Where is God When it Hurts?

The irony of what suffering and sickness did for him—like I said, he went into the ministry later in his life. Now Philip Yancey, in his book Where is God When it Hurts, I don't know if you've read that book, it is really a great book, writes that suffering gets our attention. You could say that again. Right? Suffering gets our attention, and it forces us to look towards God when otherwise we would have ignored him.

Now some of us may be experiencing sickness that seeps our body from strength. Some of us might be experiencing physical pain that is just always there. That pain that just doesn't go away and starts impacting you emotionally. Some of us are grieving the loss of a loved one, while others are experiencing anxiety over work or the lack thereof or financial stress. Personal pain like breakups or divorce or loneliness or abuse can cause even the most staunch and resilient Christian to be sad and to fear.

Even in the family, Christian parents can be anxious about children who seemingly walk away from the faith. Or spouses who've given up on church. You don't have to be a Christian to realise that this world is far from ideal. Most people living today feel that. Ask any guy on the street and they will tell you that we are not living in an ideal environment.

But as Christians, we also see deeper. We don't simply say this is not ideal. We look and understand what is deeper than just imperfect. We see the world as broken. We see the world as ravaged by the effects and the consequences of sin.

And simply put, being a Christian because we live in this world doesn't remove us or make us immune from suffering. It doesn't. Hard things still happen to God's people. The question I wanna deal with this morning is how do we deal with it? How do we deal with suffering as Christians?

And maybe I'll start by asking you personally to think about how have you been dealing with suffering up until this point. When things have been far from ideal, when things have really hurt, when there has been pain, how have you dealt with suffering? For thousands of years, God's people have been going to a particular place in the Bible when they have felt the anxiety of pain, and that is the Book of Psalms. We often read sections of it, even large sections of it in our worship services when we come and bring our praise to Him as we've started this morning by singing how great is our God, and there's so many wonderful examples of this praise in the Psalms, but there are also significant parts of the Psalms that deal with this problem of pain. How do we deal with it?

Well, this morning, I want to look with you at Psalm 13 as an example of psalms of lament, psalms of pain, psalms of suffering and grief, and explain to you how the Word of God trains us as Christians how to handle it, how to deal with it. So let's read Psalm 13 together. Psalm 13, for the director of music, a psalm of David. "How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death. My enemy will say I have overcome him and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in Your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me." So far our reading. Now I wanna—I've chosen Psalm 13 because it is a really great example of a Psalm of lament that really gives an outline for how much of the Book of Psalms deal with suffering.

And it's been traditionally attributed to King David, as I read before. And we see him feeling restless and anxious and—again, like if you know the story of King David, he's not shy—and he's definitely not shy about his pain at the moment. Psalms like these in the Book of Psalms are no obscure anomaly. They are, like I said, found throughout the book. More than a third, in fact, of the Psalms are laments.

A third of the Psalms are laments. The amazing thing to keep in mind is that these irreverent sounding poems are in fact inspired by God. These poems that we feel, "oh, I don't know if I'd pray that", are actually given to us in God's Word, which means that He wants them in His Word and He has included them for His people. Now what's clear about Psalm 13 is that the psalmist is very honest about his feelings, isn't he? He's so honest.

He's almost bold. He's almost brash. He's almost blasphemous. We don't hear our elders ever praying these sort of prayers, do we? We don't hear pastors necessarily praying these sort of prayers.

They feel a little bit risky. Now is it because we don't want to question God's power or we don't want to risk offending Him? Is it that in our lives, if we feel uncomfortable with these sort of psalms, we would rather speak politely and unemotionally to God and reserve our raw emotions for perhaps someone else. Maybe not God, but a counsellor, a psychologist we can vent to. A friend we can have a coffee and a chat with and we can vent our spleen to them in this way.

But the world isn't right. And the Psalm writer knows that the world isn't right and his life is very much affected by this world at this stage. We see that there are enemies and that they are triumphing over him, whatever that may be. We see that he is so anxious and desperate to the point of death he feels. This is not a guy stubbing his toe in the middle of the night.

There is some serious anxiety taking place here. He cannot cope with this situation much longer and he has run out of hope for a solution. Notice in those opening verses the repetition of the words "how long?" in verses one and two. As the psalmist continually turns the crisis over in his mind, he is becoming more desperate.

