# Why God allows me to suffer

Category: Suffering, Trials & Burdens
Key Passage: 1 Peter 4:19
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bible, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 4. We are going to read just one verse to use as a springboard to get into this subject: Why God allows me to suffer. Why God allows me to suffer.

Me, you, to suffer. While you are looking there, I have to explain why I have green fingers. I am hoping maybe it will help you watch a little bit better. You said, “Man, that guy, he is missing fingers, and the fingers he has are green. What is going on with that guy?” I was going to use food coloring as an illustration in Sunday school, and you see where some of the food coloring ended up on my fingers. I did not use it anyway, but we got green fingers out of it, amen. I got a green thumb today for sure, amen, you know.

But First Peter, chapter 4, we are going to use this verse really as a springboard. We will not really preach through this verse as typical, but rather use it as a springboard. First Peter is much about suffering. That word in some form is found 16 times in the book of 1st Peter. Peter really centers around suffering. It would be a good book to read if you are going through trials. First Peter, we will be in verse number 4. Would you please stand out of respect as we read the Word of God? And 1 Peter 4, if you are able to.

And then that very last verse, verse number 19, 1 Peter 4:19. If you are there, would you say amen? Amen. Good deal. You are listening. I like that, and that is a good thing. Verse number 19. The Bible says, “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God.” Wow.

Tell that to some of the faith healers, quote unquote. They say every time, all the time, it is God’s will for you to be healed down here. Well, the Bible there says, suffer. Suffer according to the will of God. Sometimes, friend, it is God’s will. I am not saying God has caused it; of course, sin and Satan have brought all this hurt and curse to this world. God allows us to suffer sometimes for it. Why? We will not give the full answer to it. We will just kind of take some shots at that. There is so much more to it that we can cover in a few minutes, but ask God to speak to your heart about it. Let us just finish the verse.

As typical, we will not preach through this verse today, though we typically do, but we will use it as a springboard, verse number 19. “Wherefore, let them that suffer, according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls.” I have got to pause for a minute. I met with some in the hospital this week. There is a chance they will lose their leg below the knee. The husband and wife—the husband was so wise to say our soul is the real us. God breathed in man; man became a living soul. This whole body is just the shell; the real us is inside there, you know. And we all have a little us in this. Amen, come on now. But he says, “According to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator.”

Would you pray with me that God would work in our hearts and in their lives for just a little bit of time this morning? Would you do that? Father, Lord, we do come. Lord, I feel like many of your people need encouraging. Lord, they need your love. They need to realize and see—it may be us just to be reminded and focus on the fact that you know everything. You have a reason. Lord, as a song goes, “God sees a storm from the other side.” Lord, remind us of those truths today. Make it real to us, Father, please. Holy Spirit, would you come and minister as only you can? And Father, we will thank you and praise and brag on you for what you do. Father, we ask for this in faith because we are asking in the greatest name in all the world, the name of Jesus. So, Father, we believe you for it. We thank you in advance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

I want to read for you—I think this will make the third time I have done it over the years here at this church—a fictitious story of David Needham. It is a longer story, longer than I typically read, but it illustrates the truth better than I know of any other story, and it gets your heart, at least my heart and your mind into it. I want to read it. Would you just stick with me? All of our young people, I want you to listen as I read this story. Everyone, would you please? I appreciate all of our young people. That is great. I appreciate that. That is very, very good. All of our young people. We have got everybody on board. We have got Michael now. We are good to go. All right.

Two farmers, two families, live on the same street. They own a farm; they own some acreage, some land. One family is raising wheat. We will call them the wheat family. One is raising tomatoes. We will call them the tomato family. Both families have a balloon payment—that is a large payment on their farm that is coming due. It is much larger than the monthly payment. It is a balloon, a large payment. Everything hinges on them making that payment whether they keep their farm or not. Both need a good harvest. Crop failure for them would mean they lose their house, their farm, each family. The wife is sick in each family. The wife really needs a very expensive surgery. She is crippled. If she could have that surgery, if she could afford that surgery, there is a good chance she could walk again and have good health. Both families. Both families are saved. They are in church. They are living for the Lord. They are both as sincere, equally sincere in serving God. Both great Christians; they walk with God, they try to please God, trying to raise their families for the Lord.

