Praising God Amidst my Problems, Part 3b

Turn me in your Bible, if you would, to the book of Job. You know Job's situation, don't you? I'm sure you do. You don't like to read about it too much because you might be afraid it's going to happen to you. But Job was a man who had perspective. But you must remember something. Two times Job's wife comes on the scene it's very easy for us to ridicule his wife but understand something she lost everything Job lost she lost her kids she lost her home she lost her livestock she lost the same things her husband lost on top of that she had to view from a distance his pain.

She could do nothing to help him in his pain. She couldn't calm him. She could not comfort him. She could not do anything for him. So in the depths of her soul, how could she relieve her husband of his pain? Cursed God and die. Let's get along with this thing. you don't want to live like this i don't want you to live like this i don't want to see the pain you're in that was her words in job chapter two it says then verse seven then satan satan went out from the presence of the lord and smote jove with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head took a pottcher to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes and his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity?

Curse God and die. Curse God and die. You know, I don't want to fault his wife. I don't want to come down on her. She's trying to think of a way to help her husband, to relieve him of this severe pain that he is experiencing. You know, you feel helpless. when you see your child or your spouse in such pain, you can do nothing to help them. You can't relieve the pain. You can't kiss it enough to make it go away. You can't buy something to change the situation. You can't do anything about it. You are helpless.

Her only solution? It'd be better off if you were dead. At least you'd be home with the Lord, right? You'd be home with the Lord. There'd be no more pain. It'd be great. Listen to what Job says. He says, you speak as one of the foolish women, as one of the foolish women speaks. Now, a fool is one who doesn't speak with wisdom. One who is devoid of wisdom. Me to say that you're looking at things from a worldly perspective. You're looking at things from a horizontal perspective. You're looking at things from your perspective.

Job says in the midst of his pain, he says, you need to see things from God's perspective. So what do we have? We have Paul, who's looking at things from God's perspective. We have Peter who looks at things from God's perspective. and now we had Job who looks at things from God's perspective. We studied the life of Joseph. He was always looking at things from God's perspective. The point is that we as the people of God need to stop looking at things from our perspective. He says this. He says, Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?

Those are some powerful words. Job was realizing and accepting the sovereign rulership of God in his life. He was trying to help his wife gain perspective. Look, when good things happen, we praise God. We say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for our home. Thank you, Lord, for our children. Thank you, Lord, for our health. Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done. It's so easy to thank God when things are going well and to praise him and accept. This is from God. But when tragedy happens, what do we do?

We are not so readily wanting to praise him because we don't accept it. as coming from God. It must be Satan. But remember, the evil one asked for permission. And God gave it to him. Not only did God give it to him, God recommended Job for the situation. Now that is mind-boggling to me. Have you considered my servant Job? I would hope that God would not offer me up as an individual for Satan to use. Have you considered my servant Bill or Lance or Joe or whoever? Satan had no idea about Job. He'd gone to and fro throughout the earth and looking for somebody.

He can really, you know, sink his teeth into. And the Lord says, hey, I got somebody for you. Job! So you see, Job. perspective says when we had our family we were sitting around the table eating the dinner, provided by the livestock that God gave us, in the home that God gave us, eating and filling our healthy bodies that God gave us, God was good. Do you mean now that he's no longer good? We accepted those as gifts from God. Are we now not going to accept this as from God as well? And the Bible says, in all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

Listen, Job gives to us a very key element in helping us understand the timeliness of trials. And that isn't that one word except except i mean i remind the excuse me of the story of elizabeth elliott who in nineteen fifty six lost her husband in the alka indian massacre in the jungles of ecuador what elizabeth elliott did was take her small daughter valery and went into the village of the tribesmen who killed her husband. She ministered there among them and saw a great revival take place among the tribes people.

She wrote these words that I think all of us need to understand. She says only in acceptance lies peace, not in resignation, nor in busyness. Resignation is surrender to fate. Acceptance is surrender to God. Resignation lies down quietly in an empty universe. Acceptance rises up to meet the God who fills that universe with purpose and destiny. Resignation says, I can't. Acceptance says God can. Resignation says, it's all over for me. Acceptance asks, now that I am here, what's next, Lord? Resignation says, what a waste.

