the LORD, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down upon it.’

And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’

Then Satan answered the LORD, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house, and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land, but stretch out Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.’

The LORD said to Satan, ‘Very well. All that he has is in your power, only do not stretch out your hand against him.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Job 1:6-12)

What a rotten thing to happen to this guy, Job. What a rotten thing for the devil to do. Hey, what a rotten thing for God to do! Right? Everything’s going along swimmingly well and then, throughout the book of Job, we discover how he loses everything: Everything – his property, his children, his health, everything – from rooster to feather duster in one fowl swoop.

So let me ask you: When you hit a patch like that in your life, as we all inevitably do, when you have that one bit of suffering in your life, how do you react? What does it do to your sense of self-worth, to your sense of wellbeing, to what you think of God?

Let’s see what else happened to Job, starting in the very next verse:

One day, when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and carried them off and killed the servants with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.’

While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. I alone have escaped to tell you.’

While he was speaking, another came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you.’

While he was still speaking, another came and said: ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.’ (Job 1:13-19)

That’s the sort of suffering that strikes from time to time, and it’s rarely just one thing. More often than not, it comes in groups of three or four, so when that happens, how do you respond?

I’ll leave that question hanging there for you to consider. We’ll come back to that again after the break, because it’s right in the middle of a situation like that, that you and I need answers. Suffering happens, wow. Someone should turn that into a bumper sticker, right? Suffering happens. It happens, and when it does, God has answers – some real answers that make a real difference.

THE DEVIL’S TRICKERY

When your life hits a patch of suffering, as every life on this planet does from time to tome, how do you react? How do you respond? Mostly we go to God and we ask Him why and when is it going to end, right? We desperately want to know why this is happening to us, and we desperately want it to end. Those are the two compelling forces that drive us forward in suffering.

It was certainly like that for Job: A good man, a righteous man (whom we meet in the Old Testament), until the devil comes after him with a pickaxe. Let’s have a listen.

One day, the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’

Satan answered the LORD, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down upon it.’

And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’

Then Satan answered the LORD, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house, and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land, but stretch out Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.’

The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well. All that he has is in your power, only do not stretch out your hand against him.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:6-12)

Now this is a fascinating passage of Scripture because it goes to the issue of over-spiritualisation and under-spiritualisation that I mentioned a bit earlier.

See, all too often, something bad happens to us and we look at the physical circumstances – the people; the issues; the troubles we’re dealing with, and we completely forget about the spiritual realm.

The apostle Paul, many years later, put it this way. Ephesians 6:10-11:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His power. But put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Make no mistake about it. There is a spiritual battle going on in the heavenly places for your soul. If we miss that, we end up completely missing what’s going on when it comes to suffering that we’re going through. But there’s something incredibly odd that happens here in that passage about Job where the devil goes to God. Did you pick it? Here it is again. The devil says:

But stretch out Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.’

So the Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well. All that he has is in your power, only do not stretch out your hand against him.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

Did you notice that the devil has to go to God to ask Him permission to ruin Job’s life? Because according to the devil, God has put a fence around him and his house and all that he has on every side.

That Hebrew word for fence literally means a deep thick hedge of protection, like the ones that shepherds used to grow out in the pastures. At night, they would put their sheep in it and they would sleep across the entrance to protect their flock from wild animals and thieves: A thick, dense, impenetrable hedge; a hedge so thick that Satan can’t break through it. And with God standing at the entrance, the devil can only enter with God’s permission.

Listen up. If you love Jesus, then you belong to God, and as with Job, He has put a hedge of protection around you. When the devil attacks you, he can only do it with God’s permission.

Have you ever felt spiritually attacked? Sure you have; so have I. What do you imagine God’s doing when the devil comes after you with a pickaxe? Has God fallen asleep? Has He wandered off somewhere? Has the devil overwhelmed Him? No! None of those things. God has given the devil permission to attack you. Now that may sound crazy to some. ‘What? Why would God do that?’

That’s something that Job asks God over and over again. He runs the line with God. ‘Hang on, Lord. Aren’t I a good guy? Haven’t I obeyed You in every part of my life? So why are you punishing me like this? Why are you doing this?’

And God’s answer to Job is, in effect: ‘Job, it’s none of your business.’ Years later, James put it this way in his New Testament letter.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but pure joy because you know that the testing in your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

God always has a purpose for allowing the devil to attack us, and to bring suffering: Always. It’s not something that He does lightly, and the devil (far from having overwhelmed God) is simply a tool in God’s hands to knock off the rough edges and smooth the surfaces, like a piece of sandpaper. And when God’s done with him, He’ll throw him into the lake of fire.