"How long, God?" The threat or the stress is not so much the cause for his prayer to God, however. It is the waiting that is the hardest to deal with. "How long will You remain distant, O God? Answer me before it's too late. I just can't remain in the dark and bear this much longer.

God, how long? You must come quickly." Notice here that there are three areas where his distress comes from. Firstly, it's his relationship with God. "Have You forgotten me?"

he says. "Have You forgotten me? How long will You hide Your face?" So firstly, this distress is from his relationship with God that seems impaired, seems tainted. Secondly, it comes from within him.

"How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and have sorrow in my heart?" This is depression. This is a distress coming from within himself. And thirdly, from the outside, like I said, particularly enemies, particularly people that rise up against him. So his relationship with God is being impacted.

He is emotionally, psychologically being impacted from within himself. And it's coming from the outside as well. His situation is not good. But because David talks about it first, it's really the sense of abandonment, I think, and silence that's the most painful thing happening here at the moment. The real pain is not that he is anxious or that he has enemies that are winning against him, but the feeling of being forgotten and the length of time.

That is what's really hard for David at this point. Now just put on your biblical scholarship hats for a moment and think back on sermons or books that you've read. In the Old Testament, when God—when the writer uses the word "remember", that God remembers—do you remember that? In Egypt, when God remembered Israel in their groaning and crying out. When God remembers His promise to Abraham.

That word "remembering" is a significant thing. It wasn't so much a state of awareness, but it was usually a prelude to God's action. Let me say that again. It wasn't so much a state of awareness for God, but usually, when it was used, a prelude to God acting. God remembered and then He did something.

When God remembered Israel in Egypt, He intervened and He saved them. The feeling of being forgotten by God, however, is a feeling that He's not going to help. And for David, that is the desperate situation. Now perhaps, like I said, some of us can relate to experiencing this and even if that's not the situation now, thank God. But remember these things for when that does happen.

Because that Psalm doesn't end in verses one and two. It's got some significant things to say. It's as if David is climbing out of the valley. He is climbing the mountain to get out of this desperate situation. The Psalm is not a sad song that ends at the foot of a monumental mountain in the valley.

It starts this upwards journey. And there's three points, three things that we can see in this movement. The first thing we see of the Psalm is that we are to go to God. David addresses God. More specifically, he uses God's personal name, meaning he invokes God's character.

He uses the name Yahweh. "How long, O Lord? How long, O Yahweh?" It's the name of the covenant God and he doesn't address Him in some impersonal way, some supernatural power that is out there. God has drawn close to David.

He has revealed Himself to David personally. What's more, in the name Yahweh, all the promises of the covenant, all the promises of what God has done in the past are summed up. He has made a promise in the past to redeem. He's made a promise in the past to rescue His people. Now today, we don't necessarily refer to God as Yahweh anymore.

Whilst that name is still precious, whilst that name is still significant on so many levels, the deeper and more profound name that we have been given is the name of Jesus. And in the name of Jesus, we see the personality of God in human shape. And Jesus taught us how to pray with these words: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." When Jesus came, He gave a revolutionary new teaching that we may call Yahweh God our Father.

We may call Yahweh God our Father. So in the depths of despair and loneliness, in the midst of great fear and stress, there is always this comfort that God is like a Father. That God is like a personal Father, a Dad. And so that is immediately for us a very stark reminder that there is nothing that God isn't willing to hear from us. There is nothing God isn't willing to handle from us as our Father.

He is our Heavenly Father and like a good dad, He will listen to us where we are struggling, where we are at. And so the first thing just to remember when we are in these situations, when we are anxious, is to go to Him who is our Father. That sounds so simple and yet we forget that so often. The first thing to do, what David did, is he went to God. The second thing we see in this Psalm is that we are to trust.

We are to be diligent and patient with our hearts by reminding ourselves who this God is. Your heart needs to hear all the truths about this Heavenly Father again and again and again. Because whilst we may know it with our minds, whilst we may read it on words on paper, we need to know that this is a God who cares. We need to know that this is a God who desires us. We need to know that God is personal, that He is not some far off impersonal force.

We need to trust. There is a story of a piece of wood that once bitterly complained because it was being cut and sanded down and drilled with holes. But the one who held this bit of wood and whose knife was doing the cutting did not relent despite the complaints. The craftsman was too wise, in fact, to stop because he knew what he was doing. You see, he was making a flute out of this wood.

