Examples & Encouragements in Suffering - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. I was glad. When I got invited to go to church, that was the greatest invitation that I could receive. Can I ask you a question? If somebody were to ask you, where's your favorite place to be?

Or where would your favorite place to be? What would you be able to answer? Would church be the first thing? I hope so. Do you know why being in the house of God is the greatest place to be on this side of heaven?

Because it's the closest thing to heaven. That's why. To be surrounded with God's people, to be surrounded with the truth of God, and to sing praises to God. Ephesians two twenty two says that we are being built up together as a dwelling place for God, as a dwelling place for God. So even if you're bone tired this morning, because I see a lot of baggy eyes today, because I know we had we celebrated many people here celebrated marriage, a marriage between a man and a woman that represent Christ in the church and are part of this church.

So I'm fully aware that many people in here are exhausted, but even when you're exhausted, it's still a good thing to be in the house of God. With that being said, turn to James chapter five. James chapter five beginning in verse eight. James five eight. You also be patient.

Establish your hearts. Prepare your hearts. Get your hearts ready. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brother, so that you may not be judged.

Behold, the Judge, capital j, the Judge is standing at the door. Verse 10. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Let's pray together. Lord, as we just sang and as we just read, we establish our hearts, Lord, for your coming, and we pray that you would find us ready. Lord, we just ask that you would speak through your word and the power of the Holy Spirit, that even through our weariness, God, your word would grip us and penetrate into the depths of our soul, Lord. If there's anybody in here who's not ready for your return, make them ready by convicting me of sin and reminding them that they need Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. Let it be done today in this house for the glory of your name, we ask.

Let this meeting be free from distraction, discouragement, or destruction, and that your purposes prevail, we ask. In the precious name of the savior, Jesus, we ask. Amen. Amen. The scriptures are emphatically clear that the second coming of Jesus Christ is an undeniable event that will take place at one point in history.

Based on the trustworthy testimony of the Bible, you and I could be sure of this, that in the midst of all the things that are happening in life, Like Jesus said, as in the days of Noah, and this is fitting for our context, there will be people who are marrying, there will be people who are buying, there will be people who are selling. In the midst of all of that, Jesus Christ will interrupt all of our plans for his ultimate plan to bring the church to him and to bring judgment on the world. It's coming. It's coming whether you believe it or not. It's coming whether you're ready for it or not, and James here is reminding us of that.

But there's something else that he wants us to remind to be reminded of, that between this moment now and that event that will take place, whether it's in our lifetime or not, there is a guaranteed experience that we will have in that time period. Between now and Jesus returning, there is a guaranteed just like the second second coming is guaranteed, this also is something that will happen inevitably, and it is this, that you and I will, to some degree, suffer. And not just suffer, but be tempted in the midst of our suffering, to become weary and to become relaxant in our faithful, zealous obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit does through James in verse 10. Verse eight and verse nine, he's telling the people, his audience, he's telling us today, hey hey hey, Jesus is coming back.

And then he goes into this seemingly random subject relating to suffering and patience. And you go, what's the relationship? Well, between now and then, we might suffer, and some more than others, some with greater intensity than others, but it is something that is surely to come to pass in the Christian experience. And so he says, listen. It's gonna happen.

The second coming, end trials and tribulations. And this is a beautiful thing for us because he's not providing a philosophical explanation of why Christians suffer. He could have, and there are some places we can go to explain that. Instead of giving us an explanation of why we suffer, he wants to give us examples of suffering. He wants to give us clear pictures in the bible that you and I are to take hope in and find life in.

And you know what he does? He says, as an example of suffering, I want you to look to the prophets. I want you to look at the prophets of old who spoke in the name of the Lord, and I want you to to see what they experienced as a as a as a means by which you can continue to walk faithfully with the Lord like they walk faithfully with the Lord. And this heads up from the Lord to say, hey, things might not go your way in life should not discourage you and I. Should not discourage us.

If anything, it should encourage us because we know that he already knows what's to come, and he is sovereign over our suffering. So I have hope, and I have I have an anchor of my soul to know that I've read in the Bible already that if I've been stamped by the blood of Christ, if anything goes against me and it's not for me per se on the surface level, I can rest to know that God is in control. And we have this commandment from God, this this prescription, go to the Old Testament and look at the prophets of old. He says because they suffered. And James I don't think James has one type of suffering inspired by the Holy Spirit, one type of suffering in mind.

When you hear the word suffering, what comes to your mind immediately? Severe persecution, physical pain, severe disease, extreme poverty? What comes to your mind? What jolts in your mind as an image when you think or hear the word suffering? The reality is suffering comes in different packages in various forms, and I believe James here does not have one idea of suffering per se.

Why? Because he says, look to the prophets, plural, not one prophet. And what we know from the prophets is that though they all suffered in different in one way, in the sense that they were persecuted, they all had their unique experience. Each prophet had a slightly different bent to their experience of pain and trials and tribulations, which is amazing to us as a source of encouragement because we can look at the vast roster of prophets and look at one of them in a season of life and say, Oh, if he went through it, I can go through it. Or if that person experienced it, surely I can experience it.

