Suffering’s Hard, Sure Work

Daniel 4

Has anyone figured out how God works...or why He chooses one

particular method over another?

-while in seminary, I heard story after story about how God

seemingly took everything away from a person—their job, their

home, whatever—to get their attention and call them to ministry

--for me, however, it was just the opposite (thankfully)

---family was good—we were expecting Hannah

---just bought our first house...were driving nice cars

---part of a wonderful church family

---my Air Force career was going well...I’d just begun my

dream job—teaching on the faculty of the USAF Academy

---plus, we were living in Colorado Springs

--but rather than taking all that from me, God chose to use all of

that to say, “Look, I’ve given you everything you’ve ever

wanted...but it will never be enough.”

---instead of God exercising His prerogative to remove

those things from my life, He simply asked me to walk

away from all of it except my family...and follow Him

-with all sincerity, I still ask myself to this day, “Why was I one of

the ‘lucky’ ones?”

--clearly my experience was far easier than some others I know

Of course, the ultimate, big-picture answer to my question is that God

remains sovereign over His creation

-He knows us well...and while not removing our free will, He retains

the ability to orchestrate events in our lives to lead us...to lead us

to a place where we have the opportunity to make a choice

In today’s story from Daniel, we see God demonstrate His universal

sovereignty...which is especially striking when contrasted to the

fleeting power of the most powerful man in the world at the time,

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon

-the king has a dream and no one is able to interpret it, so he tells

the dream to Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles (whose Babylonian

name is Belteshazzar)...then the king says à Read Daniel 4:18

-and God uses this dream to speak a difficult truth to the king

Read Daniel 4:19-27

Despite what we might hope or expect to happen, Nebuchadnezzar

does not have a radical conversion

Read Daniel 4:29-30

The king’s pride remains resolute...he has built this city and made it

great...it is by his power and for his glory

-but remember this—God’s sovereignty is absolute...He always

has the last word

Philip Yancey à In high school, I took pride in my ability to play chess. I joined the chess club, and during lunch hour could be found sitting at a table with other nerds poring over books with titles like Classic King-Pawn Openings. I studied techniques, won most of my matches, [but then] put the game aside for 20 years.

Then, in Chicago, I met a truly fine chess player who had been perfecting his skills long since high school. When we played a few matches, I learned what it is like to play against a master. Any classic offense I tried, he countered with a classic defense. If I turned to more risky, unorthodox techniques, he incorporated my bold [moves] into his winning strategies. Although I had complete freedom to make any move I wished, I soon reached the conclusion that none of my strategies mattered very much. His superior skill guaranteed that my purposes inevitably ended up serving his own.

Perhaps God engages our universe, his own creation, in much the same way. He grants us freedom to rebel against its original design, but even as we do so we end up ironically serving his eventual goal of restoration.

If I accept that...—a huge step of faith, I confess—it transforms how I view both good and bad things that happen. Good things, such as health, talent, and money, I can present to God as offerings to serve his purposes. And bad things, too—disability, poverty, family dysfunction, failures—can be redeemed as the very instruments that drive me to God.

Does God employ suffering for His purposes and for ultimate good?

-let’s see what happens to Nebuchadnezzar

Read Daniel 4:31-33

So what’s going on?

-is God simply punishing Nebuchadnezzar for his pride and for his

failure to follow Daniel’s counsel and repent? [sure]

--or is there something else going on, as well?

---what if God is showing the king His incredible grace by

giving him an undeserved second chance

--and while we are reminded of God’s complete sovereignty, this

story also illustrates how God arranges our circumstances to

lead us closer to Him...to the point of allowing suffering to

accomplish its hard, sure work

Richard Exley à I know one minister who returned to his pulpit ten days after his son committed suicide. His text that morning: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Visibly struggling, he said, "I cannot make my son's suicide fit into this passage. It's impossible for me to see how anything good can come out of it. Yet I realize that I only see in part. I only know in part.

"It's like the miracle of the shipyard. Almost every part of our great oceangoing vessels are made of steel. If you take any single part—be it a steel plate out of the hull or the huge rudder—and throw it into the ocean, it will sink. Steel doesn't float! But when the shipbuilders are finished, when the last plate has been riveted in place, then that massive steel ship is virtually unsinkable.

"Taken by itself, my son's suicide is senseless. Throw it into the sea...and it sinks. Still, I believe that when the Eternal Shipbuilder has finally finished, when God has worked out his perfect design, even this senseless tragedy will somehow work to our eternal good."

You realize, don’t you, that one of the foundational truths of the Bible

is: our hope and anchor in the midst of suffering or prosperity is

knowing God and God alone in His sovereignty and His grace

-Job’s experience reveals our suffering itself is the context within

which we learn this critical lesson, because suffering, like no

other human experience, brings us face to face with God Himself

-the primary purpose of suffering is to make God known to us

I’m not trying to give you an over-simplified solution to the puzzle

of evil and suffering

-I can proclaim that suffering ultimately exists so God can glorify

Himself by making Himself known in all His majesty and mercy

--but most of us are going to find little comfort in that fact

--in fact, the only ones who will find any comfort from those

words are those who already know that their deepest joy is

realized in knowing God

---that degree of joy is far beyond the reach of material

possessions or human relationships—nothing, except a

personal encounter with God Himself can create that

Early in his Christian walk, C.S. Lewis wrote The Problem of Pain

-his conclusion? suffering serves a purpose: it drives us to God

-in a later novel, ‘Til We Have Faces, a Job-like character declares,

“I know now, Lord, why You utter no answers. You are Yourself

the answer. What other answers would suffice?”