And after many many groans and shouts of pain, the flute carver said to the wood, "You silly piece of wood. Without these cuts and holes, you would only be a stick forever. A bit of hardwood with no purpose or power. These cuts that I'm making will change you into a flute and your sweet music will warm the hearts of men. Dear flute, my cutting is the forming of you.

For when I am done with you, you'll be precious and valuable and a blessing." There are a hundred different reasons for why God allowed suffering to happen to David. David became the greatest king of Israel. David led and established the temple worship of God in many ways because of his suffering. King David was a great leader of men because of his suffering.

He drew closer to God and knew God more personally because of his suffering. But the one thing that I am most thankful for out of these hundred different reasons is that David could write these psalms, and he writes them for me to read. And he wrote these psalms for millions of people to read after him. And I wonder if he even knew what impact that would be. God was carving him into a flute.

And David, while he can't explain God's role in his current circumstances, he trusts in his heart. Now what is the next question? What is it that he trusts about God? Well, he trusts that God is good. He trusts that God is someone who cares, that God is powerful enough to change his circumstances, or if not changing his circumstances to change him.

So friend, when we find ourselves in pain, remind yourselves to trust. Remind yourself to trust in God, the one who is there with you, who sees what is happening. The one who knows what He is doing because He is all knowing and all seeing, but the one who also promises that He doesn't abandon. Remind yourself that God does not let things happen without a reason. But then remind yourself that God is concerned, not simply for your comfort, but He's concerned about your character as well.

That His carving is for your good. Trust that as well. There's a story about two great French artists whose names are Renoir and Matisse. You've probably heard of their names. At the time, Matisse was Renoir's young assistant, his young apprentice. Now, Renoir in his age had begun to suffer terrible arthritis in his hands.

And it became very painful for him to actually paint. And as he painted, his students often would hear him groaning in pain as he moved his paintbrush. On one such occasion, Matisse asked the old master, "Why do you go on if it hurts so much?" And Renoir answered him, "Because the pain passes, but the beauty remains." The pain passes, but the beauty remains.

This is true for suffering in Christians because God doesn't waste a thing. Nothing surprises God. Nothing catches Him off guard. So I wanna remind you of this, that you can trust in Him because what you are going through is of central importance to Him about you. He's not simply concerned with your comfort, however, but He is concerned about your character as well.

And though we may complain bitterly, He knows what He is doing and He won't burden us with more than we can handle. That is another promise He gives us. So the second point is to trust in Him. He says that here, doesn't he? David, "I trust in Your unfailing love," verse five.

And then our last point, and this is where the Psalm ends. And these lament psalms always end in praise. We see David climbing out of this valley. He's climbing the mountain to get out of the depths of his despair. David asked a very specific thing from God halfway through the Psalm. This is the turning point.

Verse three: "Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes." Give light to my eyes. In fear and pain, this is perhaps the hardest thing we experience, isn't it? Not knowing. Not knowing, not understanding.

Climbing that steep mountain of pain, we only see the rock face in front of us. We only maybe see the next little point to hold on to. We don't have that much perspective. We don't know how long the pain will last. We don't know how it will get resolved.

We don't even know what to do in the meantime. We just don't know. And so this prayer, "give light to my eyes", means give me understanding, God. Allow me to see what is going on. Give me perspective.

And this is something I do think we can and should ask God. We can ask God this. Give us understanding. Give me understanding, God, what is happening here? Help me see what You are developing in me.

Help me understand what it is I still need to have refined in me. What You would want me to do with this episode in my life. So to ask for understanding is not bad, but whilst we ask this question and wait for the answer, there is something more that we should be doing as well. And this is what David goes on in verses five and six to say. The second half of verse five: "my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me."

Look at these verbs: "my heart rejoices. I will sing." Friends, these aren't cognitive decisions that we intellectually make about God and His existence and His presence. They are heart responses. They go far deeper than our mental assent.

"Rejoice" goes far deeper than to grit my teeth and bear it because God will do something. "Rejoice" goes far deeper than that. To rejoice in the midst of our suffering, that is an emotional response. And yet it seems so counterintuitive, doesn't it?

What is it that David rejoices in? What could he possibly find as a motivator in joy where he feels that he is at the point of death? David says he rejoices in what? Your salvation. Now, I don't know if you wondered this, but it doesn't quite make sense because David hasn't been saved yet.