That evening, both families look up the weather forecast. Now, it is a 50-50 chance of rain. The wheat family desperately needs one last good rain. It will just make their wheat vibrant and alive. It will soak up the rain, and it will be such a great harvest if that were to happen. They could make the balloon payment, and possibly their wife—his wife, Mom—could get surgery. The tomato family, just down the road, their tomatoes have come to golden ripe harvest. They are ready to go. They just need a little time to get out there and to harvest those tomatoes. It will be a great harvest. The worst thing they could see is a heavy rain. A heavy rain would knock all the tomato plants down and really just beat them down into mud. It would become a muddy bog, almost impossible to pick, harvest those tomatoes. Those tomatoes would drown, maybe split; it would ruin their harvest, the last thing they need.

After the weather report, each family gathers around Mom’s bed. She is sick in the bed. Each family comes in there; they gather around Mom, and they all pray: Dad, Mom, and the two children in each home. Let us listen in as they pray. We are going to start with the wheat family as they pray: “Oh, Lord, you know what is at stake. Please, Lord, would you send the rain? You know how much we want to please you. If only you would bring the rain, you know what it would mean to us. So much. We would give you all the praise in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Now let us travel down the road. There is a tomato family equally earnestly praying to God. Let us listen in as they pray—the tomato family: “Oh, Father, please keep the rain from falling. Everything depends on this harvest. Lord, would you hold the rain? We could have a good harvest and possibly Mommy—my wife—will get better. Thank you for listening. We trust you. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

The smallest child slips off the bed, and she says, “Mommy, don’t worry, don’t worry. I know God will answer our prayers. Good night.” She runs down the hallway. It is all silent. Some wind whistles around the farmhouses, and hours pass by. What is going to happen? Now this is a part where we typically, since it is a fictitious story, like to play God a little bit, and we try to arrange it. Well, on one side, the wheat family, the rain comes, but it just goes right down the fence line. And over here on the tomato family’s farm, there is no rain. Friends, can I be honest with you? Often it does not happen like that.

Suddenly the wheat family wakes up. The dad hears the sound of some drops on the metal roof. He holds his breath—just one drop. Is that all? No, in moments the drops multiply, and the sound comes like thunder on the roof. It is pouring outside. Two children come running down the hall; they have heard it, bouncing on the bed. They shout, “God has heard our prayer! He has heard them!” Isn’t it exciting? Once again, the family just rejoices and together, with tears of joy, praises the Lord.

But down the road, the other farmer also hears the first raindrops. Sitting up in bed, he too holds his breath. “Perhaps it will stop. Oh, please, Father, please.” But no, louder and louder the sheets of rain sweep over his home, splattering against the windows. He sees in his mind those fields of lush tomatoes beaten down and drowning in the mud. Quietly, he slips beneath the blankets. There is no sound of children’s feet running down the hall. But in the darkness, he feels a gentle squeeze of his wife’s hand on his shoulder, and she whispers, “Sweetheart, it is all right. God cares. He knows.”

Next morning, breakfast time at the wheat family’s house, and what a breakfast it is. Mom scurries around in her wheelchair. Everybody is so excited. Daddy, one of the children says, “Everything is going to be all right. We can pay off the farm, and Mom will get well again. Isn’t God wonderful?” Down the street, the tomato family has breakfast also. It is very quiet. Dad says he would ask the blessing, but instead there is a long, long pause. Finally, unable to hold back the tears, he speaks between his sobs: “Lord, we prayed. We really thought we prayed the way we should have. Lord, understand him. It seems so right that you should have answered. But thank you, Lord. I know you love us. We will keep right on trusting you no matter what happens.” The silence is broken by some little ones, hurting little ones, saying, “Daddy, why? Why?” Daddy has no answers.

