Finding God in the Midst of Suffering

 

Summary

In reflecting on the profound mystery of suffering, I am reminded of C.S. Lewis's poignant observation that pain is "God's megaphone." It is through suffering that God often captures our attention, as seen in the story of Job, the oldest book in the Bible. Job, a blameless man, endured immense suffering without ever doubting God's existence. His story challenges the simplistic notion that good people are always blessed and evil people punished. Instead, Job's experience reveals a deeper truth: that suffering can be a means through which God communicates with us, even if His answers are not what we expect.

Job's dialogue with God is raw and honest, filled with questions and complaints. Yet, God does not provide direct answers to Job's questions. Instead, He reveals Himself, emphasizing the mystery of His presence and the vastness of His creation. This encounter teaches us that in our deepest trials, what we need most is not explanations, but the presence of God Himself.

In my own journey, I have faced moments where God's response to my "Why?" was simply, "Trust me." This trust is not based on receiving specific answers, but on the character of God. Like Daniel in the lion's den or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, our faith must rest in the assurance that God is with us, even in the darkest pits.

The Christian faith uniquely addresses the reality of suffering, not by offering easy answers, but by pointing to the cross. It is through the cross that we see God's ultimate response to suffering: He became the Victim, the Lamb slain for the world. This profound truth invites us to trust in God's goodness and sovereignty, even when we do not understand His ways.

Key Takeaways:

- Suffering is a means through which God captures our attention, as seen in the story of Job. It challenges our understanding of justice and invites us to trust in God's mysterious ways. [01:08]

- Job's honest dialogue with God teaches us that we can bring our deepest questions and complaints to Him. God is big enough to handle our doubts and fears, and He desires an authentic relationship with us. [03:06]

- God's response to suffering is not always to provide answers, but to reveal Himself. In our trials, what we need most is the presence of God, who meets us in our pain and walks with us through it. [07:49]

- Our faith must be rooted in the character of God, not in specific outcomes. Like Daniel and his friends, we must trust that God is with us, even if our prayers are not answered in the way we expect. [15:44]

- The cross is the ultimate symbol of God's response to suffering. It shows us that God is not distant from our pain, but has entered into it, offering us hope and redemption through His sacrifice. [27:03]

Youtube Chapters:

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:23] - God's Megaphone: Pain
[01:08] - The Story of Job
[01:46] - Satan's Challenge
[02:26] - Job's Loss and Anguish
[03:06] - Job's Honest Dialogue
[04:21] - The Question of "Why?"
[05:04] - Job's Direct Address to God
[07:03] - God's Response: Mystery
[09:09] - Personal Missionary Experience
[10:18] - The Loss of Macario
[12:49] - Trusting God's Character
[15:44] - Faith in the Fiery Furnace
[17:17] - The Freedom to Choose
[19:50] - Letters of Comfort
[22:29] - Trust in Suffering
[27:03] - The Cross and Suffering
[30:36] - God's Refuge in Suffering

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
1. Job 3:11, 19-20
2. Job 10:18-19
3. Psalm 46:1-2

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Observation Questions:

1. In Job 3:11, 19-20, what are the specific questions Job asks God, and what do these questions reveal about his state of mind? [03:40]

2. How does Job's direct address to God in Job 10:18-19 reflect his feelings about his suffering and existence? [05:04]

3. According to Psalm 46:1-2, what is the psalmist's perspective on God's role during times of trouble? How does this compare to Job's experience? [30:36]

4. What does the sermon suggest about the role of suffering in capturing our attention and prompting us to seek God? [00:23]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does Job's willingness to question God challenge or affirm the way believers are encouraged to approach God with their doubts and fears? [03:06]

2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that God's response to suffering is more about His presence than providing direct answers? How does this align with the biblical passages discussed? [07:49]

3. How does the story of Daniel in the lion's den, as mentioned in the sermon, illustrate the concept of trusting in God's character rather than specific outcomes? [15:44]

4. What does the cross symbolize in the context of suffering, according to the sermon, and how does this shape a Christian's understanding of God's response to human pain? [27:03]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you faced suffering or a difficult situation. How did you respond to God during that time? Did you bring your questions and complaints to Him like Job did? [03:06]

2. The sermon emphasizes trusting in God's character rather than expecting specific answers. How can you cultivate a deeper trust in God's character in your current life circumstances? [13:39]

3. Consider the idea that God's presence is the most important aspect during trials. How can you become more aware of God's presence in your daily life, especially during challenging times? [07:49]

4. The sermon mentions the cross as the ultimate symbol of God's response to suffering. How does this perspective influence your view of your own suffering and the suffering of others? [27:03]

