My Struggles Are About Him

Jn 9:1-3

Martin and Gracia Burnham were missionaries. You probably heard of them a couple years back. Not because of their mission work, but because of what tragically happened during that mission work. On May 27, 2001 they were celebrating their anniversary at a Philippine resort when it was attacked by rebels and they were taken hostage. For over 400 days they were chained to a guard and drug through the jungles as the group fought off Philippine soldiers and evaded capture. For over 400 days they were given minimal rations, worked hard, and their lives threatened. On June 27, 2002 soldiers found the group and in the cross fire, she was badly wounded and he was killed. During that time, their faith stayed strong. Shortly before his death Martin told his wife, “We may not leave this jungle alive, but we’ll leave this world serving the Lord with gladness.”

How is that fair? How could God allow this to happen to a family who dedicated their lives to serving God on the mission field?

My Dad and Mom have served God as missionaries and a ministry family for over 40 years. For over 40 years they moved around the nation serving the church. They moved across the nation and world not for a bigger paycheck, but because they felt God called them to a certain ministry. For over 40 years they modeled a life that cause all three of us children to follow in their steps as ministry families. Now Mom has terminal cancer. How is that right? Did God fall asleep at the switch and forget to take care of the people who had given their lives for his service?

What about your life? You’ve lived faithfully for God but still terrible things have happened to you or your family. You’ve begged God to help you only to hear silence to your request. How do you explain this?

This morning we’ll search for the answer so we can better understand what our struggles are all about.

PRAYER

I. Our Reasoning for our Struggles

A. God messed up

1. Many people see their struggles and their faith and feel like God has short changed them.

2. He messed up somehow.

3. Faithful Christians shouldn’t be the ones to suffer.

4. People who have been dedicated to God all their lives shouldn’t have to go through the kind of trials you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.

5. Did God get so caught up with famine and AIDS in Africa that he forgot about looking after me?

6. We may not know all the reasons God allows suffering to happen but we can be assured it’s not because he messed up in some way.

B. God is mad at us

1. Maybe our struggles are because God is mad at us.

2. He’s done it before.

a) Remember the flood?

b) Remember the plagues on Egypt?

3. Could we really blame Him

4. Think about all that man has done over the last several thousands of years.

5. Maybe he is tired of being merciful and has said, “okay, enough is enough.”

6. God let’s us endure the fruits of sin, but not because he is mad at us.

7. Listen to Psa 103:8-13

II. Purpose in Struggles

A. Your struggles have a purpose

1. Your struggles have a purpose.

2. Lucado wrote in his book, “Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, stuggles, heartaches, and hassles cooperate toward one end – the glory of God.”

3. We may not see or fully understand the end result, but we can have faith that there is a purpose, a good, that even comes from our struggles.

4. Psa 50:15 says – Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. (NLT)

5. I want God to use me, but couldn’t he have chosen a better way?

6. When Mom found out she would be able to have the surgery, her first comment was, “God has given me a little more time, he must have a purpose for me during this time.”

a) Most of us would be planning how we can make the most of our time with family, vacations we dreamed of, and other things.

b) Her mind turned towards finding what God wants her to do during this time.

c) That’s faith. That is understanding that even our struggles are about God.

B. The Blind Man

1. Remember our text we read at the beginning of the lesson?

2. Imagine yourself as the blind man. Growing up in the darkness of blindness. Never seeing the mother who cared for you. Never witnessing a beautiful sunset. The object of ridicule. The subject of a belief that you or your parents must have done some terrible sin for you to be blind. Then one day you hear the Savior say you were born blind so he could be glorified. How would you feel?

3. Um, God, can I have a different task please?

a) Can I preach your first sermon?

b) Can I bring the nation to repentance for you?

c) Can I interpret visions for your glory?

d) Blindness for the glory of God? That’s a tough one. One that causes many of us to say, “That’s so unfair.”

4. The Bible has several example of suffering so God can be gloried.

a) Mary, Martha, Lazaraus in Jn 11

b) All the suffering Joseph went through so God could protect his people in the end of Genesis.

c) And many others.

C. The purpose for our struggles.

1. In my office I have several precious pictures of my family. All of the are in frames of simple glass and wood. A cheap wooden table holds wonderful gifts from Africa. A gold pan holding an inscription honoring me for my work as a Youth Minister in Alaska.

a) All were different tools, but they had the same job.

b) Their purpose was to display treasures.

2. A man born blind so he could display the strength of Heaven.

3. A man dies so that 3 days later the power of God could be displayed beyond doubt to a nation looking for the Messiah.

4. And our struggles? What about them? Could God be using our struggles for something as incredible as that?

a) What do you do when you hear a song you really like on the radio? You crank it up.

b) Our faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume to God’s song. – Max Lucado

c) Remember, it’s not about me. It’s about God.

5. Maybe our struggles have the same purpose as the Philippian people in Phil 1:29 – For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.

6. Maybe our prayers go unanswered because God has higher plans.

7. Maybe the suffering you go through is strengthening the faith of others.

a) I’ll never forget sitting alone with Elgie when he was in the Nursing home. Suffering, slowly dying. He asked me, “Why is God keeping me alive? What purpose is this for?” My response to him, “I don’t know, but watching you and your faith during this time has helped me to know I want to face death with the same kind of faith you have shown during this time.”

b) Was that why Elgie spent so long dying? We won’t know until heaven, but his faith made my faith greater.

c) If that was God’s purpose, I thank God and thank Elgie for that incredible example.

D. Take an eternal view of your struggles.

1. Remember a couple weeks back when I did the string and plate example of God’s view and our view of our lives?

2. I reminded us how we tend to look at 80 years and he looks at the eternal view.

3. As hard as it is, try to envision the eternal view of your struggles.

a) How can I give glory to God even during these difficult times?

b) It doesn’t make the times easier, but it can make them easier to bear because we know there is some purpose in these struggles.

c) Max Lucado tells about his dad dying of ALS a couple of years back. He lost his muscles and his voice, but never lost his faith. At his funeral a man came up to Max and said that getting to see how his dad’s faith stayed strong even during that terrible illness made him want to know more about a God that gave that kind of strength. He became a Christian.

d) Did Max’s dad suffer for that one man’s soul? I don’t know, but God is soul focused and that Max’s Dad isn’t complaining as he revels in the splendor of Heaven.

4. We may never know the reasons behind our struggles.

5. It would be nice if we did.

6. Have a faith that knows God is being glorified somehow.

7. And don’t forget this, When God is gloried in us, we are also glorified in Him. 2 Thess 1:12