Since this is just a story, let us jump ahead five years down the road and travel down that road again to see how the families are doing. We are walking down the road, and the first thing that catches our eyes is a freshly painted barn, a new car parked out in front of one farmhouse, and out behind, as far as we can see, rolling hills covered with wheat. Let us move up closer by the window. Mom is standing there, looking robust, strong, walking around in the kitchen and fixing breakfast. The kids are just coming in; they are five years older now. Dad is taking off his boots from his early morning chores. “Family,” he says, “do you know what day this is? This is the fifth anniversary of the greatest crisis our family has ever had. Do you remember that night we prayed and God heard our prayers, didn’t he? Dad, wasn’t it great? Mom’s well now, and the farm is all ours. Isn’t it great, Dad?” “That’s right. In fact, God has blessed us far more than I had dreamed. He deserves not only our thanks but our lives. Let us gather around the table, and each one of us tell him how much we love him.”

But let us go down the street. There is such a contrast. It looks so run down. The name on the front of the barn has been changed. The family is still there, but they are tenants now, almost sharecroppers, if you will. Let us step up closer to the kitchen window. There are the kids coming in with Dad after his morning chores. Dad walks down the hall. In a few minutes, he returns pushing his wife in a wheelchair. Before asking the blessing, he says, “Does anyone know what today is? This is the fifth anniversary of the greatest crisis our family has ever gone through. Do you remember what happened five years ago?” As he recalls that devastating night, the family joins hands and offers praise: “Oh, God, thank you, thank you, for your grace and your goodness. At first, that night seemed so much like a catastrophe. Yet, O Father, how you have taught us things about yourself! You have opened a door to knowledge of you through our suffering that we never would have known any other way. God, you are so good.”

Now you say, “Preach, do stories like that happen?” Friend, every day they happen. Every day they happen. I cannot tell you all the reasons. We will just take a gander at a couple of those reasons why God allows you and I to suffer from time to time. Number one, if you will look over in Revelation chapter 3, we are just going to hit three things very quickly. Why? Why? This happens many times, sometimes to the best of people, sometimes to the greatest of Christians. Number one, why does God allow that? He allows it. Look in Revelation 3, look in verse number 16. He is talking here to the church of Laodicea, known as a lukewarm church. Just look in verse number 16. We will start there. Revelation 3, verse number 16: “So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” This church here was a very wealthy church, but they were lukewarm to the point that God says, “You make me want to spit you out.” God is saying you make me want to throw you up. That is pretty bad for God to say that. I do not remember any other time God has said that in the Bible.

But God here is speaking of this church. He said, “You are just so in between on everything that you make me want to throw up.” Now look at verse number 17, Revelation 3:17: “Because thou sayest, ‘I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.’” That is what they were saying. “I am all right. I am good. I have everything. I do not need anything.” Watch what he says: “And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,” notice that blind, if you would, “and naked.” Now God says you do not realize how putrefying you are, how just messed up you are.

Now, God tells them what to do about it. Notice the next verse. He tells them what they need in their lives to get out of this lukewarm state that God wants to throw them up. This is what he says to do in verse number 18: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire.” You remember what Job said over there when he was going through the trial, the testing? He just lost pretty much everything. When it is all over, he said, “I am going to come forth as gold.”

And God is telling these folks here, you need some trials like Job said. They got things too easy. They got all the luxury and all the goods, and you think you have so much, you have need of nothing. God said, you need to buy gold tried in the fire. Watch this: “That thou mayest be rich.” He said, you folks are so poor, you are so limited. In eternity, you are going to be as poor as Job’s turkey, as they say. You are not going to have anything. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich in white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.”