Acceptance asks, in what redemptive way will you use this mess lord we need to come to the point where we accept god's adversity not resign ourselves to the fact that adverse circumstances are going to come big difference big difference and so peter says peter says as Job would say, if necessary. And because you have it, it must be necessary. You see, we don't see a trial as necessary. We see it as, that's something I can live without. I don't need that. I don't want that. I wish I had that trial over there I could handle that one I don't want this one and yet and yet we'll resign ourselves to the fact that this is God's plan and live a depressed life instead of accept what God is doing asking him Lord what are you going to do now how are you going to use this Lord how can you help me Lord How can you minister to me, Lord, so I can minister to others, Lord?

Peter says, trials, number one, are temporary. Number two, timely. Number three, taxing. He says, Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed. That word is a very important word. It's used of Christ in the Garden of Gassimony on the eve of the crucifixion. When he was distressed in his soul and he would sweat great drops of blood, realizing that on the very next day he was going to bear in his life. his body on the tree, the sins of the world. Not only that, not only that, the estrangement he would experience from his father would even add to his distress, would even add to his agony.

Peter readily admits these are taxing situations. These will weigh on you. These will bring you down. They will become heavy burdens for you. They will become grievous times for you. They will become severe hardships for you. No one said that trials were going to be easy. That's why they're called trials. That's why they're called tests. I don't think going through college or seminary, I ever took an easy test. They were all hard for me. No matter how I prepared for them, every one of them were hard for me.

And yet those are just things you write down on paper you get a grade for. But when you go through life and you are tested, when you are tried, you can do all you want to prepare for them, do all you want to get ready for them. And Peter says, look, they are going to come at a certain time because God's going to ordain them. But know this, they will only be temporary. They're not going to last forever, but believe this, they will tax you. they will wear on you they will be a tremendous burden on your life so many times we want to deny the pain this same word is used in first that's the only in four verse number 13 to talk about those who lost their loved ones you ever lose a loved one a father a mother a spouse, husband, wife, a child, and the distress that you go through, the emptiness, the loneliness, it's almost as if when you lose that loved one, the house in its silence becomes so loud, you don't even want to be there anymore because the silence is deafening.

And Peter says, yes, they are severe. Yes, they are hard. Yes, they are very taxing. Physically, mentally, emotionally, they will wear on you. Because that's the way they are. That's the reality of triumphs. But fourthly, know this. They also come in all types. He says, You're distressed by various trials. The word is poikilos, where we get our English word poca dot. They come in various shapes and sizes. Is that not true? Some days the trials are our little ones, and some days they're medium size, and some days they're huge.

But they come in all different shapes and sizes, and this is important because Peter says, Listen, in chapter four, he speaks of the manifold grace of God, same word, the various kinds of grace of God. For whatever trial you have and experience, there is the grace of God to sustain you in that trial. They come in all shapes and sizes. They come at different times in different ways. Because they come as some, of your texts read many colored trials, various trials, manifold trials. Peter doesn't have any special trial in mind.

Now we know that these people are being persecuted because of their faith and because they are being accused of burning Rome and Nero was out to kill the Christian community. So we know that some of them are suffering. We know some of them are dying. Some of them are being in gruesome kind of ways. But Peter is using the word to help you understand that trials come in all various kinds of ways. And so he's not going to pinpoint any specific trial, any certain situation, but to let you know that they're going to come in all kinds of ways, you must be aware of that.

That is the reality of trials. And then he says, let me give you the reason for the trials and I won't be able to get them all covered this evening so we'll have to pick them up next time but let me give you the first one Peter says this he says verse 7 that the proof of your faith be more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In that verse, verse number seven, he gives us three reasons. I won't get to them all this evening. There are going to be ten in the epistle of First Peter.

Peter will give us ten reasons for trials in five chapters. And they will unlock for you the mystery. of why God does these things to his children. Number one is this.

