Seizing the Opportunity of Suffering

Worst. Year. Ever.

“Seizing the Opportunity of Suffering”

Text: Job 27 & 28

Focus: Suffering helps clarify priorities and point to the eternal aspects of life. 

Hello friends, my name is Wally and I am the Senior Associate Pastor here at Jericho Ridge Community Church.

• If you’ve been tracking with us, we’ve spent the month of January in the Book of Job exploring what Job has to say to us about living in suffering, particularly around the link between piety and prosperity.
• In other words, if I do the right things and live the right way, shouldn’t God reward me for that?
• Or alternately, if I make bad decisions, will God punish me and cause me to suffer?
• And the logical concluding point for that trajectory of thinking is that by our actions/words, we can control whether or not we suffer?
• But then along comes the book of Job, an example that clearly shows us that suffering does not operate in such a neat and tidy contractual theological box.
• God alone knows the “whys” to all of our suffering… yes, some of it does exist in a cause and effect relationship, but ultimately we submit to God’s sovereignty because we will suffer and often without an answer as to why.

So rather than answering the “why” behind personal suffering, today we are going to focus on the “how”.

• How do we suffer? Or more accurately, how do we respond to suffering, particularly when we cannot control it’s reality in our lives?
• When your back is up against a wall of suffering and it’s out of your control to fix or cure, what do you do?
• How do you re-engage a healthy life and state of mind when your immediate suffering is acute or prolonged, chronic, or even terminal in nature?
• How do we respond in our suffering when God is silent and the answer to why doesn’t come.
• Each of us has a story to tell that includes chapters of real suffering.
• And later in the message, I’ll highlight some of those chapters in my life… so stay tuned for that.
• But for now, and for the answer to “how” in the midst of suffering, Job is the model we turn to.

We pick up Job in a place of great anguish and anger, which Rachel Schwarz unpacked in the last message of our series.

• Job is in anguish and he’s angry because of the responses he has been getting from his friends…
• Friends who are saying that Job must have made bad/sinful decisions for God to bring all this suffering on him.

Already, we can relate to Job on two fronts…

• First, all of us suffer to varying degrees in our lives.
• Jesus stated this unequivocally in John 16:33,

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

• And like Job, we also have people around us when we suffer who are giving advice/trying to influence how we respond or are at the very least watching how we respond to suffering.

So let’s turn to Job 27 & 28 in the Bible, and look closely at Job’s response in the midst of his incredible suffering.

• As we do, we are going to discover something that may be surprising, perhaps even unpalatable for many of us.
• So brace yourself for what I am about to say…
• Friends, suffering can help (yes, I said help) us clarify our priorities and focus us on the deeper, eternal aspects of our life.
• The deeper the pain, the greater the possibility exists for a clearer vision.
• The more we hurt, the better we may be able to determine what really matters in life.

Now, let me be the first to confess that these statements are hard for me to live into personally.

• I wrestle with them because they don’t fit easily into how I live my life… and that is probably true for you as well.
• We simply do not embrace suffering!
• Our culture has taught us to do everything possible to avoid suffering.
• And frankly, that’s my first reaction … avoid!
• Unfortunately, that’s not the reality of being human.

Now let’s be clear, God does not want us to suffer. In fact, he never even intended for us to suffer or die.

• The depictions of the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the coming eternal reality described in Revelation clearly reveal a life with the absence of suffering.
• And when Jesus said we would suffer in this world, He did not say that God would cause us to suffer.
• But, in our broken existence, suffering exists and God can and does use suffering if we allow him to…
• He uses it both to clarify our priorities and to focus us on the deeper eternal aspects of life.
• Pastor John Piper said,

“Sometimes massive suffering comes so close to home that for a brief season the fog of our foolish security clears, and we can see the sheer precipice of eternity one step away. The cold wobble passes through our knees, and for a moment, everything in the universe looks different. Those are good times for holy realism. Oh, how hollow much of our lives … seem in those moments!