Here is the first point: God allows suffering in our life because trials give you a different viewpoint. You view life differently. God uses those trials, and he puts anointing salve on your life. Listen, friend, if we are not careful living in America in 2021, we are the most spoiled people in all the world. If we are not careful, we will have our eyes on all of our and everybody else’s possessions. If we are not careful, we get caught up in this rat race, and we have our eyes on what they have—the latest, greatest phone. What is the latest, greatest iPhone nowadays? What is it? Is it a 12 or what? 12 is the latest? We will have our eyes on the latest gadgets, the latest phone, the latest car, the latest house, the latest purse—hopefully that is for the women, amen. But we will have our eyes on all the possessions, and we get stuck looking down here, and we never even realize in the long view, in eternity, friend, we really have nothing. God says, “I will tell you what, it will get your view a whole lot different when you go through trials.” Man, you come out of a trial on the other side, if it is a tough trial, things do not matter that much. I think of Jerry Hunter. They have health issues, but Jerry Hunter had open-heart surgery years ago. Right before he went in there, he said, “It does not matter if I am the president of the United States or whoever, the richest man in the world; we are all equal right now about to go in there for open-heart surgery.” Friend, when you have trials in your life, all those possessions and money and clothes and cars and how everybody thinks and you look at everybody else—it does not matter like a hill of beans. It matters what God Almighty thinks and how he takes care of you. It will change your view. You view life differently. Everything seems so different after trials. You view them differently.

If you are not careful, see, we have just got a society where everybody is trying to keep up with the Joneses. And David Jones is very wealthy, so that is hard to do, folks. Now, I am joking, but we do. We are trying to keep up with the Joneses all the time. And half the time they are in debt up to their ears. Dad, the husband is working all the time. Mom, the wife is working all the time. They never have time to enjoy each other. And the sad thing is many times the government and daycares are raising their kids. I am not trying to be mean; that is just the honest truth, folks. Somebody needs along the way to say, “I am going to stop getting my eyes on all these things and get my eyes up here on Jesus Christ.” After you go through financial problems, you realize Jesus is the one that takes care of you. He brought me through this. He met my every need, not my own, but every need. He is the one that always takes care of us, and it changes your view of life. Trials. God says sometimes you just need some gold tried in the fire. It will anoint your eyes. You will see everything differently.

I think it is about a year or so ago. I like to go out in the morning time. I took my dog. I have a dog, Dixie. How many have seen my big white dog, Dixie? Dixie is a Lab/Great Pyrenees mix. She is white. She is a beautiful dog, not huge, but a big dog. We will go out behind my house—I do not know all this—but there is a horse pasture we go walking in. Then there is about 20, 30 feet of woods and real high grass right now, and it is all full of chiggers and ticks. You know what I am talking about right there. You cross through that, and on the other side, a little fence line, you cross over, and there is 100 acres. It is just beautiful. It just opens up, beautiful.

About a year or so ago, Dixie and I crossed over into the field, and up here you could see—I do not remember—maybe three or four, several deer, just beautiful. Now, Dixie in the morning time, she loves to chase deer. Many a morning, I will hear a deer snort, and I will see it take off. About a minute later, I will see Dixie running through the high grass, just trying to chase this deer. You see it all the time. Dixie loves it. She will come back. She will be gone for a while. She will come back, always. She loves it.

That morning we crossed over the 100 acres, and I had seen those deer over there. Here is the problem: crossing through that 20 or 30 feet of woods and everything, I think Dixie—I do not know for sure what it was, hopefully it was not a skunk—but I think she caught the trail of a rabbit. Her nose was down; she was running. You know how they are when they are just sniffing where they go. I was trying to say, “Dixie, man, quit it on the rabbit! Over there are the deer!” Dixie just had her nose down, just going all over right around there, trying to find that rabbit. Unfortunately, every once in a while she finds one—we will not go there what happens when she does; not a good thing, not a pretty sight. But she is just running all around, and I kept saying, “Dixie, just look up! There are deer over there.” She never saw them. They will hang out a little bit; they are kind of used to us, but pretty soon they will take off. She never saw them because her head and her eyes were so focused down.

