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[0:00] As I've had occasion to preach recently, I've been teaching on the topic of suffering.

[0:11] The first sermon in that series was really a demonstration from the Bible that suffering! is the experience of every Christian. Remember the words of Paul in Romans chapter 8. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worth being compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. But his assumption is that all Christians will suffer. That'll be the experience of every Christian. Trials, tribulations, difficulties, suffering, affliction is going to come to every one of us. And because we're in a fallen world. It's a broken world. It's a world damaged by sin. Things are not the way they're supposed to be. Our bodies are subject to decay like the rest of the creation. We experience disease and all the attendant suffering that comes with disease. We sin and we're sinned against. And we are maligned by enemies and betrayed sometimes even by our friends. We experience financial reversals. Persecution comes to us because of the gospel in various forms.

[1:24] Even our closest family relationships where we wanted to have the closest relationships possible are not what we hoped they would be. We're a disappointment often to ourselves and often to others. We're embarrassed sometimes by the things that are true of us. And we suffer the slander of others who speak things that are not true. And all of that just to underscore this teaching that we find throughout the scripture that we are our lives are made up of suffering and affliction. That's part of our condition on this earth.

[2:02] In the second message in that series I spoke about the fact that God is sovereign over that suffering. That the suffering doesn't happen just by chance or happenstance. It comes from the hand of God.

[2:17] And it comes from the hand of God for a purpose. It comes from the hand of God to refine us. To make us like Christ. To bring us forth like gold. So the God is our suffering is for our good and for the glory of God. Today I want to look at three traps of suffering. Three ways we get lost in our suffering. But before I get to that I want to establish this truth that we are never neutral in our suffering. And so my scripture reading for you this morning I'm going to read several passages from 1st Peter if you want to turn there in your Bible. I'll identify the passages as we go through them. Many of them will be from chapter 4 which is noted in your bulletin. But the Bible demonstrates that it's very important how we suffer. Because we're not neutral in our suffering. And so the ways that we respond to our suffering are so important. 1st Peter 1 6. In this salvation you greatly rejoice though now for a little while as necessary. You have been grieved by various trials. How should I suffer? With rejoicing.

[3:30] 1st Peter 2 19 through 21. For it is a gracious thing when mindful of God one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it to you when you sin and you're beaten for it and endure?

[3:45] But when you do good and suffer for it. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you. Leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps. How should I suffer? Mindful of God and following the example of Christ. 1st Peter 3 14.

[4:08] But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled. How should I suffer? Without inner turmoil. Without distress. Without fear. 1st Peter 4 1. Since therefore Christ has suffered in the flesh arm yourself with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. How should I suffer? With Christ's way of thinking.

[4:35] 1st Peter 4 12 and 13. Beloved don't be surprised at the fiery trial that comes to you to test you as though some strange thing were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share in Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. How should I suffer?

[4:55] With the knowledge that this trial has come from the hand of God and therefore I should rejoice in it and look forward to the day when Christ's glory will be revealed. 1st Peter 4 16. If anyone suffers as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name. How should I suffer? Without shame and glorifying God. 1st Peter 4 19. Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will and trust their souls to the faithful creator while doing good. How should I suffer? Entrusting myself to God while doing good. 1st Peter 5 10. And after you have suffered a while the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you.

[5:45] How should I suffer? Knowing that I'm under the care of a God who will restore confirm strengthen and establish me through the suffering. Now I've restricted myself to 1st Peter but we could turn to scores and scores and scores of passages in the Bible that talk to us about how we should face suffering. We know suffering is going to be part of the human condition in this fallen world. We suffer because of our sin and the sins of others against them. We suffer because of the effects of the fall in a broken world that is decaying. But how I face suffering is so important and that's really the thing that I want us to see. All these passages about how we should suffer illustrate the fact that how we face suffering is very important. We could put it this way there are no neutral sufferers.

[6:37] No one is neutral in the face of suffering. We respond to it. We interact with it. We engage it. There are no neutral sufferers. Our suffering engages us. So we could put it this way you not only suffer what you suffer but you suffer how you suffer what you suffer. So the ways that we face our suffering is so important for us because there's always something deeper going on. Human beings don't just live out of the facts and circumstances of their existence. We live out of how we interpret those facts and how we interpret those circumstances. We bring an interpretive grid to everything that we experience. And my purpose this morning is to focus us in developing a grid for our suffering that is richly biblical and avoids the traps that we can so easily fall into in the midst of suffering.

