Question 9 - Trusting God When Life Seems Unfair

Greetings, and welcome to the Faith Chapel podcast. My name is Jason,

and I am the pastor of Faith Chapel.

In the podcast right now, we are going through a sermon series from 2021 entitled, Questions.

The congregation of Faith Chapel was asked to submit any question they had about

Christianity or the Bible, and the answer to those questions was given in the form of sermons.

Today, the question is, why are some people taken too soon and others are left on earth to suffer?

Thanks for joining us today.

This series we're going through on questions that you've asked and you've put

up on the poster board has been very enlightening to me.

And every time a question gets asked, and this is why I wanted to do this series,

there is some learning that takes place.

It's really, really important as Christians to be constantly learning,

to be growing in who God is and who he reveals himself to be.

This is something that I don't want to just stop with this series.

And in fact, in the new year, we're going to go through the New Testament together.

If you were with us for the year of the Bible, it's going to be very similar

to that, but it's going to be a lot less intensive.

Instead of about 15 minutes a day reading God's word, we're going to reduce

it down to between three and five based on how fast you read.

And it's meant to be going slowly through it because when you read three or

four chapters a day, there's a lot that you can miss in that season.

But when we go through it slowly, I really want to encourage that you are going

to be thinking about it, pondering about it, and asking questions to it.

And so Jillian is working really diligently to get us to have a virtual community

with it again this time as we go through it in the New Testament in 2022.

And it's a place, again, where I want you to be able to ask questions.

Why do you think Jesus taught this? Or what did Paul mean when he said that?

And it's just continuing off of this series where we learn by asking questions.

We learn by being inquisitive and searching things out.

And this week's question is a question where we come across one that,

truth be told, I can't answer.

It's one of those why questions that we have sort of a partial answer to and

sort of no answer at all to.

But it's a question that really makes you think and ponder about things.

And the question is this. why is it that some people are taken too soon and

others who have all kinds of problems are saved?

Now, just to reiterate, I don't know, but we're going to describe and we're

going to explore what the Bible says about why we don't know.

And then we're going to look at the proper response when maybe we are going

through a season of prolonged pain Maybe we're going through our fourth round of chemotherapy.

Maybe we're going through the ups and downs of diabetes issues.

Maybe we're waking up every morning in pain that makes it really,

really hard to get out of bed.

Or maybe we're grieving the loss of someone who was taken so suddenly and so young.

And we find ourselves asking these questions, why, why does this happen?

And there, make no mistake about it, it does happen.

It does happen and I am no stranger to it at all.

There was a soldier that we saw up there who was Jillian's cousin and he was

killed in action at 23 years of age.

I know it from my own mom, who passed away before her 60th birthday,

when the life expectancy said she had 15 more years to live.

We've also experienced it, on the other hand, where someone in my family has

been struggling with pain day in and day out for more than two years.

This isn't a question I take lightly, because it's real to me. It's very real to me.

And so where I begin is a small little story in 1 Samuel.

But before I get there, let me pray.

Lord God Almighty, I come before you today, and I ask that your words will be spoken.

Please help us to understand better this unanswerable question.

Jesus, we ask this in your name. Grant us your spirit right now.

Pour it out upon us and give us ears to hear you and speak to us what we need

to hear as we ask the why question about why some people die so young and why

do people suffer for years?

Jesus, we pray this in your name. Amen.

In 1 Samuel, we're going to be in chapter 23 to start with.

But you can see all these tabs up here. We're going a lot of places in the Bible today.

The story of the Bible to this point is that we are in the section where Saul

is the first king of Israel and David has been anointed the second king of Israel.

And Saul is super, super jealous of David because people are singing songs about

David saying, Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands.

Not a very good song in my opinion, but this was a chant that they were singing

as David would ride through with the military.

They were exalting him in this way, and this made Saul super jealous of David

to the point where he was pursuing a commander in his army to kill him.

And so David is out in the wilderness where we pick up, he's in a city named Keilah.

And we're picking up in the story, which probably seems on the surface that

it has nothing to do with the question, but in my opinion, has everything to do with this question.

And so we pick it up in verse 10, where David has learned that Saul knows where

he's at and is mobilizing his troops to come after him.

Verse 10 of 2 Samuel 23 says.

Then David prayed, O Lord God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning

to come and destroy Keilah because I am here.

Will the leaders of Keilah betray me to him? And will Saul actually come as I have heard?

O Lord God of Israel, please tell me. And the Lord said, he will come.