Christians, sometimes we are so focused on the here and now, on possessions and payments and mortgage and all the rest of that, that we never look up and see the big picture of things. Friend, this is just a drop in the bucket, as your life is even as a vapor that appeareth for a little time, then vanisheth away. I am telling you, friend, you view everything differently. You look up and you see the big picture. It is not about possessions; it becomes about helping someone, it becomes about loving, it becomes about your relationships, it becomes about people, becomes about souls going to heaven. Otherwise, it changes your view on everything. Trials do it, if you let it.

Sometimes God allows trials and suffering in our life because it changes our view of life.

Now let us get two more things in real quickly. Number two, look over in Philippians chapter 3, if you would, please. Philippians chapter number 3. Philippians chapter number 3, if you would. Philippians chapter number 3, would you look at one verse, verse number 10? God here is speaking through this man named Paul, a great, great Christian, used by God greatly. We were studying in Sunday school. He started many churches, traveled 10,000 miles, and did so much. God used him to write—penned, excuse me—about 13, maybe 14 books. This great Christian, look and see what he writes with the inspiration of God. Philippians 3, verse number 10: “That I may know him,” as knowing Christ, knowing Jesus. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and watch this, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Now, friend, look up for just a second here. Listen, you are going to get so close to God that you are going to come to a point—if you are going to fellowship more, if you are going to know him more intimately, if you are going to be close to him—you are going to have to go through some sufferings to have that fellowship of sufferings. Your relationship, you get the relationship when you get saved. You become his child. You are born again; you are born of the family. And you get that relationship—father-child. See, not everybody is his child. You are his creation, but you are not his child until you get saved, and you are born in the family of God. Nothing can change that; it cannot be unborn. You have the relationship, and then you have the fellowship. Fellowship is crucial. If you are going to be used by God greatly to do much for the Lord, your fellowship with the Lord is key, paramount.

We were out of church in Alabama years ago; my wife and I were youth directors there. During that time, the church built its first building. We were in a rented facility at first, and then we built a building on new property. That was a very exciting time, but can I say this? A lot of trials during that time. I am praying our building program will not go like this, all right? It does not have to. But we began to build that. We had set a deadline—you know, you set a deadline when you want to be done. We had a guest preacher coming in, and we had put out flyers and put on the Christian radio to all these different things. Somewhere along there, the general contractor helping us build it decided to go to another church and decided to leave. So, man, everything was in motion. We could not really hire another guy. So we said, “Well, us hillbillies will just do it on our own,” you know, that type of thing. We started working hours and hours. There was another man there who was not working at a regular job; he was a mechanic and had his own shop, so he could take off. His name was Brother Allen; he is in heaven now. Brother Allen and I worked together all the time during that time. We knew each other; I had known him for a good while, I should say. He was an old country man—I am talking about L.A., Lower Alabama. Man, he was country.

He gave us our first church van. The reason why he gave it to us was because they had so many junk cars in his drive, in his yard, that his insurance man came out and tripped over a bumper and said, “If you do not sell some of these, I am canceling your insurance.” So he called and said, “Do you want a van? Church van?” I said, “Sure, we will take it.” That is how we got our first church van years ago. Anyway, that is Brother Allen. We were good friends, but I knew him; I liked him. We fellowshiped. But I will tell you what: when we started working together for hours and days and weeks, honestly, a couple of times we worked all night long trying to get done by that deadline. There were a lot of problems during that time. We first started meeting in the building before it was finished and before we got the C of O—now, some of you know what that means, that Certificate of Occupancy. We thought, “Well, we are drying in; we will start meeting in the building.” Until the city came in and they said, “Uh-uh, uh-uh. You do not have that CO,” so we had to put up a tent. We met for a couple of months in a tent: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And a lot of problems. God kept that church about the same number-wise, but it was in many ways a different church. So many people left and came; just a lot of fussing and fighting. A very sad thing. It does not have to be like that, all right? I see these looks getting on your face here.

