Life and Suffering Psalm 23:4-6, NIV Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Introduction Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title “Life and Suffering.” We are born into this world to live a life of suffering. Our life is a life of constant suffering. Mankind has been a slave to suffering and living in a negative environment filled with sin, temptation, lust, greed, diseases, poverty, hate, despair, death and the list goes on since Adam committed sin. What kind of attitude do we therefore need when we live a life of suffering such as this? It is very painful when we face suffering. It is very hard to control our minds in situations when your business slows down, you lose your job, or when you have an incurable disease. However your victory over suffering will come to you when you can control your mind and maintain a strong and stable heart. On the other hand, if you don’t maintain a strong heart and mind; you will get nervous and experience hard times. When I experienced suffering and my mind was completely on God, I easily overcame my suffering; but when my mind was not focused on God, my heart would shake and I would experience a lot of hard times and pain. One of those times I read Psalm 23 and God comforted my heart. I want to share with you this comfort that was not a onetime feeling but has lasted until this day. First, although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. “God is with me.” Of course it’s easy to spend time with God when you are happy or in a good mood. But it’s harder to spend time with God when you are experiencing difficulties. The one sentence a suffering person wants to proclaim is “God is with me, even though I am suffering, it’s hard to see the heavens, and everyone is ignoring me.” God is with me… this is the most comforting sentence for us. When the Son of the God of the Heavens, the Earth and everything in between is with you; you don’t have an ordinary supporter. He is a supporter that will never fail or ignore you. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death there will be hardships and suffering that we both expect and can’t expect like problems at work or home or incurable diseases. American Vice-President Al Gore’s married life was fine for 50 years. Thereafter he experienced the hardships of divorce. Why would he and his wife get a divorce after living together for 50 years? This type of hardship is common to the world but is not spoken of in public. There are many difficult things and problems that a husband cannot tell his wife; for instance, working all the time but not having enough money to provide for his family, or when a contract is denied. If a husband told his wife these things, she would panic and worry; therefore he will hide these facts from his wife. I have a weak body so there are times when I am in so much pain that I feel I can’t come to church; but I hide my pain and don’t tell my wife. There are times when we can talk about our problems with others and there are times when we can’t. However in Psalms 25:17 it says, “The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.” In our lives when we experience these types of hard times, instead of focusing on our suffering or worrying; we should be fully focused on God. We have a soul in our bodies. Our bodies deal with and handle the things we can see but our spirit handles what we can’t see. We need to rely on the strength of our Lord whom we cannot see when we experience hardships. “I will fear no evil.” We must defeat our fear. A fearful heart is a lot worse than a heart of suffering or hardships. A heart full of fear is the worst. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” God gives strength, love, and temperance to our hearts. God does not give us burdensome things like fear, nervousness, and restlessness. Job 3:25-26 says, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” Satan gives us a heart of fear and turmoil. Job feared that he would lose all his fortune. When he couldn’t sleep he thought “If I lose all my fortune then what? If my children all die, then what?” Job was experiencing an endless fear. However he overcame that situation. Let it be done to you according to your faith. Let it be done to you according to your fear. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. So we must not fear evil. The German poet J.W. von Goethe once said “Look at what the hardships have left behind. The footsteps of despair will be filled and overflow with happiness.” Even sufferings and hardships will be changed to joy if God is with you. There are two purposes for suffering and trials of life. First Satan’s purpose is only to steal, kill and destroy; and second God’s purpose is to change all hardship and sufferings into joy, making us rejoice. Our sufferings and trials will be two completely different situations depending on whether God is with us or not with us. Therefore if you have the conviction that Jesus is with you during a trial or hardship; you will be brought much closer to our Lord. Erik Lindmann, an American author and psychiatrist, did some research on suffering; and found out that 85% of people who experienced hardships and trials, experienced blessings in the end. You must therefore have faith because experiencing a hardship is not going to kill you. Suffering and trials can cause you to stop bad habits. Trials and hardships bring us to repentance and compel us to forsake bad habits. In most cases we forsake a bad habit; not because of God’s grace, but because of the trial or hardship it caused us. Over my 50 years of ministry when I would experience hardships and repent; I would give up some things to hang on to better things. Therefore experiencing hardships was a good thing. We can look at the heart of a suicidal person. He must have been feeling very much despair, fear and hardships to come to the conclusion to take his own life. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The foundation of our life is being attacked when we don’t take care of our heart the right way. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” If your life is full of hardship, fear, and despair and if you cannot place Jesus in the center of your life; the result will be death. I always say the words of men have so much strength. It has been said that I am tied to and captured by my own words. Matthew 18:18 says, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Jesus forgave sin through his words, He healed the sick through His words and He fed 5000 people with just 5 pieces of bread. It is an amazing thing to declare something and to witness it happen. When people don’t bless you, it would be good to bless yourself. Conversely if people don’t talk to you about your flaws and morals; you will only see yourself as perfect and be over confident. “My work is perfect, my work is a blessing to others, and my work will bring victory.” It is very important to declare your intentions. If you declare them with faith then miracles will happen. Your Words can capture you, bless you, and also bring you disaster. Isaiah 41:10 says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” If you