[7:34] Because our interpretive grid tells us how to interact with and interpret everything that we experience. That's why I say there are no neutral sufferers. We are always active in our suffering.

[7:45] We are responding to it in some form or manner. So every Christian will find a way of interpreting his suffering. And whatever you believe in those times of suffering will be critical to your Christian walk. And it will be critical even to the faith of those with whom you are suffering. Now I want to share a personal story with you. And forgive me if this is too personal. I pondered over this, but here goes.

[8:11] A number of years ago, I came under intense criticism on the internet. And of course, in the internet era, criticism is not local, it's global. And so it's not limited just to a small group of people with whom one may have a relationship. But it really goes far beyond that. And the criticism is not just as one would expect from criticism from unbelievers, but even from Christians that were interpretive and unkind attacks. From believers who didn't know all the necessary facts, who didn't even have a full set of information that would enable them to critique what I had said or done.

[9:06] And there was a certain level of mockery and hostility and vicious words and idle conjecture and scathing rebukes that seemed at the time to me to be unbearable.

[9:19] And I have to confess, I found that it was not possible to control the damage or all the assessments. And in fact, as I faced that trial, I found that the greatest enemy I had was within.

[9:37] It wasn't just what was coming to me, but it was me. It was how I was interpreting and responding. Because I found that within my own heart, I was distressed.

[9:51] I became distracted. I was preoccupied. I was anxious. The ways I felt mistreated and played over and over in my mind.

[10:02] I was confronted with them again and again. My desire to be understood and to be accurately represented and fairly treated became consuming.

[10:14] And you know, you can want things, even things that are good things, in ways that are inordinate and in ways that become idolatrous. And what happens then?

[10:27] Well, the accusations, my preoccupation with them became the law on which I meditated day and night. When taking a shower, lying down in bed to go to sleep, driving along in the car, my mind was busily reconstructing details.

[10:45] I rehearsed to myself carefully constructed responses to various criticisms and to false things that were written about me. And the temptation to return evil for evil can take many forms.

[10:59] It doesn't always just take the form of lashing out at somebody. It can take the form of going within and imagining how I could give someone a comeuppance with a few carefully chosen words of my own and rehearsing all the self-justifications that could be thrown in the teeth of accusers.

[11:18] So I was not only suffering from the trial, but I was suffering from how I was interpreting and responding to the trial.

[11:31] And my dear wife had to contend with a cranky, easily irritated husband. I was distracted rather than attentive to her. And it was all driven by fear.

[11:42] It was all driven by concern for the judgmentalism of others. It was driven by pride and the demand to be understood by love of a good reputation. Those became the idols of the heart that I was serving in the midst of this trial.

[11:58] And sadly, I found sometimes some measure of comfort, not from God, but from imagining the comeuppance I could give to my detractors if I only had the opportunity.

[12:14] God is full of grace. And the God of all grace brought his word to me. So I was reading the Psalms one day. And may I just say parenthetically, when you're overwhelmed with your own thoughts, the best place to go is to the scriptures.

[12:28] Because the word of God is always objective truth. And it'll realign your thinking. But I was reading in Psalm 31, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you in the sight of all the children of mankind.

[12:47] In the cover of your presence, you hide them from the plots of men. You store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown steadfast love to me.

[13:00] But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried for help. Love the Lord, O you his saints, the Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

[13:11] Be strong, let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord. Wait for the Lord. And God rescued me with just these promises from his word that realigned my thinking and gave me new ways to interpret my suffering.

[13:30] Because I want to talk to you this morning about three traps of suffering. And in English, the word trap really has three connotations. A trap is used to capture someone or something.

[13:43] A trap can also be used to contain something like an animal trapped in a cage. Or a trap also can describe some deception or trickery that tricks someone.

[13:57] But I want to talk about these three traps that we face in the midst of suffering. The first is a trap of doubt. We have to remind ourselves we have a real spiritual enemy.

[14:08] 1 Peter 5 says, Be alert, be sober. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

[14:19] Resist him, standing firm in your faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering. The devil prowls like a roaring lion.