And again, David asked, will the leaders of Keilah betray me and my men to Saul?

And the Lord replied, yes, they will betray you.

So David and his men, about 600 of them now, left Keilah and began roaming the countryside.

Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn't go to Keilah after all.

And so this is the brunt of the story. David hears that Saul is coming to get

him and he doesn't want to die.

And so he asks God, what's going to happen?

What's going to happen? And God says, well, if you stay here,

this is what's going to happen.

Saul's men is going to come and they're going to destroy the city and you will be handed over to Saul.

And what we have to understand here is that later in the text,

it says that none of these things happen.

So David leaves Keilah, and so Saul doesn't come and surround it,

and he doesn't come and destroy the city.

So what this needs to tell us is that God not only knows what is going to happen.

But he knows every possibility of the choices that we make and the decisions

that we make, and he knows all of the ramifications that could happen if we make that choice.

If we go to this college, he knows what's going to happen. Or if we go to that

college, he knows every possible scenario that's going to happen from that.

If we marry this person or that person, he knows every single possibility of

things that could happen.

He goes down all of those rabbit holes and he sees and says,

David, if you stay here, Saul is going to come.

He's going to wipe out this city and he's going to take you as a prisoner.

And so relating this back to the story, to the question of why some people suffer,

why are some people taken too soon,

we have to submit that God knows what he's doing.

And we have to believe and we have to trust that God is working all things out

for the good of those who love him and who believe in him.

Even if the circumstances are not exactly what we would choose,

even if we think we would thrive better in a different situation,

we have to trust God because he knows every possibility.

And this goes back to last week when we talked about how does Jesus heal us?

And it's through his power.

Power and authority. The scripture on the wall back there, the one right before

it, the verse right before it says, Jesus came to him and said,

all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me.

There is nothing outside of the power of God.

And so we think about a good God and how can someone suffer for years with going

back and forth between chemo treatments and remission.

We think about how someone can come back from a war and be reduced to a wheelchair.

And we're like, how can a good God who has all authority and who has all power not stop that?

We got to trust. We got to trust that God knows what he's doing.

And in these verses, it tells us, I know every possible solution,

every possible outcome from every decision that you make, and you can trust me.

I think this is also expounded in the book of Isaiah, where Isaiah quotes God

in chapter 55, verses 8 and 9,

where he says, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord,

and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than

your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

And God says to us, I'm trustworthy. I know what I'm doing.

You can rely on me.

And in the Bible, as I was processing through this, I really looked into the book of Job.

Because Job is a guy who had everything and then it was all taken away from him.

His children, his property, his livelihood, his own health.

And he was sitting reduced to ashes, and he was just wallowing in his own hardships.

And one of the things that Job does is he goes on these explorations of why am I suffering?

How can God still be good while in the midst of suffering, even though I didn't

do anything to deserve the suffering?

And unfortunately for us, God doesn't answer him matter-of-factly.

What he says to him is he takes him on a cosmic journey across what God created.

And he says, all right, Job, what about the mountain lions, the mountain goats?

Do you know when their mating season is? Do you even know what they eat?

Do you know when they were formed or were you there when they were formed?

And then he takes him to the depths of the sea and says, all right,

Job, what about these fish?

What about these creatures of the deep? How do they breathe, Job? How do they eat?

Are you there with them constantly?

And then he takes him to the constellations and says, what about Pleiades?

And what about Orion, these constellations in our sky?

Are you there? Do you know how they were formed? Do you know how far away from you they are?

It's a very bizarre answer to the question, why am I suffering?

I didn't do anything to deserve it. and God just takes him on these snapshots of the universe.

And you know what Job does at the end after God gets done taking him through this cosmic journey?

He says, this is far too great for me to understand. This is far too great for me to comprehend.

And I'm humbling myself and I'm bowing down before you.

And so even when God discusses this issue of suffering unjustifiably,

like you didn't do anything to deserve it.

It's not like you went and committed

tax fraud and so you deserve to be in jail for that length of time.

You just have these boils. You just lost your children. You've just lost all your property.

And God basically says, trust me, trust me.

And so that's a very, very hard lesson to really comprehend, to really,

go through, especially if you're in the midst of suffering, especially if you're

in the midst of grieving the loss of someone who has died too soon.

And so what we're going to do with the remainder of our time is look at two examples.

One of a guy who suffered for many, many years and how he came and the trajectory

of his life and what he ended up doing.