But here is the thing, friend: Brother Allen and I were typically working together during that time. I am not sure how long that lasted, maybe six months; I am not sure to the end of it. But I will be honest with you: at the end of that six months, I could be in a room, and somebody walk in that room and say something, and I could almost tell you what Brother Allen was thinking. And he could almost tell you what I was thinking because we went through hard times together.

Friend, you think you know somebody, but you go through hard times with somebody; that is when you really get to know them. And you go through trials, through suffering, walking the best you can with the Lord and trying to be close to him, and that is when you really, really get close. That is when you get to know God. I think about a good, godly lady in our church; she is here this morning. I hope nobody would know what I am talking about, but she went through just an amazing trial a couple of years ago, and she walked in that trial, and she handled it like a trooper. My wife and I both often say, “Man, hats off to her. She did so well with it.” But I will say this: at the beginning, she was a little bit frantic—anybody would be—and how was this going to work? And how was God going to take care of me? Now it is a year or two into it, maybe two, I do not know, three, and she is pretty calm. She is like, “It is amazing. I do not know how, but God always takes care of us. God is God, and it is all right.” And she has grown to know God, his power and sustaining grace and his strength, like she never did before.

And friends, sometimes God wants you to know him in a more intimate, more real way. God says, “Hey, if we are going to fellowship in sufferings,” let me just say this about Jesus Christ. I told my wife this morning, I think maybe the most—when we get to heaven and God starts explaining some parts of the Bible—I think one verse will amaze us more when God explains it than any other verse in all the Bible. It is when the Bible says about Jesus, “He was tempted in all points like as we are.” I think our bottom jaw is going to drop: “Wow. I never knew Jesus went through all that.” And friend, if you are going to get close to Jesus, if you are going to enjoy the fellowship and you are going to know him in a special way, sometimes God says, “You are going about as far as you can like that. Now we need to go through some sufferings and have fellowship of sufferings, and you will come out knowing God.” You have the potential to come out knowing God like never before. You know his power and his love and his grace and his strength like you never did before. Friend, that is so key.

A couple Sunday nights ago, I preached a message: Your ministry. By the way, everybody has a ministry, but your ministry, first of all, is a ministry to the Lord. You minister to the Lord, and then he helps you. He works, and he ministers to others. Those whom God has used in great ways—whether to be moms or husbands or dads or wives or school teachers or bus workers or pastors or whatever—those are the ones that God has used in great ways to influence people for years and influence people for God greatly; they are those that have emphasized ministering to the Lord. You get close to him; you walk with God. Praise the Lord for young preachers. I am so thankful; the older I get, the more thankful I am for them. But I want to emphasize to them: your greatest ministry is to the Lord. You get well at walking with God and knowing God and fellowshiping with God, and God is the one that brings the increase. He is the one that uses you. It is always a truth, true for moms, aunts, uncles, grandparents: ministering to the Lord first. And God says, “I want to take your ministry up a notch or two, but we are going to have to fellowship in sufferings to get there.”

There is a bonding when you go through sufferings. I read this in a Reader’s Digest one time while sitting in a chiropractor’s office. It is an interesting story. A house—I cannot remember if it was a stove or a furnace of gas, what it was—but the house literally exploded. There were five random people close by that ran to the house, and they did not know each other before that incident. But they ran there, and you could hear down in the basement a little girl screaming and crying. Those five people bonded together; they began to, the best they could, with the fire going on, began to pull through the smoldering rubbish there, and they—in fact, one man had to pick something up, and another man kind of put his back against it and held it up while one man was able to shuffle down in there. Eventually, they saved that little girl’s life. Some of them were scarred from that incident for the rest of their lives. But those five people that never knew each other before were so bonded. They meet together every year, every year they meet together because they are just so bonded because they went through that crisis together. Sometimes military men that have been through things—you will know about that—you are bonded with those people. And when you go through trials with God, you get bonded with Him like nothing else. And so God says, “I am going to allow some suffering because I want to get bonded with you in such a great way. You will be closer to God. You can know—you have the potential to know God like never before.”