[14:33] He seeks to devour you. And so in our suffering, the same kind of suffering our brothers and sisters all around the world face. Our suffering is not unique. It feels unique.

[14:44] We're not the only ones that have suffered the ways that we suffer. But in our suffering, we are to stand firm in our faith. And with that statement, Peter has identified one of the traps of suffering.

[14:56] It's a trap of doubt. It's a trap of losing our faith in God and doubting God because our temptation in the midst of suffering is why me? Why this?

[15:10] Why now? I can't believe this is happening to me. Why this suffering? Why at this moment? This is the worst possible time. And when we suffer, it is easy for us to doubt the goodness of God.

[15:26] What are you suffering right now? Or have you ever been tempted in the midst of your suffering to ask these kinds of questions?

[15:41] This suffering seems so overwhelming. Oh, why would God bring this to me? Why would I have to face this?

[15:52] And really, here's the question. What are you saying to you about God in those moments of doubt? Because we're speaking, we're preaching sermons to ourself about God when we question the character of God, the goodness of God, the kindness of God in the midst of our suffering.

[16:12] Because we're questioning God's presence, God's love, God's wisdom, God's faithfulness. And sometimes in those moments of suffering, we actually preach unbelief to ourselves.

[16:24] If God is good, why is this happening to me? Where is his love? Where is his faithfulness? Where is his wisdom? And of course, you can also ask the question, what are you saying about you in those moments of suffering?

[16:36] What about your life? What about your needs? What about what's important to you? Where is life found? See, the trap every sufferer faces is the trap of doubt, to doubt God's goodness, to doubt God's wisdom.

[16:50] We actually see our suffering sometimes in a distorted lens. We see our suffering as evidence that God is not as good as he should be. He's not as faithful as he should be.

[17:01] If he were just, this would not be happening to me. It's not fair. If God were good, it's not supposed to be this way. If I were God, and I saw this coming, I would shield someone I love from this kind of suffering.

[17:18] If God were God, he would not bring this to me. I would never do that to someone I love. He would remove this suffering. He would be protecting me in ways I need to be protected. This suffering would have never gotten by him.

[17:30] Now, we may not articulate it that way, but our doubt of God's goodness in the midst of suffering is exactly that kind of thinking. And so in our doubt, we become the prosecuting attorney.

[17:44] We bring God into the court and we prosecute a case against him, against his goodness, against his love, against his care. And it's a universal trap for everyone, everyone who suffers.

[17:58] If you've ever suffered, you've entertained questions like these. You know you have. I know that I have. You've questioned the goodness of God.

[18:08] That's the reason for Peter's exhortation to us. The devil is on the prowl and he seeks to devour you through your suffering. And so Peter exhorts us how to suffer.

[18:20] He says, suffer standing firm in your faith. Don't doubt God. Don't doubt the goodness of God. That's the trap of doubt. Where is his goodness? Where is his mercy?

[18:30] Where is his grace? And why is doubting God so devastating? You see, if I doubt God's goodness, if I doubt God's wisdom, if I doubt God's kindness, and if I doubt his love in bringing me this trial, then I'm actually questioning the character of God.

[18:53] If I have fundamental doubts about whether or not I can trust God, I will never flee to him in the midst of suffering. You don't flee in the midst of suffering to someone whose goodness you doubt.

[19:06] Or you don't feel confident will love you and care for you. And so the more you doubt God, the more you run away from him rather than to him.

[19:18] And what is your greatest need in the midst of suffering? Any kind of suffering. The greatest need we have is God. And if in the words of 1 Peter 5, we've not remained firm in our faith, if we don't turn to God in the midst of our suffering, we will turn away from him and try to resolve our suffering without him.

[19:41] And your greatest need in suffering is God. Hear that, brothers and sisters. Your greatest need in suffering is God. It's not deliverance. It's God.

[19:53] That's illustrated so powerfully to us in Psalm 27. The psalmist begins the psalm by talking about his suffering. Enemy, evil men are advancing against him to devour his flesh.

[20:06] Enemies and foes are attacking him. A war is broken out against him. An army is besieging him. He's in the midst of affliction. And in the midst of affliction, he says, I have one request of God.

[20:20] And it's not, oh Lord, beam me up, get me out of this trial. It's that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord.