And then the life of someone who died too soon.

We're going to start in 2 Samuel, and we're going to look at the concept and

the idea of suffering through the lens of a guy by the name of Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth is the grandson of Saul, and when we are introduced to him in 2

2 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 4, we learn about why he was suffering.

So in chapter 4, verse 4, it says this, Saul's son Jonathan,

and that was Jonathan who was a really tight friend of David,

had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled as a child.

He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan

had been killed in battle.

When the child's nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled.

But as she hurried away, she dropped him and he became crippled.

So Mephibosheth was somebody who had it all.

He was the grandson of a king and his dad was in line to be the next king of Israel.

That is, if David had not been anointed king of Israel, Jonathan would have

been the second king of Israel.

But the day that he gets news that not only his dad, but his grandfather died

as well, the nurse was doing her job.

She was picking him up. And as the person that was supposed to be the third

in line to the king, he would have been in grave danger, even as a five-year-old,

because people back then, and even people now, are power hungry.

And they're like, if we get rid of him, then I can be king.

And so she was just protecting him. She was just doing her duty.

And along the way, accidents happen.

Mephibosheth fell and he became crippled. And so not only did he lose his status

on this one day, his dad and his granddad died.

He was mourning. He was in grief. He lost his status.

He lost his wealth and he lost his vitality.

He lost the ability to walk. We find out later that he was crippled in both of his feet.

And so he lost absolutely almost everything, just like Job did.

And we find stories like this throughout the Bible, where people do suffer for

what seems like no reason at all.

In Mephibosheth's life, it transformed a bit. because David,

being the godly king that he was, he shows kindness to Mephibosheth.

And in chapter 9, verse 1, we read this.

One day David asked, is anyone in Saul's family still alive?

Anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's son?

He summoned a man named Ziba who had been one of Saul's servants.

Are you Ziba? The king asked. Yes, sir, I am, Ziba replied.

The king then asked him, is anyone still alive from Saul's family?

If so, I want to show God's kindness to them, Ziba replied.

Yes, one of Jonathan's sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet.

Where is he? The king asked.

In Lodibar, Ziba told him, at the home of Machir, son of Amil.

So David sent for him and brought him from Machir's home. His name was Mephibosheth.

He was Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson.

When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect.

David said, Greetings, Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth replied, I am your servant. Don't be afraid, David said.

I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan.

I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather,

Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king's table.

And so David shows him a huge amount of respect because of his relationship with Jonathan.

They were super tight. They were really good friends.

And so his Mephiboshes fortune changes direction.

His life becomes good again. And he transforms from somebody who was once in

the king's house to living on someone else's couch to someone who now has plenty

of property and then gets to eat really good food at the king's table every day.

And so his life takes a trajectory turn for the better.

He's doing a lot better now, even though he's still crippled,

even though he still can't walk.

And so the story continues. And what happens in the next instance in Mephibosheth's

life is that King David is taken, it leaves, he flees from his son Absalom.

Absalom wants to take control of the kingdom that David has.

And so David leaves instead of staying and fighting his son and his son's army, he leaves.

And what happens is that this Ziba, the servant, he comes to David and says,

hey, Mephibosheth is jumping up and down for joy because he's claiming to be

king. And what David does there.

All right, all of Mephibosheth's property, I'm going to transfer over to you.

It's going to be your property now.

So again, in a day, everything is taken away from Mephibosheth.

And so it starts the trajectory down again, another wave of pain, of suffering, of loss.

But where we end up in Mephibosheth's story is in chapter 19.

And in chapter 19, we have a really bizarre change of story because Absalom,

David's son, has been defeated.

And he is now, David is now returning to Jerusalem to be king again in Jerusalem.

And so in verse 24, it says this, Now Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson,

came down from Jerusalem to meet the king.

He had not cared for his feet, trimmed his beard, or washed his clothes since

the day the king left Jerusalem.

Why didn't you come with me, Mephibosheth? The king asked him.

Mephibosheth replied, can I ask.

You've said enough, David replied.

I've decided that you and Ziba will divide your land equally between you.

Give it all to him, Mephibosheth said. I am content just to have you safely

back again, my lord, the king.

And so Mephibosheth turns the story upside down again, and he says,

no, no, no, no, Ziba's the one at fault.

He's the one that tricked me. I told him to go and saddle my donkey,

but he just took my donkey and came to you for his own gain.

And so David, he doesn't even want to decide between this. He's just happy to be back in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem. And so he's just like, all right, split the land in half.