As Job speaks today, he verifies all of this, urging us to pause and reassess in our times of suffering.

• Once his children were taken from him, his business went belly-up, his health went desperately downhill, we never hear Job lamenting a missed business opportunity … we never hear him longing to get back in the corporate game.
• As John Piper said, you just don’t think about that stuff when you’re hanging on to life by a thread.
• The suffering, albeit agonizing, helps clarify our priorities and focuses us on eternal aspects of life.

Friends, I said these statements are hard and challenging.

• And I’m still in the process of acceptance and practice that suffering can be beneficial for me.
• It’s counter-intuitive; but the truth is, God can use suffering for my good if I enter it and engage Him in it.
• In other words, not until I acknowledge this truth and begin to practice it, will I glean its benefits.
• As we will see in Job’s life.

Job is living in the crucible of suffering.

• But his misery in that difficult arena is pushing him to focus on things that really matter.
• His friends have pointed fingers; lectured, insulted, and condemned him.
• But Job decides to take his eyes off what’s physically around him and allow truth to distill in his mind to the point where he begins to see things differently.
• It’s what the Apostle Paul is talking about in 2 Cor. 4:18 when he says,

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

• I think Paul has the example of Job in his mind as he writes these words centuries later.
• Job is going to look past the advice and criticisms, stop focusing on his wounds, and begin again to focus on what he knows to be true of God.
• And out of that, 5 priorities/truths emerge for Job, which we can assimilate in our lives today.

The 1^st priority we see emerging in Job 27, is Job’s renewed vertical perspective and his relationship with God.

• Let’s read Job 27:1-12,

27 Job continued speaking to his friends:

² “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights,
    by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—
³ As long as I live,
    while I have breath from God,
⁴ my lips will speak no evil,
    and my tongue will speak no lies.
⁵ I will never concede that you are right;
    I will defend my integrity until I die.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence without wavering.
    My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be punished like the wicked,
    my adversary like those who do evil.
⁸ For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off
    and takes away their life?
⁹ Will God listen to their cry
    when trouble comes upon them?
¹⁰ Can they take delight in the Almighty?
    Can they call to God at any time?
¹¹ I will teach you about God’s power.
    I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.
¹² But you have seen all this,
    yet you say all these useless things to me.

In seven primary statements, Job repeatedly emphasizes God as the main character of his thoughts:

• Job 27:2 - As God lives, who has taken away my rights… the Almighty, who has embittered my soul…
• Job 27:3 - While I have breath from God…
• Job 27:8 - When God takes their life…
• Job 27:9 - Will God listen to their cry…
• Job 27:10 - Can they delight in the Almighty … call on God?
• Job 27:11 - I will teach you about God’s power … about the Almighty

God Almighty is re-emerging at the forefront for Job while he’s suffering.

• Job starts rehearsing what he knows to be true of God.
• And subsequently, Job’s priorities are crystalizing, with the first priority being his relationship with God.
• Job is thinking and wants those around him to be thinking about who God is and how God relates to humanity.
• It’s his highest priority… even higher than making the suffering stop!
• He’s stating things he knows to be true about his God.

Friends, that which comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

• And so we need to ask ourselves, “What comes to mind when I think about God, both in good times and difficult times?”
• Do you see Him as the One who gives you the gift of breath and keeps your heart beating?
• Do you see Him as the judge over your rights and wrongs?
• Do you acknowledge that His care and power are greater than anything humanity could procure for you?
• Do you see him as remote, out of touch with what you are experiencing today?
• Your view of God makes all the difference in how you view life, be that in good times or times of suffering.

Think of Job’s situation; he is now childless, bankrupt, estranged, and diseased.

• He’s living with boils, a high fever and in constant pain.
• He’s misunderstood, blamed for secret sins, and rejected by those who once respected him.
• How in the world does he go on and re-engage a healthy life?
• There is only one answer: His view of God re-orients him.
• And in light of that, he recommits himself to things that matter … to the things that he knows to be true.