So God allows suffering. Why is that? Well, sometimes it just gives you a total different view on life. Number two, because you know God—you have the potential to know God so much better what it has done. God sees the other side.

Then the last thing—we are done because we are going to get fried chicken. How am I going to get fried chicken after church today? Come on now. Whoa, man, we are backslidden. This cannot be a Baptist church anymore. That is the Baptist bird, chicken. Wow. How am I getting steak? Anybody getting steak? A couple of you. How many want to get steak? Amen. Amen. How am I going to get a Caramel Frappuccino from McDonald’s after church? I see a couple of you. How many are going to drink Dr. Pepper after church? Pastors’ weaknesses right here. You did not mention Quarter Pounder with cheese, Big Mac, pepperoni pizza. Why are you listening now all of a sudden? Let us get this last point in. We will go. This last point: Why does God allow us to suffer? Sometimes God tests us before he uses us. Abraham, of course, and his son, Isaac, are a wonderful example of that. Jesus Christ, God in flesh before—he went through parts of God. We will look it up. We will use a verse for everyone. Look over in Luke chapter 4. Look in verse 14. This illustrates the truth: before God uses you, he often tests you. Even Jesus was tested for him. Luke 4, verse number 14. Luke 4:14.

Jesus in the wilderness fasted 40 days, 40 nights. The devil was there tempting him. By the way, we often say, “The devil, the devil is tempting me,” friend. I do not think very often it is the devil; it is usually his little demons, little imps. But the devil—when he tempted David, man, David just felt like a little girl. Jesus is facing the devil; the devil is tempting him. Look at this thing, Luke 4:14. This is after the test; Jesus passed the test. Look what the Bible says, Luke 4:14: “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went a fame of him through all the region round about.” Here is what I am saying: before he had a great public ministry, he was tested. Before God can use you greatly in people’s lives—the greatest thing God has is his people. As far as these possessions, that does not mean anything to God; God loves the souls of the world. Friend, before he trusts you to maybe use you in people’s lives in a great way, he tests you. Jesus was tested. Abraham was tempted and tested. So in blessing, he blessed him.

When you go fishing and you get that eight-pound bass on that line—somebody say amen right there. Anybody ever caught an eight-pound bass in here? I have not. Ted has, maybe. Maybe got one, maybe two. I do not know. Ted, did you weigh it? He did. He did. He did. He did. Friend, that is the real deal. Man, before you get that big bass on there, you know what? You want to say, “Man, praise the Lord! This fishing line has been tested.” Twelve pound, twenty pound, eight pounds, six. Well, it has been tested. If men think it is important enough to test some line before you go fishing with it, do you not think God thinks, “Man, I need to test my people before I use them in people’s lives in a great way”? You get tested. God tests us, not to hurt you, but to use you more. He wants to use you to help someone else down the road. Trials tenderize your heart. I recall a young man who said he never cried. He had been through a severe trial, and he says, “I do not know what it is.” He said, “I would just be driving down the road, and I would say—the weirdest thing—tears just start coming.” He has been tested. Testing tenderizes. It gives your heart. You know the Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” Many times you cannot weep with those who weep unless you have been tested in severe ways. Then you have the ability to weep with them. You have the ability, God willing, to use you in someone’s life. By the way, if God is using someone in my life, I am glad to know they have been through the fire somewhat. I know what it is all about.