[20:31] The psalmist sees exactly what he needs in the midst of that trial. Because in the day of trouble, when the troubles are swirling around him like a storm and he's being engulfed in the flood of troubles, in that day of trouble, the Lord will set him on a rock where he can behold the glory of the Lord.

[20:52] You see, if I doubt God, I lose the one person who can sustain me in the midst of trouble. I lose God. Because I'll never run to someone I cannot trust.

[21:04] Now I can almost hear someone saying, Ted, you're denying the reality of my suffering. I have a terrible disease. I'm wasting away. My body's wracked with pain.

[21:15] In the morning, I say, I wish it was night. And at night, I say, I wish it was morning. You're minimizing my suffering. Hear this, brothers and sisters.

[21:27] God's answer to suffering is never to minimize it. You don't have to deny the reality of what you're suffering. To have broken relationships with people whom you love is painful.

[21:39] It's a deep kind of suffering. To be maligned or slandered by someone and publicly subjected to humiliation is painful. To be betrayed by a spouse who you have trusted and loved is a great trial.

[21:53] It's traumatic. To suffer vicious persecution and even torture is a horrible thing. To have a body wracked with pain, to have no prospect of mitigating your suffering, those are terrible things to endure.

[22:07] And the Bible is shockingly honest about suffering. It's interesting. Think of Hebrews 10. People who lived in caves and holes in the ground. People who were sawn in two. People who were destitute, hungry, forsaken.

[22:22] And the Bible's answer to suffering is not, well, it's not that bad. A lot of people suffer worse than you do. It's not to point to someone else who has it worse.

[22:32] If I can only find peace and happiness by denying the reality of my suffering, I've walked away from truth and I've walked away from God. What I need in those moments of suffering is rock solid confidence in a God who is good.

[22:52] I may not understand his goodness in the moment. I may not even be able to rationalize how what I'm suffering is a reflection of a God who is universally and ultimately good and infinitely good.

[23:04] it may look and feel like he's not being good but by faith I cling to the fact he is good and this is from his hand and it's for his, my good and for his glory and I can embrace it and I will, I can know him, I can trust him because he never changes.

[23:22] My circumstances may change. I may suffer great loss. The things I've hoped for may vanish like a vapor but God is good and I can trust him and cling to him in the midst of the hardest most difficult times.

[23:37] I can, in that time of trouble he will lift me up and set me on a rock so I can behold the beauty of the Lord. See, your focus in suffering cannot be to meditate on suffering and how much it hurts.

[23:51] Rather, it has to be to meditate on the unending goodness of God. Don't doubt God in your suffering. That's a trap.

[24:01] The second trap I want to mention is the trap of worry. Doubting trusts the goodness of God. Worry trusts the presence of God. It trusts whether I can survive my affliction.

[24:15] Well, in times of suffering the temptation is to generate all the what if, possible what if, scenarios.

[24:26] What if I never get better? What if my estranged spouse tries to take my children? What if we lose the house? As a pastor, you think, what if the church votes and decides I should leave the church?

[24:41] What looks toward the future with fear and dread? What if? What if? What if? What if is always future-oriented?

[24:52] What if this or that happens? And we can spit out scenarios of what might be. The other side is the if-onlys. If only I had responded sooner when we saw our son was going bad.

[25:06] If only I had responded sooner. If only you had responded sooner. If only I hadn't made this foolish decision. If only the doctors had spotted my cancer, they should have realized. So I go to websites and I find out what they missed and try to fix responsibility on someone.

[25:22] But at the end of the day, I still have the cancer. And I'm still suffering. And the if-onlys have not mitigated my suffering. If only I had been a wiser parent.

[25:33] If only I had been more consistent. If only I had been a better spouse. If only I had sought help sooner. If only I hadn't stumbled into this sin. If only looks at the past with regret.

[25:46] So what if looks forward anticipating problems. If only looks backward with condemnation.

[25:57] And the trap of worry is to turn back the clock. To rearrange the circumstances. And so we have sleepless nights and we run scenarios through our minds trying to find answers to questions that can never be answered in some vain attempt to regain control over our lives.

[26:14] and underneath the basic question is can I survive this? How will I ever be able to go on? How can I endure? What must I endure?

