Why Does Such Suffering Come to Us? (James 5:11) Today I'd like to share God's grace under the title of "Why Does Such Suffering Come to Us?" Suffering never comes singly, we cry out in the midst of suffering, "Oh Lord, why does such suffering come to me? What did I do wrong? Why do I have misfortune after misfortune?" There was a woman who waited for a long time to have a baby. She finally gave birth to a beautiful baby but it became ill and soon died and went to heaven. In her great sadness, the woman became pregnant again with the help of an obstetrician. An ultrasound test revealed that the newly conceived baby in her womb was disabled. The couple, who were in grief after a short-term relief, sent me a letter saying, "What kind of sin did we commit? After God took away our first child, I got pregnant by the help of an obstetrician only to raise a crippled baby. Why me? What's wrong with us?" My strength was completely draining out of me by the letter. There was nothing I could say! I cannot imagine how helpless the couple must have felt. In the Old Testament, God repeatedly talks about wine and olive oil. Do you know how to make wine and olive oil? To make wine, you first pick grapes and put them into a big barrel to be crushed by people's feet. When they are trampled down, juice will come out of them. Then people ferment grape juice into wine that people enjoy. Likewise, people usually beat the olive tree with a long pole to drop fruit to the ground and gather them to grind in a stone mill or pound in a mortar. Then fragrant oil comes out of it. They use it as condiments, spice or massage oil. Wine and olive oil both can be gathered from being crushed themselves. In our Christian life those fragrant juices or oil like wine and olive oil require treading and crushing. In peaceful and comfortable circumstances, there will be no fragrant oil to please God and people. The experience of a crushed and broken life gives us pain, but it brings about a great change into our life and a sweet aroma into our character because we tend to be self-sufficient and never try to check ourselves so there is no repentance in peaceful life. However, a very painful and excruciating thing happens to us, when we will say, "Why does this happen to me? What's wrong with me?" and then look into ourselves. Whether we want it or not we have to repent of our sins and turn around from them. After we go through repenting and being broken we will end up with a fragrant character of faith. We know through experience that suffering itself will not harm us but ultimately benefit us. 1. Job’s suffering and Job’s response First, in the Bible there is one man whom God praised but who had to suffer greatly. God praised Job in the land of Uz, "This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He is the greatest man among all the people of the East." Then the devil accused him before God. "The reason why Job serves you and receives many blessings is that you have blessed the work of his hands and put a hedge around him so that we cannot harm him. But now if you stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." God granted his request and the devil went down to strike Job so he suddenly had to go through an unimaginable suffering. In Job 1:13-22, he lost all of his possessions and his entire children overnight. “One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!' ” At this Job might have stood up in his fright. "While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" His servant reported that as the sheep fed on grass and the servants tended them the fire from heaven burned them up and that he was the only one who survived. As Job was appalled at this, "While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!“ Now Job had no strength to respond this. “While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Master, you are in big trouble! Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a great storm struck the house to collapse on them and they are all dead. Only I escaped death to tell you!" Through trial and tribulation Job lost everything in a moment. "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. How odd it is! I would have complained if I were in his shoes. Job never complaint! He said, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away." He praised the name of God instead! In all this, he did not sin by blaming God for hardship. The devil was astonished at Job's act. He thought that Job would surely curse God and withdraw his faith after losing every wealth. On the contrary, he knelt down before God and gave thanks and glory to him. The devil thought that people would charge God with suffering naturally. That's why he always tries to rob people of their possessions and lead them to tribulation. On another day the devil came to present himself to God. God said, "Have you considered my servant Job? He still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to snatch away all of his children and wealth without any reason." Then the devil answered, "God, there is still something left. A man will not complain as long as he still has his health even though he lose everything else. But now stretch out your hand and make him sick. Who will not grumble over his sickness?" Then the LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life." The devil came to Job and afflicted him with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Today's scientists say that it must have been an Oriental leprosy. Job could not wear any clothes because of sores all over his body. He took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. How miserable he was! Nobody could comfort him at all. When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, came to comfort him, they accused Job instead of sympathizing with him in his extremely difficult time. "Maybe you did something wrong! That's why you suffer now! Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Repent!" They tried to expose every iniquity of Job. Even in the midst of extreme pain, his friends added to his anguish rather than give comfort. In our trials, we can be greatly strengthened by an encouraging word from friends. Nonetheless, it is common to criticize rather than comfort in trials and tribulation. Job lamented over their attack. Job 3:26 says, "I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil." He confessed, "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me."(Job 3:25) Despite these misfortunes, Job proved himself to be an extraordinary saint. He did not curse his friends but blessed them before God. According to the Word, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink,"(Rom. 12:20) he prayed for them instead of speaking ill of them. In Job 42:10-17, "After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before." He had been tested to the end. He lost his wealth, children and even his loved wife who betrayed and left him. Worse still, his friends verbally abused him without comforting him. He was totally forsaken without anything or anyone. Nevertheless, he never charged God for his misfortune nor blamed his friends. Rather he prayed for them before God. How could God restrain himself before such person further? He was impressed by him so much that he moved away all the pain instantly. "All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys." He received the double blessing. "And he also had seven sons and three daughters." Even his wife who had cursed him harshly and left him returned and had many children with him again. "The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land was there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters." They must have been a perfect beauty since the Bible said so. "-- and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died an old man and full of years." Job really enjoyed longevity because after that trials and tribulation he lived a hundred and forty years! He saw his children and their children to the fourth generation and died old and rich. Even though he went through an unspeakable affliction, we can receive a lesson from his secret of overcoming it. We are not a holy person or a saint like Job, but we should learn from his secret to conquer every trial. The key to rising above extreme difficulties is as follows. First, Job repented of his sins with a humble heart. You may think that you are innocent, but you'd better repent in suffering. The Bible says in James 5:13, "Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray," we must bow down before the Lord and repent. Who on earth don't need repentance? Everybody on the earth is a sinner so that we all need to check ourselves and repent of our sins. Job repented of his sins. Job 42:6 says, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Secondly, he kept his pure faith. Even in the midst of suffering, he didn't have any mixed feeling about it. "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart." He thought it so simple that he did not excuse himself by any complex theory. Job 2:3 says, "Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason." With this integrity and pure faith, he gave glory to God instead of struggling with his complicated thoughts. Thirdly, Job endured to the end. He did not give up with discouragement, or commit suicide, but persevered to the end with patience. James 5:11 says, "As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." Fourth, amazingly Job did not complain against God. He lost all his wealth and suffered with painful sores all over his body. He took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. Worse still, his wife cursed and left him and his friends accused and attacked him. There was no one whom he turned to, but he did not blame any one for this. Job could charge God with his huge misery, but he never thought about it. This is a great lesson that we should learn from Job. Job 1:22 says, "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Even in extreme suffering like Job we should repent and keep upright while enduring with patience and praying to the end. Then we will receive faith more desirable than gold and receive greater grace and blessings from God and become a mighty victor. God shows us a wonderful model of faith through Job. 2. Because of our weakness Secondly, why should we suffer? God allows it for us to realize how vulnerable and weak we are. God has chosen us not because we deserve it but because we are miserable. Not because we are strong and righteous but because we are weak and sinful. Hudson Taylor, the missionary who founded China Inland Mission, knew well the secret that God's power is perfect in weakness. One day his friend praised him to the utmost, "You are so terrific! How could you enter the inland of China to preach the gospel and lead them to become wonderful believers?" Hudson Taylor confessed, "God searched the whole world to find the most powerless and weakest man. It was I that he found at last. He sent me, the weakest vessel, to this most dangerous inland of China to accomplish success with his abundant grace." You should not be despaired in your weakness because you can be stronger when you are weak. As an empty vessel can be filled, God's strong power can appear only in your weakness. Hudson Taylor recognized his vulnerability and weakness so well that he wholly depended on God. Then he could accomplish an unimaginable success in his mission. God leads the strong and brilliant to suffering in order for them to realize their helplessness. On the contrary, he has chosen the weak and powerless to do his work with his power. Therefore, we must acknowledge God's power in our weakness. Trials and tribulation come to break our strong will and self-sufficiency. These difficulties help us realize how weak and vulnerable we are and this leads to faith and obedience to God. Thus, self-praise should be avoided. 