Friend, this is a sin-hurting world, and Christians who have been through trials have a tenderized heart that has focused in on hurting people. When you go through pains, it will change your viewpoint. It will change your heart, and you are more apt, you are more able to help others that are hurting. It is always amazing to me—I did not do this on purpose—but after I lost my fingers, maybe six, nine months, a year after it, I am not sure, but I noticed myself literally, I would be driving down the road in a car at least 90 miles an hour, right? Okay, not quite that fast. But I am riding down the road, and literally, I am not exaggerating this, I am not like this anymore, but I would be riding down the road, and someone would be walking, and my mind would point out, “That guy is missing a finger on the sidewalk over there.” Your mind would just pick it up just like a radar going off. When you get hurt real bad, you are wounded, you have trials, you are sensitive to those that are hurting. You have a radar. God can use you to help someone that is hurting in such a wonderful way. Sometimes God says, “I need to allow my people to go through some suffering because this is a suffering world that needs some Christians to have a heart for them to reach out to them in a unique way.”

So God allows us to suffer sometimes for those reasons and many, many more. Let us go back very quickly. Let us go back to our story: the wheat family, the tomato family. I am just going to focus on the tomato family. Let us go to Sunday morning. It has been years now. The husband has his wife in the wheelchair, and he pushes her into church. As he does so, many people look over there—many people that are struggling. Just that man, having been through what he has been through, and he is still faithful to the house of God, pushing his wife in that wheelchair—many in that church gain strength just from seeing him push his wife. It does something for them that someone who has everything going their way can never do for them. But that man, who has been through so much and lost his home and his wife is in a wheelchair, and he is faithful to her, they are still in church, and he has pushed her in church—it gives them something that nothing else can give them, and they gain strength just from him pushing his wife in the church.

He walks in. He sees a man whose wife is in the hospital, and he shakes his hand, and he sheds some tears with him. That is something for that man nobody else can do. A visitor comes in, and they look like they have had a rough road to hoe. They look like things have been very tough in their life, and that man, who leaves his wife in the wheelchair, goes and shakes his hand and does something to that visitor that nobody else can do to that visitor because that visitor sees that man sitting inside his wife in a wheelchair.

The man goes to the store that week, and the store owner shares with him because he knows—he knows tomato farming; he knows what it is about. He says, “Sir, I have a burden this week. Would you pray for me?” And he prays with the man, tells the man about Jesus Christ. The man bows his head and asks Christ to save him. The tomato farmer—he knows what suffering is all about.

The wife comes in in the wheelchair in the church that morning. Though she is in a wheelchair, she has a glow about her, sweetness about her, a warmth about her. And she sings praises to God in that wheelchair. Everybody looks over and says, “Well, look at this tomato farmer. She is singing praises to God; what is wrong with me?” They can serve God going through what they are going through—she lost her house, she is in a wheelchair for life, she cannot get up and run around and take care of her children like all the others. “If she can make it, I can make it.” So many ladies and men and people get strength just from seeing her singing praises to God.

A single mom comes in, and she really will not go to anyone else for comfort, but she sees the tomato farmer’s life. She will go to her because there is a sweetness, a warmth, the tenderness of love. She knows what it is to go through tragedy. And that single mom trying to raise her children by herself—that is the only lady she will go to for comfort from. That is why God allows suffering.

That wife—a teen girl going through a tough time. That teen girl has not been used to opening up to people, but she will open up to the little lady in the wheelchair. Unsaved relatives watch that lady in the wheelchair for the rest of her life, and yet she praises God, and those relatives think, “Maybe there is something to this Christianity. Maybe there is something real enough to keep my sister or my aunt or a cousin living for the Lord; maybe I need to check into that thing.” And they are led to Christ by her testimony.

Remember, they had two children. Those children are teenagers now. Those teenagers come into church, and they reach out to the unpopular. They go shake hands with those that have no friends because they know what it is to be on the bottom side. They go to teen class, and some new people are there, and they sit with them because they do not see life like many do—how popular are you and what you are wearing. They have a different view on life because they had trials.

I cannot give you all the reasons, but God always has a reason, always has a reason. We do not have time to get into so many promises, Romans 8:28 and so on. God always has a reason when he allows suffering in your life.

Original File: Why God allows me to suffer - Pastor Paul Chisgar- Sunday AM 72521