In a swirl of humanistic thinking, coming from friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, Job focuses fully on the things of God.

• In fact, he says, because he is so focused, he will not pad the record; he will not tell them what isn’t true.
• Reading Job 27:3-5,

³ As long as I live, while I have breath from God,
⁴ my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies.
⁵ I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die.

And this emerges as Job’s 2nd priority in his time of suffering: living with integrity.

• Job is not going to check out, fake it, or manipulate a desired outcome.
• Job is only going to speak the truth.
• Think about that intentional priority … the choice not to lie … the determination to gain full control of your words.

Friends, let’s not ignore the power of our words.

• Job realizes the potential impact of his speech and in effect says, “My lips will be lips of integrity. I refuse to use them as a vehicle of deceit.”
• And in light of that, Job restates his disagreement with his friends’/critics’ conclusions:

⁵ I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

• Job will not call what is wrong, right.
• That would go against what God has always called him to.
• Job will not sacrifice his integrity and put himself in the same arena as his misguided critics.

Which brings us to Job’s 3^rd third priority: yes, wrong will occur but it will not ultimately triumph.

• Starting at vs.13, Job changes the subject from God and shifts his attention to the wicked,

¹³ “This is what the wicked will receive from God;
    this is their inheritance from the Almighty.
¹⁴ They may have many children,
    but the children will die in war or starve to death.
¹⁵ Those who survive will die of a plague,
    and not even their widows will mourn them.

¹⁶ “Evil people may have piles of money
    and may store away mounds of clothing.
¹⁷ But the righteous will wear that clothing,
    and the innocent will divide that money.

In other words, things are not going to go well for the wicked.

• For example, look at that last statement in vs. 17.
• Evil people may have a lot of money and more clothes in the closet, but they’ll wind up leaving them to the righteous.
• Remember the materialistic saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
• The truth is: He who dies with the most toys passes them off to the righteous!
• Now what does that mean? Simply, wrong will occur but it will not ultimately triumph.
• God is and always will work out all things justly.
• He knows who is righteous at heart and who is wicked … He is the divine Judge … He isn’t ignorant or confused.
• Job has come to realize this as his third focus and that brings a sense of calming justice in the midst of his puzzling suffering.

So just to recap thus far.

• In the midst of his suffering, Job’s priorities/his focus is shifting:

1. He is focusing on God and what he knows to be true of God.
2. He has decided that he will move forward with integrity.
3. He concludes that wrong will occur but it will not triumph.

• The context of incredible suffering is enabling Job to grasp and crystalize these eternal realities.
• Now, as we arrive at his 4^th and 5^th priorities, we find Job shifting from knowledge (human intellectual information) to the position of wisdom (spiritual perception).

With his 4^th priority, Job focuses on the pursuit of wisdom and understanding.

• Like any of us, Job still wants to know the “whys” behind his suffering.
• But look where his refined search takes him/us.
• Reading Job 28:1-3,

“People know where to mine silver and how to refine gold.
² They know where to dig iron from the earth and how to smelt copper from rock.
³ They know how to shine light in the darkness and explore the farthest regions of the earth as they search in the dark for ore.

• Verses 6, 10-11,

⁶ Here the rocks contain precious lapis lazuli, and the dust contains gold.
¹⁰ They cut tunnels in the rocks and uncover precious stones.
¹¹ They dam up the trickling streams and bring to light the hidden treasures.

• Then comes two crucial questions:

¹² “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?
¹³ No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living.
¹⁴ ‘It is not here,’ says the ocean. ‘Nor is it here,’ says the sea.

¹⁵ It cannot be bought with gold. It cannot be purchased with silver.

Consider what Job is saying, “Dig into the earth and you’ll find precious jewels and metals, but you won’t find wisdom.