Trials are those things that verify our faith. They verify our faith. It is in the trial that the authenticity of your faith is proven. Listen, what good is our faith if when we need it the most, it doesn't work? Right? I mean, when things are going well, you know, our faith is there, but, you know, hey, listen, it's okay. I'm not having to draw up on that. But when my world begins to crumble, if I have nothing to hold on to that's going to sustain me, I'm in trouble. I better have a faith that works.

And praise be to God, Jesus Christ has granted us the faith that truly works. Remember the test that Abraham had in Genesis 22? We won't go back and look at it, but in Genesis 22, it tells us that God is going to test Abraham.

Abraham. He tells him to take his son his only son on top of Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Sacrifice him. Abraham being obedient to God, takes his son up the mountain, binds his son, gets ready to slay his son, and God stops him. And what does God say to Abraham? Now I know that you fear me. Wait a minute. God didn't know that? Sure he did. God knew that Abraham feared him, but Abraham had to know that Abraham feared him. Abraham had to know that his faith would sustain him. You see, he believed what God said.

He believed for certain that what God was going to do, because God made a promise, that through Abraham the nations of the world will be blessed. And if God says, take my only son and kill him.

him that's what I'm gonna do because if God is gonna do that he's gonna have to resurrect him from the dead because this is the promise seed and so God must do something great if I kill him but I believe in what God says and Abraham believed in his God and James picks up on that in James chapter 2 it talks about the fact that his faith worked faith true faith always works that is it always manifest itself in the element of trials more so than at any other time because it demonstrates to ourselves and others that Jesus Christ, and what he said, is absolute truth.

And we believe it. Like Abraham did. The Bible says in 2nd Chronicles 32, summarizing Hezekiah's testings from the Lord with these words that Hezekiah might know what was in his heart.

Hezekiah might know what was in his heart. So Hezekiah might understand his faith and belief in God. Trials verify our faith. That's why. You had the parable of the sower and the soil. And the very first parable that Christ gives about how the word of God is going to spread in the kingdom of God.

And you had the different kind of soils. You have the rocky soil. You have the thorny soil. You have the wayside soil. You have the good soil. And over in the book of Matthew, the 13th chapter, the Lord says this. He says, hear then the parable the sore when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it the evil one comes and snatches away well has been sown in his heart this is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road and the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy yet he has no firm root in himself but is only temporary.

And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. God says, this is the man who hears the word, thinks, man, this is great.

And he gets on the Jesus bandwagon. He's the part of the Jesus movement. He gets involved with the church movement. And all of a sudden, affliction comes and persecution comes. And because he has no root in the truth, When affliction comes, when persecution comes, he falls by the wayside because his faith is proven that it's not genuine. See that? But the believer, because he has a firm root in God, just digs those roots down deeper into God. And is able to stand strong with God and is refined by the power.

power of God and doesn't fall away, but trust is God. Read through the Bible, and you have men and women who firmly are rooted in God, and their faith grows deeper and deeper in their God when trials come their way. You know, God wants us to have confidence in the quality of our faith. He does. He wants us to believe that the faith he gave us when we were saved, he grants us the faith to believe in him. He wants us to know that this faith is genuine, so genuine that no matter how severe your difficulty, no matter how profound your loneliness, no matter how great your pain, the faith you have in God is genuine.

And therefore, Peter says, although these trials come in all various types at a specific time for a specific purpose, only last a while, they will do one thing. They will prove the validity of your faith. They will prove that your relationship with God is true. They will prove that what you believe about God is true. And you know what happens? You become stronger. And when the next trial comes, you become stronger. And the next trial comes, you become stronger. Because God continues to verify your faith.

day after day after day. Our God is committed to making everything plain to you and me. And while it might not be in this life, it might be in the life hereafter, God will reveal to us everything and why he does what he does. In the meantime, Peter says, listen, the reality of trials is that. this, they're temporary, very timely, yet taxing, income in all types of ways. Why? Number one, to verify your faith.

Number two, that's next time. Thank you.