That’s the important thing for you and me to know when we’re suffering, especially when we have that sense that we’re being spiritually attacked. God is in control! My Redeemer lives! That’s something that Job knew deep inside in his being because when he lost everything, this is what he did. Job 1:20-22:

Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.”

So let me ask you again, how would you react? How do you react? Because how we react say everything about what we believe, and who we are, and our relationship with God.

It feels somewhat unnatural to worship God in the midst of suffering. In fact, not somewhat unnatural – completely unnatural because when we’re suffering, our hearts and our minds start to turn away from God. We question Him; we put Him on trial; we demand answers, like a prosecuting attorney. And when He doesn’t give us any, we give up on Him and focus on our suffering. Fear creeps in; uncertainty and worry creep in, and at that point … Listen to me. At that point, the devil is winning.

God opened the gate for the devil to enter to see what we would do; how we would react. God’s plan is to test our faith. God’s plan is to allow the ravages of the devil to give us the opportunity to exercise our faith. What He’s looking for in you and me, through gritted teeth, is to utter those words that Job uttered, ‘My Redeemer lives’.

What God’s looking for is for us to worship Him; to completely trust our lives into His hands, despite what circumstances are screaming at us. Just like Job, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’.

We don’t really know that our Redeemer lives until we’ve come to know that in the place of suffering. That’s when the unjust suffering of Jesus starts to make sense in our own experience. That’s when the empty tomb has its most powerful effect in our lives. That’s when our faith, all of a sudden, becomes real. And when we come out the other end of it all, having exercised the muscle of faith, all of a sudden we discover that our faith is much, much stronger for having been through it.

So, when suffering comes your way, how will you respond?

BEFORE THE STORM HITS

I want you to imagine that you’re the captain of a ship that’s about to set sail. The weather forecast is for storms out there on the sea. You look out at all the shipping containers stacked high on your vessel, and you think to yourself: ‘Hmmm. I’d better make sure that the crew secures them all’, so here’s my question: Would you make the crew secure them before you left port, or would you wait until the storm hits to send them out there to latch down your precious cargo? The answer’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? So why is it in life that we wait until the storm hits before we go running to God to ask for help? Why aren’t we prepared, just as any good ship’s captain would be? We don’t want to wait until the storm hits to get close to God. We need the wisdom of God in us before the storm hits. We need to know the truth, because it’s not the truth alone that sets us free according to Jesus; it’s knowing the truth. John 8:31:

If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

You have to know the truth, and you need to know it before the storm hits. The book of Proverbs chapter 1: God teaches us very clearly that we need to be ready for the storm. We need to be in God’s Word and filled with His wisdom, and prepared for the onslaught when it comes. Solomon writes this. He says (Proverbs 1:24-29):

Wisdom is calling out to us on the street. She stands on the street corners, calling, wanting to make her words known to us. ‘But because I have called and you have refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when panic strikes you; when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD.’

Friend, listen to me. God is your strength. He is your counsel, and if you’re a man or a woman of God’s Word, someone who allows the Word of Christ to dwell richly in you, then when the storm comes as it most certainly will, you in the face of calamity and criticism will be able to declare through the tears and the gritted teeth of pain: ‘My Redeemer lives!’

Back when God’s judgment fell on Jerusalem because His people had sinned against Him yet again, when He allowed the city and the temple to be destroyed by the Babylonians, when God’s people were taken into captivity as slaves, the writer of the book of Lamentations was standing in the midst of this devastation, surveying the complete destruction of the great Jerusalem and the temple of the living God. After lamenting the destruction and the loss, this is what he said (Lamentations 3:20-26):

The thought of my affliction, my homelessness, is wormwood and gall; my soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The LORD is my Portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, the soul that seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

With all the devastation and destruction that we sometimes see in our lives, you and I can know that the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. In fact, they are new every morning, and that’s what we would know in the midst of devastation if as men and women of God, we took the time to get ready for it. And as your soul seeks Him and waits quietly for His salvation, know this: He is doing a mighty work in you. He is doing things in you that you cannot begin to imagine. The greatest transformations of your life will almost always happen on those dark nights of the soul, and it is good for you to wait quietly for His salvation.