And this is the beauty about the the theology of suffering in the practical sense. Is it not true that when we go through something, we tend to magnetize ourselves towards those who have gone through the very same thing or something similar and have overcome it? Our ears are more open to those who can relate to us based on experience because no matter how shattered we are in the midst of what we're going through, we are faced with someone who is flesh and blood like us, but has overcome and there is hope, even if it's a small small dosage of it. We are drawn to people who have experienced what we've experienced. And James is saying, listen, go to the prophets and draw some hope from them.

Because as much as their calling was very preacher like and full time ministry based, there is something about the prophets in which the Bible in wisdom says you can actually relate to them more than you think. And their suffering is not as far fetched as you are experiencing in this Western age. And the purpose of this message, the purpose of James' message to us this morning is that we would glean from them, and that we would have the strength from that to continue to walk faithfully with the Lord. Now which prophets can we go to? Which prophets can we go to?

Someone who has overcome something that we seem to be overcome with. And I think one that is undeniable is Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah chapter 20 beginning in verse seven.

Jeremiah chapter 20. What's the context here? Jeremiah is doing what Jeremiah was called to do, preach the word of God. And at one point, his audience was greatly discomforted, uncomfortable by his words. And in verse one, you can just glean over.

It says, Pascha the priest, the son of Immer, who was the chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, and what did he do? He beat the guy up and threw him in a holding cell overnight. Some response to a message. And what is Jeremiah experienced? What he's been experiencing for most, if not all, of his ministry, rejection after rejection after rejection after rejection.

And in this chapter in particular, it seems like Jeremiah, the single-minded devoted man of God, has reached a tipping point in his soul Where he now begins to open his heart, bear before God, and begin to express without filter what he's truly sensing. And what does he say in first verse seven? Oh, lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You were stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I've become a laughing stock all the day everyone mocks me.

Think about what he says. You have deceived me, and you're stronger than me. And in this wrestling match, you actually overcame me. That's a bold thing to say to God. You have tricked me.

You have manipulated. You have hidden goals behind this whole thing. What does he mean by say you deceive me? He's going back to when he was called in chapter one, when he was called as a young man to be a preacher in the first place. And he has now slipped into such despair and discouragement in such raw form.

He pretty much is saying in modern language, I did not know that all of this was a part of the package. So when you came to me, Lord, and you this you just brought this idea to me, and you you said these wonderful things about who I was, that I was consecrated from my mother's womb, and I was chosen to be a prophet to the nations. And and when I came to you as a response to that, and I said, listen. I am but a youth. You told me not to worry.

And I said, I can't speak very well. And you said, don't worry. I'm gonna be with you. And when I was fearful of this apostate nation, you said, I will be with you to deliver you. That sounded really, really good, but I didn't know all of this would be a part of it because up to this point, I'm not really seeing much fruit in my ministry.

That was all splendid. That was beautiful, Lord. That call I mean, we all go to that even. We go to that chapter to bring us hope, to know that God really has a plan for our lives from the the moment that we are even conceived in our mother's womb. But Jeremiah is saying, I feel tricked.

I did not see this in the small print. I'm getting beat up, and I'm getting thrown into prison, and I'm getting laughed at by everybody. I was humbled at first. I was excited at first. I was willing to make any sacrifice.

Do you realize in Jeremiah sixteen one, probably one of the hardest things that Jeremiah had to hear? Read it. Read it one day. God tells him you're not getting married, and you're not gonna have children in this place. It's not gonna happen.

I don't think we really realize the waiting is the depth of this ministry and the sacrifice that this man had to make in order to serve the Lord. And Jeremiah was willing to do it. Whatever it you wanna put a hold on my season of marriage? You wanna put a hold on on me wanting to have children? That's fine.

I'm willing to serve you, Lord. And who knows what was going on in Jeremiah's mind? With all these wonderful things that God had called him for, no converts. I mean, at least if I'm gonna make these sacrifices, I would see some fruit come out of my ministry. If I'm gonna go to these great lengths of putting things on pause in life and and preaching an unpopular message, surely there's gonna come some fruit out of it.

And in fact, on top of all the things that he had to lay aside for the Lord, he's getting pummeled by his own people, never mind gentile nations. Did God deceive him? Did God leave that out? Was God like, oh, if I don't tell him the whole thing, he's not gonna no. No.

No. Jeremiah just did not realize the extent of it. Hear this in chapter one verse 19. God told him this stuff was already gonna happen. But it's just in our fallen nature that we have selective hearing.

Not only that, we do we don't just do that. Jeremiah's not just doing that because it's Jeremiah. We do that with our bible reading, don't we? We find ourselves picking the things that we like, and we find ourselves kind of muting our ears to the things that we're not too fond of. Jeremiah one nineteen.

This is what the Lord says. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you. It's gonna happen, Jeremiah, but it's not to the point where it's gonna overcome you. So he's just frustrated here. In chapter 20, he's come to a place of just total despair.