take God’s Word literally and grab a hold of it in your heart you will see how much strength that word will bring to you. When we experience hardships and look at ourselves we say “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” This is the gold like promise of God. Use it well. If the word applies to you and you take it to heart, then that word is living inside you. Then the next time you pray and praise; that prayer and praise will have strength and power. You will receive an answer from God when you put your fears aside, lean on God’s Word, declare praise to God with faith and pray. Secondly, God prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies. He anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. A feast will follow after our enemy comes. The enemy doesn’t only come to steal, kill and destroy. God sends our enemy so that He can provide a table for us in front of our enemy and anoint us so that our cup overflows. Therefore in the end the attack from our enemy is a good thing ? right! John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Throughout our lives, we need to have the conviction that Jesus is with us; and with that faith we have to thank and lift up all our hardships to God. We must thank God even when the enemies come. Don’t forget to thank God! Try to look at the big picture when hardships come and you have to face them. God will not abandon us for any reason. God doesn’t just bless the “good” people; He gives blessings to everyone. We know that we are all weak; there are no perfect people in this world. We are all sinners. The ones who are desperate for Christ are the ones who are faithful. It doesn’t mean that just because you believe in God He will help you. God helps those who search for Him earnestly, repent, get back up, repent and proclaim their faith loudly. That’s when God will take care of you. The person that holds that kind of faith in front of their enemies will receive a feast from God. God will bless you more than before your enemies came if you do all this. Psalm 92:9-10 says, “For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered. You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me.” A lot of people think that God is a fearful and picky God, That’s not true. There is no one else that can match God’s mercy and grace in the whole universe. God has a lot of patience. He doesn’t just act without reason. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,..” We should be joyful even when we are being tested. Not just a little bit; but filled with joy; “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Let us take a look at this. All the hardships that we go through are God’s plan to makes us better. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” We have to remember that our God is a ready God. When we are experiencing difficulties we need to hold the state of mind that God has already answered our prayers. Even though we can’t see, physically touch, or hear his voice, or even see the road in front of us because of darkness; God is always our GOD. He has already solved all our problems because He is our Father. You should therefore not be afraid. You should approach all difficulties with faith and prayer and then God will provide. The thing that hurts God the most is when we turn our backs on Him. We need to have faith and live by it. I pray that you will not look at your suffering, but focus on God’s promises and live by faith; when you experience some type of difficulties in life. Thirdly, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. There are things we can expect and believe in God. We should have expectations of faith in Jesus Christ. God’s presence will never leave us if we believe in Jesus and have faith in Him. You are living with your Savior who makes your life complete. Psalm 100:5 says, “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God’s goodness follows us wherever we go when God is with us. You will be filled with God’s Grace and Love. Psalm 103:8 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God ? ” When we have full belief that God is with us then God will be with our Soul; and when this happens all good things will happen in our life. Our God is a good God. God’s presence is full of mercy and compassion. God wants us to be the head not the tail, the top not the bottom, and in the position to lend not to borrow. It may not happen overnight but God is working towards that goal. Many people do not see God under a positive light. Our God, who is the root of all blessings, is the great God who called us to believe in Him. Why do we go through trials? As I have explained there are 2 reasons for trials. The first reason is to make us realize what feeble beings we are. “You say that you are perfect now go through this trial. You not being able to go through this with your own strength shows how weak you are, and at the same time know that I am going to help you.” Praying to God shows how great our God is. Repenting of our weaknesses, relying on God and repeatedly experiencing God’s grace, makes us realize how truly great our God is; which results in greater deeds and greater dreams. Consequently, we can stay in the house of Yahweh forever. We get to stay in the house of Yahweh forever because we believe in Jesus. Revelation 21:1-7 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.’ ” Conclusion We must make sure that we get a firm hold of the heart God gave us when we pass through the valley of suffering. We should not have negative or destructive thoughts when we hold on to the heart of Christ. We also should not look back. We must remember God is with us in every situation; so believe that tomorrow will be better than today, next month will be better than this month, and next year will be better than this year. Be Positive! We expect something great when we meet a great person, don’t we? Likewise, expect great things from our God. Keep praying with expectation even if you pray 12 times a day. Our God is a God that makes our spirits pure, makes all situations good and gives us strength. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. God our Father, We have to face many hardships and obstacles. I don’t know how we can overcome certain problems with our own strength. I want to thank you for being our Shepherd and for guiding us, and keeping our enemies away from us. Father God, I thank you for preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies, for anointing my head with oil and making my cup overflow; resulting in an outcome better than if I wouldn’t have confronted the enemy. We get to better ourselves and ultimately be led into victories because of our enemies. We know that our enemies cannot destroy us because God is with us. God the Father, thank You for granting us true happiness through experiencing Your goodness and kindness in the world as we live with you. Riches, luxury, and fairness do not bring happiness. Position, honor, power, and youth do not bring happiness. Like Psalm 23 tells us, help us to understand that true happiness only comes with God in the center. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 1