• Probe into hidden spaces and mysteries will unfold, but you won’t find wisdom.
• Study nature’s wonders and there will be exciting discoveries, but you won’t find wisdom!”
• As helpful as exploration and education may be, or even being mentored by the brightest… none of that will impart wisdom.
• It’s not found in textbooks, or discoveries, or in another person’s mind.
• According to Job’s 4^th priority: seeking wisdom through human effort is a futile endeavour.

Friends, here’s a simple definition of wisdom: wisdom is looking at life from God’s point of view.

• When we employ wisdom, we are viewing life as God sees it.
• That’s why it’s so valuable to think God’s thoughts and focus on your relationship with God as priority #1.
• You look at difficulties and tests, as God looks at them.
• You look at family and relationships, as God looks at them.
• You interpret current events, as God interprets them.
• You see truth even if others are misguided by deception.

Let’s go a step further and define understanding: understanding is responding to life’s struggles and challenges as God would have us respond.

• Not in panic and confusion.
• Not from our own strength and resources.
• Not forfeiting our biblical values, such as integrity.
• Instead, when we have understanding, we respond to life’s challenges as God calls us to respond.
• We believe Him and we trust Him.
• We refuse to let our pain or fears win the day.
• We don’t operate our lives according to human impulses or what’s popular or correct in society.

Friends, it’s so important that we are pursuing wisdom and responding in understanding, especially in suffering.

• And Job reminds us that neither can be found by our own effort or in anyone else.
• God graciously provides both.
• Verse 20,

²⁰ “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?

• Not, where can we get advice?
• Not, where does opinion come from?
• Where can we find wisdom? Where can we find understanding?
• The answer leads us to Job’s 5^th priority.
• Reading Job 28:23-28,

²³ “God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found,
²⁴ for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall.
²⁶ He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning.
²⁷ Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly.
²⁸ And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”

You can earn Ph.Ds. and never get wisdom or have understanding.

• I have 2 Master’s Degrees and neither came with a certificate declaring me as finally wise!
• You can’t take a class on the “fear of the Lord” and receive a grade of wise and understanding from a professor.
• And by “fear of the Lord”, I’m referring to an awe-inspired respect for God accompanied by a just hatred of anything that opposes God.
• That is determined by God, who alone searches and knows your heart.
• That’s why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 9:10, “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding.”
• And that sums up Job’s 5^th priority: cultivating a holy respect for the Lord is what gives us wisdom and understanding.

Friends, all five of these priorities emerged and crystalized for Job within the suffering he was experiencing.

• His friends wanted him to acquiesce to the suffering.
• His inclination may have been to escape the suffering.
• But ultimately, Job didn’t resist the suffering.
• Instead, he accepted it, he learned from it, and he re-prioritized his life because of it:

1. He focused on God and his relationship with God
2. He decided that he would suffer with integrity
3. He determined that wrong will occur but it will not triumph.
4. He wouldn’t seek wisdom through human effort because that’s a waste of time.
5. He cultivated a relational and holy respect for the Lord because that gives wisdom and understanding.

All of this insight and perspective emerges while Job is at the height of his suffering.

• Piety, prosperity, empty words of compassion or advice, doubt, depression…
• …Job resolutely decides that none of them will determine how he responds when his back is up against the wall… or more appropriately, when he’s lying face down in the ashes of suffering.

Easy to do? You know the answer to that question.

• Our suffering is too multifaceted, our stories too long.
  • I know my story is: abducted and abused at age 7, followed by 40+ years of depression, infertility, broken family relationships, acute anxiety later in life, a lower back riddled with arthritis and herniated discs.
  • And those are just the highlights…
• Your story may be shorter or longer, but it’s equally real.
• As a pastor, I listen as you share stories of: economic hardship, bankruptcy, divorce, death of a loved one, abuse, bullying, addiction, autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, blindness, cancer, COVID, fear, unanswered prayer, spiritual attack, false judgement, divine silence…
• There’s a face and a voice behind each one of these and your stories are real and they are heard.