5. How can you support someone in your life who is currently experiencing suffering, in a way that reflects God's presence and love, rather than trying to provide all the answers? [08:39]

6. Reflect on the concept of "God's megaphone" as described in the sermon. How might God be using current challenges in your life to capture your attention or teach you something new? [00:23]

7. The sermon discusses the importance of faith being rooted in God's character. What specific steps can you take to strengthen your understanding and trust in God's character this week? [15:44]

Devotional

Day 1: Suffering as God's Attention-Grabber
Suffering is often perceived as a negative experience, yet it can serve as a profound means through which God captures our attention. The story of Job exemplifies this, as Job, a blameless man, endures immense suffering without ever doubting God's existence. His experience challenges the simplistic notion that good people are always blessed and evil people punished. Instead, it reveals a deeper truth: that suffering can be a means through which God communicates with us, even if His answers are not what we expect. This invites us to trust in God's mysterious ways and to seek His presence in our trials. [01:08]

"For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." (1 Peter 3:17, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a recent challenge or hardship you faced. How might God be using this situation to capture your attention or communicate something important to you?


Day 2: Honest Dialogue with God
Job's story teaches us that we can bring our deepest questions and complaints to God. His dialogue with God is raw and honest, filled with questions and complaints. Yet, God does not provide direct answers to Job's questions. Instead, He reveals Himself, emphasizing the mystery of His presence and the vastness of His creation. This encounter teaches us that God is big enough to handle our doubts and fears, and He desires an authentic relationship with us. In our deepest trials, what we need most is not explanations, but the presence of God Himself. [03:06]

"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us." (Psalm 62:8, ESV)

Reflection: What is one question or doubt you have been hesitant to bring to God? How can you begin to have an honest conversation with Him about it today?


Day 3: God's Presence in Suffering
God's response to suffering is not always to provide answers, but to reveal Himself. In our trials, what we need most is the presence of God, who meets us in our pain and walks with us through it. This is seen in the story of Daniel in the lion's den or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, where their faith rested in the assurance that God was with them, even in the darkest pits. Our faith must be rooted in the character of God, not in specific outcomes. [07:49]

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." (Isaiah 43:2, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you need to be reminded of God's presence today? How can you invite Him into that situation?


Day 4: Trusting God's Character
Our faith must be rooted in the character of God, not in specific outcomes. Like Daniel and his friends, we must trust that God is with us, even if our prayers are not answered in the way we expect. This trust is not based on receiving specific answers, but on the character of God. It requires a deep assurance that God is good and sovereign, even when we do not understand His ways. [15:44]

"Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." (Job 13:15, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you find it difficult to trust God's character? What step can you take today to deepen your trust in Him?


Day 5: The Cross as God's Response to Suffering
The cross is the ultimate symbol of God's response to suffering. It shows us that God is not distant from our pain, but has entered into it, offering us hope and redemption through His sacrifice. The Christian faith uniquely addresses the reality of suffering, not by offering easy answers, but by pointing to the cross. This profound truth invites us to trust in God's goodness and sovereignty, even when we do not understand His ways. [27:03]

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

Reflection: How does the reality of the cross change your perspective on your own suffering? What does it mean for you to embrace the hope and redemption offered through Jesus' sacrifice today?

Quotes

"I look upon suffering as one of God's ways of getting our attention. In fact, C. S. Lewis calls pain 'God's megaphone.' He said, 'God whispers to us in our conscience, speaks to us in our joys, and shouts to us in our pain. Pain is God's megaphone.' And I'd like for us to think about some of the things which God needs to say to us, that He needs to get our attention for, first of all, and it's interesting to me it's of great significance, I think, that as far as we know, the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, is the one that deals most specifically and head on with the subject of suffering." [00:22:00]

"You remember that Job was called 'a blameless man,' 'that righteous man.' God Himself said that Job was a blameless man, and if the morality of those days was that a good man would be blessed, and an evil man would be punished, then Job's experience seemed to turn that completely upside down. And Job lost everything. You remember that there was a drama that went on behind the scenes that, as far as we know, Job was never given a clue about, where Satan challenged God in heaven. And he said, 'Of course, Job trusts You, but does he trust You for nothing? Try taking away all those blessings, and then see where Job's faith goes.' And God accepted Satan's challenge, and here we have a mystery which we cannot begin to explain." [00:84:99]

