Show notes
"I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages." RD referenced this quote by Charles Spurgeon in a sermon he preached back in August, and it is the perfect summation of this podcast episode. Using RD's sermon as a springboard, Greg and RD consider suffering and the ways in which Christians can misinterpret the Bible's teachings on suffering.
Right away, Greg and RD relate that Fellowship Church does not subscribe to the "name it and claim it" gospel. Instead, Fellowship teaches that God is working for your good, as the Bible teaches, even if we never understand how He is working or even if we don't see the good God is doing.
Greg is quick to state that there are truly evil things that happen to Believers, but that we must still say "God is sovereign over everything" and believe that He is bringing about His glory through our suffering; we cannot waiver on the goodness of God. If we start to question God's goodness, we are entering a man-centered theology realm instead of a God-center theology. RD also references Genesis, where we are told that what man meant for evil, God used for His good.
This leads Greg and RD to examine the misconception that God owes us an explanation for our suffering. While God sometimes will show us the reason for our suffering, He does not owe us, nor does He ever promise us, an explanation, and we have to be okay with never knowing why, and trusting that everything, including our suffering, is for God's glory.
When we are walking with someone in their grief, we need to find a balance of reminding them that their suffering is for God's glory but also weeping with those who are weeping, just as Jesus wept with Mary and Martha, even though He knew He would shortly be raising Lazarus from the dead. However, Greg warns that there is a way in which we have to match the place a person is in when they are grieving, but still not let grief get in the way of calling out someone's sin (the example of someone sinning during grief Greg uses is when someone is lashing out in anger at God during suffering).
Greg and RD end with encouraging words of how God is committed to walking through things with you. And as we walk through it with God, we must learn to worship Him through the suffering. A great example of this is in Joni Eareckson Tada, who has said that the first thing she will do with her restored body in Heaven is "to suddenly drop to my knees and not move… [this] will be my joy and a real sacrifice."
Along with Tada, others like Katherine and Jay Wolf, Tim Keller, and C. S. Lewis also share that it is through suffering that God grows us and reveals His glory.
If you have questions about suffering and grief, or would like to reach out to Greg and RD, email them at offstage@fellowshipknox.org
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