[26:29] And the reality is it's impossible for us ever to be alone in our suffering. When we worry and act as though we're alone we heap more suffering upon our suffering and our suffering is made worse by our worry and we not only suffer what we suffer but we suffer how we suffer what we suffer.

[26:48] But the answer to these struggles is to find assurance in God in the midst of our suffering. Psalm 34 is such a wonderful place to go. If you're suffering go to Psalm 34.

[26:59] That should be make a pathway to Psalm 34 because the assurance is that God is with you in times of trouble. Verse 6 This poor man called and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles.

[27:13] Verse 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. Verse 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

[27:24] Verse 9 Fear the Lord you his saints for there is no want to those who fear him. You won't find peace in your what ifs or if onlys.

[27:35] They will not make the suffering easier to bear. The only comfort is that God will never leave me. God will never forsake me and life is not found in career success.

[27:49] It's not found in a healthy body. It's not found in a beautiful home. It's not found in the blessing of ministry. It's not found in having a wonderful family. It's not found in being loved by your friends.

[28:02] It's not found in being able to vanquish your enemies. You see your life is found in the Lord. And the one who in the words of Psalm 34 verse 18 is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

[28:22] It's found in being able to say with Job even though he slay me yet I will trust him. Nothing you suffer will ever remove you from the gracious hand of God.

[28:34] That's why the psalmist says nevertheless I'm continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. Psalm 73 you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory.

[28:45] Whom have I in heaven but you? And being with you I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

[28:57] As long as you look at what you suffer as something that must be removed before you can have joy you'll be filled with worry and you'll have no peace because there's no assurance that your suffering will go away.

[29:14] But if I embrace this truth God is where I will find life and nothing will ever sever me from God and knowing God is going to be what gives me peace and contentment in my life.

[29:29] If you embrace that truth God has promised he holds me in his firm grip God has promised I will never leave you I will never forsake you so we may say with confidence the Lord is my helper whom or what shall I fear.

[29:46] If I embrace that I can have peace I can stop worrying because I have that which is essential to my life I have God God and his love for me in Christ his eternal purposes for my life never change I can lose all that I've hoped in I can I can lose the things that I thought were going to bring me joy but God is still God and he never changes even in the midst of your suffering he is always God and he's promised he'll be with you and he will hold you by your right hand and afterward he will receive you to glory the most basic relationship in your life is never diminished by suffering in fact as you hope in him in the midst of suffering the most basic relationship in your life is made more precious and more beautiful and and refines you so you you're drawn nearer and nearer to God well the third trap is the trap of envy envy questions the wisdom of God we think in our suffering this suffering should not have come to me

[31:00] God sent this trial to the wrong address and we look at others who are not suffering and we envy them we preach false gospels to ourselves if I had his life if I had his health if I had a family like that if I had his financial security if I had true friends if I had success in my work if then my life would be good and that's what the psalmist did in the early part of psalm 73 he looked at the wicked around him and he said they have no troubles they enjoy physical health their bodies are strong they're free from the burdens common to mankind they're not plagued by human ills they're confident they speak with confidence they brag about their exploits other people serve them they're carefree they always increase in wealth but look at me all day long I've been plagued you see not only is he envious toward others but it leads him to question his choices he says surely in vain

[32:05] I've kept my heart pure he's really questioning God do you see that that's where we tend to go in our suffering I guess I've been trying to live the Christian life and trying to do what's right all these years and look where it's faithful I've sacrificed for my family I've given myself to ministry I've tried to do the right thing I never thought I would face things like this what's the use why try to be a Christian why try to live an obedient life it doesn't make sense I I done the right things yet I'm suffering you see the envy there envy is really questioning God I remember speaking with parents one from the faith and abandoned God they worked hard at raising their kids they were conscientious parents they had family worship they brought their kids to church they attended church with them faithfully they were careful about what their kids watched on

[33:07] TV and who they had as companions there was another family in the church there was irregular church attendance they never really had family worship maybe only spasmodically they allowed their children to do things and watch things that this other family would never have let their children do and the children of this other family these people who didn't seem to be nearly as serious about the Christian life their children grew up to love God they're active in the church they're evangelistic in their relationships they love God they take their Christian life seriously and this couple with whom!