"We hear Job called a patient man, but if you read the book of Job, you won't really find a lot of evidence that he was patient, but he never doubted that God existed. And he said some of the very worst things that could possibly be said about God, and isn't it interesting that the Spirit of God preserved those things for you and me. God is big enough to take anything that we can dish out to Him, and He even saw to it that Job's howls and complaints were preserved in black and white for our instruction. So never hesitate to say what you really feel to God, because remember that God knows what you think before you know and certainly knows what you're going to say before you even think it." [00:186:44]

"Job never denies God's existence, never imagines that God has nothing to do with his troubles, but has a thousand questions, and so do we. And let me just tell you a story or two that comes out of my first year as a missionary. I thought of myself as being very well prepared to be a missionary. As I told you, I came from a strong Christian home. My parents had been missionaries themselves and we had dozens, probably hundreds, of missionaries traipsing through our house. We had a guest room which always seemed to be full, we had suitcases bumping up and down the stairs all the time, and we listened from our earliest memories to many, many missionary stories at our own dinner table." [00:525:09]

"But, within the first year, God saw fit to give me three major blows to what I thought was a very well-founded and very sinewy faith. And the first of these was that a man by the name of Macario, who was my informant as I was attempting to learn an unwritten Indian language in the Western jungle of Ecuador, the language of the Colorado tribe, a very small tribe who had never had any written language, and therefore had none of the Bible in their language. I had prayed that God would give me an informant, someone who would be prepared to sit down with me and go over, and over, and over, what for him was the easiest language in the world, and have the patience to deal with this apparently retarded foreigner." [00:618:63]

"And God answered my prayer by sending me this man by the name of Macario, who was bilingual, which was an enormous advantage. He spoke Spanish and Colorado, and I had had to learn Spanish as the national language of the country, and so we worked together very happily for about six weeks or two months -- I've forgotten exactly what it was. And I was on my knees one morning in my bedroom, as was my habit, reading my Bible and praying, and I happened to be reading in the third chapter, or the fourth chapter of 1 Peter, and these were the words: 'Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some strange thing happened. It happens to give you a share in the sufferings of Christ.'" [00:667:83]

"Now, it would be very nice if I could tell you that I easily found another informant, but the truth was that Macario was literally the only person in the world who was capable of doing the job that he had been doing with me. Nobody else knew both Spanish and Colorado. So I was faced for the first time in my personal experience with that awful 'Why?' Like Job, I didn't doubt for a second that God was up there, and that God knew what He was doing. But I couldn't imagine what He could possibly have in mind, and God's answer to my 'Why?' was, 'Trust me.' No explanations. Just 'Trust me.' That was the message." [00:755:92]

"And I thought of Daniel in the lion's den. I remember the picture that we had on our wall at home, a painting. When I was a child, I often gazed at that painting, and Daniel is standing in the den of lions, there's a light on his face, and he stands very tall and straight with his hands behind his back, and just very faintly in the dark you can see these glowing eyes of the hungry lions, and I realized that the painting is telling me that here's a man whose faith rests in the character of God. Now, of course, I wouldn't have put it in those terms as a child, but that picture spoke volumes to me. God was there in the pit." [00:869:81]

"Every one of us, I'm sure, sooner or later, has to face up to that painful question, 'Why?' and God is saying, 'Trust me.' If your prayers don't get answered the way you thought they were supposed to be, what happens to your faith? The world says God doesn't love you; the Scriptures tell me something very different. Those blesseds of the -- those blesseds of the Beatitudes, Paul's word, 'It is my happiness to suffer for you.' We don't know the answer, but we know that it lies deep within the mystery of the freedom to choose." [00:990:37]

"If we learn to know God in the midst of our pain, we come to know Him as one who is not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is one who has been over every inch of the road. I love that old hymn from, I think, the 17th-century, by Richard Baxter, 'Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before.' I love those words. I have some dear friends who were missionaries in North Africa. He was one of the many seminary students who have lived in our house. And I had a letter from them about a year or so ago to tell me that they had just lost their baby girl." [01:162:17]

"And now we're saying, 'Why doesn't God do something about it?' And the Christian answer is, 'He did. He became the Victim, a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.' George Herbert, another 17th-century poet, wrote this: 'Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes, fine nets and stratagems to catch us in.' Then George McDonald, a 19th century poet said this: 'Pain, with dog and spear, hounds false faith from human hearts.' Two different expressions of what God is up to. 'Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in,' to give us this message." [01:797:07]

"And as the psalmist said in Psalm 46, 'Though the mountains shake and be carried -- though the earth shake, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, God is our refuge.' And I speak to you as one who has desperately needed a refuge. And in that same psalm, He says, 'Be still,' and I'm told that it's legitimate to translate that, 'Shut up and know that I am God.' That's the message." [01:853:84]

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Transcript
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