3. God’s will concerning suffering Thirdly, when we look into the condition of why we suffer, there are several lessons God wants us to learn from it. God's will concerning suffering is to test whether our love toward Him is conditional or unconditional. God hates most the conditional love. He will never accept our conditional faith, "I will believe in you if only I become healthy, or receive money, or become happy." He requires us our absolute faith without any condition. The reason why Abraham became our ancestor of faith is that he did not put any condition to God's command. God wants our unconditional surrender and obedience. At the age of 100 Abraham received his only son who became so adorable to him, God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love?Isaac?and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you." God's order was beyond his capacity. However, did he suggest any condition to this command? "Oh, God, do you really want to take away my son whom you gave to me? What shall I do if you ask me to kill my only son whom I received at the age of 100?" He did not say anything or discuss with his wife concerning this. He took a three-day's journey with his son and went up to Mt. Moriah. There he arranged the wood on the altar and bound his son to put him on the altar and took the knife to slay him. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and make you prosper!" "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." When God tests us through suffering, he wants to know whether we love him conditionally or unconditionally. God seems not to test us, but he first tests our faith through affliction and then blesses us after it. If we fail the test, he repeats his test until we pass it. In order to know whether our love is conditional or unconditional, he allows trials and tribulation to us. And then he sends them to remove our shoes of strong will. In Ruth, people took off their shoes when they gave up their right of possession. God said to Moses and Joshua to take off their sandals. When you come before God, you are told to remove your ownership in your life. The right of choice in your life should be removed and total surrender is required. In the old times, the lords wore shoes while servants went around barefoot. Servants should obey his lord. It means an absolute obedience. In the book of Ruth, Ruth, a Gentile daughter in law, expressed a faithful confession to Naomi, her mother in law. We also must have that faithful heart and mind to God. "But Ruth replied, "Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." Ruth's confession of love toward Naomi, her Jewish mother in law was well expressed in the Bible. Our faith toward God should be like this. "Where God goes I will go, and where God works I will work. Where you command me to die I will die there." When we have this faithfulness God loves us and blesses us abundantly. Suffering is also meant for hard discipline to earn a strong faith. Only through trials and suffering will we have a strong muscle of faith. 1 Peter 5:9 says, "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." Through sufferings God will give us a hard muscle of faith in which we can be strong, firm and steadfast. In addition, sufferings come to us to let us get rid of our arrogance and rely on God only. When we are weak, we usually cast away our pride and depend on God, don't we? If we feel strong, we resort to our strength only. However, we stick to the Lord in our weakness. Even our children cling to us when they are disabled or helpless in suffering while those children who are self-sufficient seldom contact their parents. Those weak children cannot survive without their parents. We Christians also pray and resort to the Lord in our weakness, but we forget about God so easily in our prosperity. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, "But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul delighted in his weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties because these disadvantages made him cling to the Lord desperately. That's why he appreciated these afflictions. These hardships let him draw nearer to God and rely on his grace. The Lord’s power makes us complete when we are weak His power stays on us and works tremendous miracles when we are weak. There are times when it seems like suffering never comes alone and when it rains it pours. In times of suffering like this, we don't know why. We'd better have faith that the Lord is good so that good things will eventually happen. We cannot but give thanks to the Lord, endure patiently, repent of our sins, be committed to the Lord and be patient. Don't blame, complain or lament during suffering. It is the devil's favorite. The fastest way to free from sufferings is to give thanks in spite of them. Praise God and believe and expect that something good is going to happen. Have positive and active thinking and dream and believe and confess with your mouth that something really good will come to you. Then your suffering will withdraw from you and something good will come instead. This will be a sure sign that God has not forsaken you during your suffering. Who will discipline others' children? However, there are no parents that do not discipline their own children. God rebukes and disciplines you because you are his children. Don't forget that sufferings and hardship are God's hand of love. In Christ God never forsakes us but stays with us to the end. He says, "-- for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." Isaiah 43:2 says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." You should keep in mind that God loves you. Heavenly Father, we tend to ask why we should suffer. We lament that we do not deserve hardships at all. However, God has a definite will in our sufferings to discipline us for a better tomorrow. Instead of complaining, help us give thanks and praise to God and endure with patience as Job did. Let us believe that great miracles of God will come to us through these sufferings. In Jesus' name. Amen.