You get one half and Ziba gets the other half. And that's how we're going to deal with this.

He was tired. He was throwing his hands up and he was like, I don't know what to believe.

And then Mephibosheth says what I think is the take home message for today.

I can't do that because my heart is overflowing that the king is on his throne.

That's enough for me. And even though this leaves Because Mephibosheth with

no land, with no income, the fact that David the king is on the throne is all that he wants.

And this is the turn for people who are suffering. And I don't want to take away your suffering.

And I know it's painful. I know I've had somebody that I care deeply about really

suffer with pain for two years.

And it's debilitating and it's hard. And I'm not taken away from that.

But the concept here is that we have to say, all right, God,

you're still on the throne.

I know you can take this away from me. I know you are all powerful,

but I'm just satisfied that you are on the throne.

I'm just satisfied that you're the king.

And when we go through suffering, I can't answer the why question,

but I can answer what should we do.

And we should say, God, you're on the throne and that's enough for me.

And the same thing happens in Acts chapter seven when we meet the man who was taken too soon.

The man taken too soon is a guy by the name of Stephen. He was one of the seven

that were elected to the status of deacon.

They were serving in the widows in Jerusalem and there was an uneven distribution

of food at the beginning.

And so they set up seven men to distribute the food equally among the people.

And Stephen was one of these men, and the Holy Spirit was powerfully upon him.

And he was preaching about Jesus in Acts chapter 6, and he was arrested for it.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

And in Acts chapter 7, we see his speech before the religious leaders.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He ends his speech, probably not in the wisest way, if he was more concerned

about his life than about honoring God. In verses 51, this is how he ends his

speech in front of people who are determining his fate.

You stubborn people, you are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.

Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did, and so do you.

Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute. They even killed the ones

who predicted the coming of the righteous one, the Messiah, whom you betrayed and murdered.

You deliberately disobeyed God's law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.

Again, not the wisest thing to say to people who are holding your fate if you want to keep your life.

All right. But get this. This isn't even what caused the ruckus.

Yes, they were mad at this. And yes, they started screaming and shouting accusations at him.

But they didn't take him out of the city until he said these next words.

Look, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand.

Then they put their ears over their, they put their hands over their ears and

they were like, la, la, la, la, la. I don't want to hear this. They tackled him.

They picked him up and they took him outside of the city and started slinging

rocks at him all because he was putting Jesus on the throne.

Are people who are really suffering, and they need the grace of God more than we even know.

There are people out there who are mourning the loss of someone who was taken

from their grasp far too soon.

These things happen.

They are a product of being human beings,

But we can get so consumed by

them We can get so overcome with them

That it becomes an idol in our

lives Just give me one day of being pain-free Just

give me one more hour with this person So I can hold

them one more time And the Bible tells

us clearly It should be content with us That Jesus is on the throne That he

is all-powerful that he has every ounce of authority in heaven and on earth

and that nothing comes out of his purview.

Even in Job's case, Satan had to ask God permission to inflict the boils upon him.

He had to ask God permission to take his kids and his livestock,

his property, his servants, his property, his servants.

That means to us that, yes, hard things are going to happen,

but we have to remember that Jesus is on the throne.

And my hope and my prayer for me, my family, and you guys is that no matter what we encounter,

we will be able to say, I'm content because Jesus is on his throne. Let me pray.

Lord, we come before you today to those who are suffering On behalf of those who are suffering,

And we ask, Father, for your grace and your mercy Whether it's mourning the

loss of a loved one Whether it's them going through another round of treatment

Or them waking up today with pain Father, we ask for your grace and your mercy,

To be upon these people To help them to understand who you are And to be able

to see that you are on the throne and that you are worth following with all

of your heart, mind, strength, and soul.

And God, we pray for us that whenever we encounter a situation or a person,

that involves suffering or that involves loss too much,

that we can take a step back and we can say, God, it is sufficient enough for

me that you are on the throne, that you have all power, that you have all authority.

You are trustworthy. God, build that up in us as a community so that no matter

what happens, you will be glorified.

Jesus, we ask this in your name. Amen.

Thank you again for joining us in our discussion of why some people are young

when they die and others live long lives marked by pain and suffering.

This series was designed to promote questions in and amongst followers of Jesus.

Remember, it is good to ask questions. Questions show you want to learn.

Be curious and always ask questions.

In our next episode, we will look at the issue of human sexuality. Have a great week.