Whether seemingly small or disruptingly acute, we all taste suffering and we all have hard chapters in our story.

• So how do we respond? Will we allow suffering to determine the course of our lives?
• Job says a resounding, “NO! Please don’t feel sorry for me. Please don’t tell me to do this or that to get over it. Please don’t assume it’s God’s punishment. Please don’t tell me to run and hide from it. In fact, please sit quietly so we can begin to think clearly.”
• I appreciate Charles Swindoll’s commentary on this scene:

We don’t like to suffer. And in our compassion, we don’t like to see other people suffer. And so our instincts are aimed at preventing and alleviating suffering. No doubt, that is a good impulse. But if we really want to care for those who are suffering, we should be careful not to be like Job’s friends, not to do our “helping” with the presumption that we can fix things, get rid of them, or make them “better.”

Job resolutely declares, “I accept my suffering and choose to learn from it.” (not I “deserve”, not I “love” or “understand” my suffering… I accept… an action of his will/spirit)

• Suffering, Job says, will be my opportunity to trust God and have Him show me things I am otherwise missing.
• God’s wisdom and understanding can/will eclipse my pain and panic.

Job is calling us to enter the suffering, to be present as we are able, to enter the discomforting mystery, and to look for God.

• Job gained wisdom and understanding by doing this and subsequently blazed a hard trail of renewed perspective and priorities for us to follow.

So what are we to do with his example?

• If we wait to tackle this in the midst of suffering, in all likelihood the suffering will distract us, consume us and dictate our responses in an unhealthy way.
• But, while we are in a healthy place, we can make pre-emptive intentional choices with accompanying actions.
• Can I invite you today to begin with conversations:
  • Start a conversation with God. Talk to him about the next time suffering comes. What are your fears? What are your desired outcomes for that time? Take time to journal what you know to be true of God so that you can remind yourself of who God is. Invite the HS to renew your mind when suffering comes.
  • Next, start a conversation with someone close to you, a partner, friend, spouse, parent. Confide your fears of suffering, talk through Job’s example and the priorities that you want this person to remind you of next time you face challenges or suffering. Give each other permission to actively care and be accountable.
  • Friends, we often talk about preparing ourselves for the inevitability of death by having a will and discussing after-life wishes. How about preparing ourselves for the inevitability of suffering by having similar conversations around suffering/hardship, even writing down our priorities based on Job’s model.
  • If we know suffering will come, why not prepare ourselves by proactively enlisting the help of others.
  • Parents, you can be prepping your children for the realities of suffering, both from a physical/emotional perspective and from a biblical/spiritual perspective.
  • It starts with conversations that are real, supportive, and hopeful based on who we are and who God is.

All our lives, the world will tell us to resist suffering and whenever possible, avoid or escape it.

• Job teaches us something far more valuable and life-giving.
• Sit with each other; remind each other of a biblical perspective on suffering, recite who God is, and cling to these truths as the inevitable happens.
• When we do these things, suffering turns from being unpalatable to digestible.
• We can actually seize God’s opportunity for suffering to clarify our priorities and focus us on the eternal aspects of life if we choose to.

So let’s pray to that end:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Meet me in my brokenness and in my suffering. Holy Spirit as the inevitable comes, heal me, renew me, turn my thoughts to God my Father, who alone knows me and has gifts of wisdom and understanding for me. God, three in one, work for my good and for your glory, I pray. Amen.”

Sending/Benediction

Our benediction this morning comes from the Franciscan Order:  

Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort…
Discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
Discomfort, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger…
Anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
Anger, so that you will work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears…
Tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation and war,
Tears, so that you will reach out to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And, may God bless you with foolishness…
Foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
Foolishness, so that you will do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

https://www.franciscanfriars.ca/prayers/a-franciscan-blessing/