[33:47] I was speaking struggled with envy and deep questioning of the wisdom of God they were like the psalmist surely I've trusted God in vain that's the trap of envy we yearn for someone else's life and we become like the psalmist in Psalm 2 we've lost our foothold this couple were envious discouraged angry the wife said I don't even want to church I go to church it just reminds me of how broken our family is I really thought that if we did it right our kids would make us proud but here we are our life is a mess the psalmist regained his foothold in Psalm 73 he regained his foothold in verse 21 he entered the sanctuary of God and he considered destiny he gained an eternal perspective you see this couple that I was speaking of a moment ago they were facing real suffering and there's no greater agony than seeing your kids struggle and seeing them walk away from

[34:57] God and knowing that you're helpless to change the course of their lives but they had a critical flaw in their thinking that kept them from finding joy they lost the sight of the eternal they lost the sight of destiny you see it's not possible to understand what God is doing through your afflictions in this brief moment of time you've got to have the large picture and the large picture is that God has loved us from eternity to eternity I mean think of your life as a Christian when did God's plan for you begin it's before in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth before anything that has a beginning had its beginning you were loved by God and after this life and this epoch of human history has ended in the new heavens and the new earth throughout the eons of eternity you will be held in the hand of

[36:04] God the missing piece for them was destiny you you see our relationship with God is going to a place where we will enjoy the pleasures of God forever more at his right hand and in this life God's concern is to mold us and shape us and prepare us for an eternity with Jesus and he's using all the circumstances of life to make you like Christ and that takes us from eternity to eternity and it releases us from this time bound perspective you see Christianity makes enables us not to fear suffering that may come but to live in the reality that in our current suffering we have a taste of the glory that will be revealed in us the temptation when we suffer is to preach false gospels to ourselves if my life would be good if my husband was faithful if my children turned out well if

[37:14] I didn't have to live every day with this pain if I were not mocked daily for my faith if if if if none of those things even those good things is the essence of life because the essence of life for you is not found in having a good family it's not found in a blessed ministry it's not found in a good reputation it's not found in a disease filled body or a stress free life life is found in a relationship with the living God and he never changes life it's found in a person this is eternal life Jesus says that they may know you the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent life is found in a person and his name is Jesus why me why this why now the answer is because I have a heavenly father who loves me and who is willing to disrupt my life in order to make me like Christ in order to work on what really matters and help me to see that what really matters is not having a neat life unfettered by problems but really matters is

[38:25] God and the gospel and this moment of suffering is a grace infused moment that's designed to bring me to Christ to focus me away from what is seen and on what is unseen away from what is temporal and on what is eternal so how we suffer is important there are no neutral sufferers our afflictions engage us you not only suffer what you suffer but you suffer how you suffer what you suffer and my purpose in this message is to remind us that God is with us in the midst of that suffering there's a very vivid picture of suffering we've read it recently in our reading through Daniel remember the three Hebrew children the young men who faced death for their faith and because of their refusal to bow down to the 90 foot high statue and they did not lose

[39:26] God in that suffering they clung to God in the suffering and they said at the mouth of the fiery furnace they said our God is able to deliver us but even if he doesn't we will not bow down and they were thrown into that fire of affliction and a mysterious figure appears in the fire three men were thrown in but four men are seen walking about in the fire and most scholars believe that the one walking in the fire was with them was a theophany it was a pre incarnation appearance of Jesus Christ and Christ was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace because years later he would endure the fires of affliction he would endure the fires of hell he would endure the fires of separation from God in order to bring us to God and that's the assurance for every one of us the perspective we have to bring to our afflictions that

[40:34] Jesus has endured the fires of suffering for us and he is with us in our suffering and he will enable us to bear with whatever we suffer whatever affliction comes and he will use it not to destroy us but to refine us and to bring us forth as pure gold let's pray together father we all face suffering and we have to confess that many times we don't face it faithfully we we fail in the midst of suffering and we doubt your goodness we worry about what will happen we envy those who are not suffering so we pray Lord for your forgiveness for that and we pray that you would confirm in us this truth that no matter what comes we have this promise that God will be with us and care for us and that we will know him in the midst of the suffering and the suffering will not destroy us but rather it will draw us even closer to our

[41:41]  God so we pray that we would live daily in that hope and know you in the midst of it we ask this for his glory Amen