But then, relatively late in life, Lewis unexpectedly falls in love with an

American, Joy Gresham...they marry, but bone cancer takes her life

just a handful of years after their vows

-as we might all imagine, his once-certain answers suddenly

become quite fragile

--he openly questions God’s character and His goodness

-through the experience of profound grief, Lewis ironically

discovers God’s intimate presence...and he writes à [God]

always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way

way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down…It has to

be shattered time after time. God shatters it himself. Could we

not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of his

presence?…And only suffering could do it.

The Bible speaks clearly and frequently about suffering

-no question: suffering is an inevitable part of life

--when it comes to suffering, there are two kinds of people: “those

who have and those who will”...it’s a question of “when”, not “if”

--we shouldn’t be surprised by suffering, instead we should expect

it because we’re warned by Jesus, by Paul, and by Peter

---Read 1 Peter 4:12-19

-our initial first reaction to suffering isn’t necessarily sinful—just read

the Psalms—God is well aware that we naturally resist pain...and

we respond with anger, frustration, and doubt...and we often throw

that right back in God’s face

-some make the claim that all suffering is the work of Satan...that

God would never be caught being involved with something so dark

--that sounds nice, it’s just that Jesus reveals otherwise

--listen to portions of Isaiah 53...a vivid prophecy of Christ’s

unimaginable suffering

---He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows,

and familiar with suffering...He took up our infirmities and

carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by

God, smitten by Him, and afflicted...He was pierced...

crushed ...oppressed and afflicted...stricken...Yet it was

the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.

----anyone who tells you that God intends only for you to

be happy, healthy, and wealthy has some ‘splainin’ to

do in light of Jesus’ pain

-another teaching: suffering shouldn’t be feared, but welcomed as a

unique opportunity to meet God and to have His character forged

in us

--Read Romans 5:1-5

Seeing suffering in its proper light requires an immense amount of

faith in the goodness of God...it requires a trust in the heart of God

when we cannot see where He is leading...it requires us to step

back and see beyond our immediate circumstances and believe,

despite present appearances, that God truly is working for the good

-Read Romans 8:15-18

Jonathan David Jones, a poem by Rebecca Jones, recounts a mom’s

emotions prior to the birth of her son who is not expected to live:

The firstborn son belongs to God.
Most can be redeemed, for a price.
But you, Jonathan David
God snatches you and leaves us
empty-handed, empty-wombed, empty-hearted.

We've stormed the throne to buy you back,
offering our very life for yours.

We've pled before the Judge:
"His life belongs with us.
His parents could know joy, the doctors awe.
Our faith would blossom and our love grow bold.
Dear Father, if you had a mind to heal,
You could heal his brain with a word."

But the nurses tell us as they gaze through walls of flesh, opaque:
"I'm so sorry, but there's no mistake."
They never say it quite, and so we do,
"Jonathan David, you're our Pooh—our bear of very little brain."

A laugh can ease the pain and cut encroaching terror into shreds...
How gladly we would offer you our cells.
Thousands die each day and those we keep, we throw away.
But our mind cannot be yours.
A fog has settled on our souls.

The voice comes muffled through the darkened shroud.
"Fear not. It is I who have redeemed him.
I've hidden his life with Me.
Nursing infants sing My praise.
Before you [do], Jonathan will have My mind to think My thoughts after Me.
In My wisdom His mind is perfect, and your grief is power."

And so, dear Jonathan, we will believe.
We will receive and love you as you are—
Most precious to us in your desperate need.
If birth is more than you can bear,

then through our tears we'll sing a lullaby of joy.
For you will go unhindered from the comfort of your mother's womb
to the safety of our Father's home.

If you linger with us for a fleeting breath or two,
we will count each one and remember you.
[For] our breaths are numbered too.

Dear Jonathan,
If God, in mercy, grants you one full hour,
We'll peer a little longer past your mind
into your soul. We'll take your tiny hands in ours,
look upon you long and sing our song.

If life rests with you for a day, then we will give it back to God
who turns it to a thousand years.
Dear Jonathan, if you are born
sheer miracle, and life should last;
if on this earth you burp and grin and crawl;
then you will groan with us beneath the load of sin
and struggle with the dark within.
But you will smell the lily, touch the head of a baby sister in her bed.
You will seize the power and the grace of a Savior's love,

who with you forever bears the weight of a past.

Jonathan David,
Life is not incompatible with you.
However long you stay within our reach,
you and life are bound in Jesus' sheaf.
In your new home, you will love as you are loved, and know as you are known.
Life's author stands to greet you; [Then] impatient, runs to meet you,
"Well-done, good and faithful friend. Jonathan, you've served me to the end."

If you have ever loved anyone—child, parent, spouse, or friend—you

know how agonizing it is to say ‘farewell’

-you know the tears, the hurt, the questions with no answers

--it is my prayer and God’s will that you would discover God in

your suffering...it’s not that He’s hiding from you...it’s likely that

you don’t expect to find Him there

---but it’s there—often in silence—when He is most powerful

and most comforting

Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Back in Babylon, God makes sure Nebuchadnezzar emerges from

his own little exile with no doubt about who’s really on the throne

Read Daniel 4:34-36

Remember, in the king’s case, all of that was avoidable (v. 27)

What’s it going to take for God to get your attention?

-give you success? take something important from you? allow you

to suffer?

--or perhaps allow you to learn a lesson from a crazy king