David is still in this predicament. He's still in this problem. What is David referring to as this salvation? We see his enemies are triumphing over him. Verse six, however, likewise says, "I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me."

But the situation isn't over yet. So how can God be good to him? Well, significantly, these are all past tense. "God has been good to me. God has given me salvation."

In the midst of the pain, when we don't know how things will turn out, this is an important thing to remember. What God has done in your past gives you hope for what He will do in your future. The fact that He has been with us in the past brings hope that He won't overlook us in the present either. David reminds himself in verse five to trust in God's what? Unfailing love. And again, putting on our Old Testament scholarship hats, this is the word—which is the Hebrew word for God's covenantal, deep, unfailing love.

And it is translated in our English Bibles a number of ways because we can't get the right word to express it because it is so rich. At one time, it is faithful love, unfailing love, His loving kindness. In a sense, this is the love that God has for His people alone. His people alone. In one sense, God loves the world.

He makes it rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, but He has a special love for His own people and this is that love. His love and it is the love that never gives up. It is the love that causes Him to remember His people. And so in this covenant love, and covenant which means promise, is the promise that all who call upon Him, all who come to Him, the promise is this: that He will be our God and that we will be His people. And God has sworn this on oath by no lesser authority than Himself that He will preserve and deliver His beloved people.

He will. And David has seen this before. And David has experienced God's love on many, many occasions and His salvation on many, many occasions. And David, in the midst of this deep despair and depression, looks back at the past and says, "God has done it, and He will do it again. And I praise Him for this salvation and my heart rejoices."

It is this love. It is this unfailing love that causes Paul to write in Romans 8:28 with this audacious confidence: "We know that in all things, all things, God works for the good of those who love Him," understanding that God saves, that He has saved, that He will save. This is our greatest light, friends. That you are loved to such an extent that God would come to earth Himself and rescue you from a fate far worse than any pain you can experience in this life.

In fact, the deepest, most desperate pain that you can experience in this life is the closest to hell that you'll ever come because of Jesus. And unfortunately, and so terrifyingly, this life is the closest that our unbelieving friends may ever come to heaven. If you struggle to see God's faithfulness and love in your pain, if you still anxiously hold on to the fear that you don't know how things will turn out, hold on to this final hope. The light of God's salvation is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ. His life and His death on the cross gives us the future and the motivation and the hope that what God has done in the past, He will do in our present.

And He will certainly do for us in our future. So we may not know and God may not grant us understanding of how our situation will turn out. But you do know how your life will eventually turn out. And that is that you'll meet God in glory, and that you will experience and taste a new heaven and a new earth that we cannot even begin to comprehend. And Paul continues on after Romans 8:28 by saying this: "If God then is for us in this incredible way that He would come for us and die for us.

If God is for us, then who can be against us? The one who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He also not, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Verse 37 he continues: "Knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced. I am persuaded.

My heart is recalibrated. That neither death nor life. Neither angels nor demons. Neither the present nor the future." When you are desperate, friend, when you are without hope, remember this: that Christ has saved you. That you are His, that He has died for you and on your behalf, that He has been raised.

We've sung before the power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that lives in us. And that your hope can never be crushed. That we may rejoice in Him, that we may praise Him even now for His salvation has already come. We may rejoice and be thankful because He is good already for us. No physical enemies, no spiritual enemies, not even the enemy that is our self.

That self destructive wretch will separate us from the love of God. And so, if we go to Him, if we trust in Him, if we praise Him for what He has already done, we can also sit back in our situations and say with David, "I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me." Let's pray. Father, we rejoice this morning in the hope that we have found in Jesus Christ. This truth, Lord, even in our present sufferings, these things do not compare to the glory that awaits us.

And we know that in this suffering, there is work that You are doing. That it produces good things in us. That it calls out things in us that You are developing and desiring to grow in us. Lord, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. And so, Lord, we are reminded again this morning that our hope is firmly in Jesus.

That it cannot be crushed, it cannot be removed, it will not be removed. Not by ourselves and even our lack of faith and even our sin and even our rebellion and our self pity. Lord, it cannot be removed from us by enemies and those who would seek to persuade us to give up. Lord, even in our sense of loneliness and separation and distance from You, even then, our hope is not lost. Because You have saved us and You do love us.

And we see it fully in our Lord Jesus. And so Lord I pray that we may rejoice, that we may respond to that with heart responses, with joy, with gratitude, with happiness even. When we go through hard times, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.