And I believe a great part of his despair as the weeping prophet was he did not see much apparent success in terms of people turning from their ways and walking faithfully with the Lord, and that crushed him. And you say, what's the point? How does that relate to James five? It relates in this way. That between now and waiting for Jesus to come back, you and I can suffer in the same way Jeremiah did, in what sense?

That we remain faithful in ministry and don't really see much things coming out of it, and that can make us weary of remaining faithful in ministry. This point is for those who really wanna live for Christ. If you don't wanna live for Christ, this point means nothing to you. But if you have made it your ambition to bear fruit for the glory of God, I hope this encourages you. Because you hear it from pastors and you even hear it from laymen that wanna serve God, you hear from people that really wanna serve the Lord, that when they're not seeing things, what they've been praying for, what they're believing God for, and what they've read in biographies and stories, when they're not really getting it, it wounds them.

It weighs them down. It takes the fight out of them, like Jeremiah. Especially when you believe that God has called you to something, especially when you felt like God has opened a door and gifted you with something, and you're walking into that. And as you're walking into that, you seem like everything else seems to be crumbling. All the things that you knew that you sacrificed to get to this point, all the hours, all the energy, all the driving, all the prayer meetings, and nothing.

A little bit of hope here, and then it ends up it doesn't take much long before the people that your ministry are backing up. All these things that are crushing the man can crush you and me as well. And he feels tricked. Was this really worth it? Man, I could have bought into something else that would have brought me instant results.

I could have invested my time and energy in other things that would have brought some kind of instant satisfaction, But here I am living for God, feel like I'm all alone, and all these wonderful things that he's given me as promises, and I'm not really seeing things I thought I would see. Been there? Are you there? Might get there one day. But take hope because something happens to this man in a moment.

And what happened to Jeremiah in this text, I believe, has happened to many great men and women of God. You hear me very carefully. In 1793, there was a man by the name of William Carey who was a missionary to India. He felt his heart stirred to go to that place to preach the gospel, and so he picks his stuff up to go. He goes with his wife named Dorothy and his sister-in-law, Dorothy's wife, sister, Kitty.

And they go to this place in India, and they meet a man named John Thomas who was an acquaintance, a partner in the ministry. So they have this band of people. You have William Carey, you have his wife Dorothy, you have her sister Kitty, you have this man named John Thomas, and you have their families in a new land with great hopes believing that Christ has commissioned all Christians of all generations to make disciples of all nations. And in a matter of a few short years, in order to to to sustain and to to live, William Carey, John Thomas work in a factory to to gain some income from their family, but this man, John Thomas, ends up squandering all the money. Within a short amount of time, William Carey's son Peter died at the age of five.

Within a short amount of time, William Carey's sister-in-law Kitty abandons the mission field to go marry a British soldier soldier. Within a short amount of time, because of, some believe, of the death of the son and the whole environment itself, William Carey's wife literally goes insane to the point where she saw her husband as the greatest enemy of her life, and where people were trying to convince this man, put her in an insane asylum. And so wired was she with this mental illness that she ended up dying probably due to that. And you think, okay. This man had it on his heart to go.

He goes with his family. He has this plan, this vision. Surely something came out of this. How many converts do you think William Carey saw in the first seven years? Seven years, baptized one person.

God, what did I get myself into? Did he have that? No. This man is known now as the father of the modern mission movement, and the fruit that came out of this man's sacrifice is far beyond, I believe, what he thought. Bible translation, school, and converts in the hundreds after those first terrible years, at least in the natural sense.

What kept this man going? What made him not jump ship and go back to England? What what was it? What was it that anchored him in faithfulness and not growing weary in serving the lord and proclaiming the lord? I believe what Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29.

If I say I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name. He's saying, if I if I if I say that if I come to the point where I say I'm done with this. I'm not preaching anymore. I'm not gonna go and do these mission things anymore. I'm not gonna serve and this I'm done.

I'd rather invest my time and my energy elsewhere. If I say that, there is something that reacts to that very thought before it leaves my tongue. What is it? There is in my heart as it were a burning fire. Shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in.

I cannot. I try to convince myself. I try to make myself look like the victim. And right when I'm about to press, right when I'm about to bring in my papers, right when I'm about to bring in my two weeks notice, something begins to burn up inside of me, and it's a fire. What is that fire?

I believe it's Jeremiah twenty three twenty nine where Jeremiah says, is not your word like a fire, like a hammer that smashes the rock in pieces? There was something in Jeremiah that was greater than the discouragement that tried to overcome Jeremiah, and it was the word of God. The word of the Lord that consumed him. And even listen. It was so deep inside of him, even when he came to the place where he thought that he would not even share it, he couldn't.

He would burst open. And I believe it's something that we can relate to in Acts chapter four twenty, where Peter and the rest of the Christians were commanded, don't you dare preach anymore in this name Jesus. And you know what they say? We cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard. We cannot help but to speak what we have seen and heard.

You know what Peter was trying to say there? I've seen too much, and I've heard too much for me to retire and to retreat from what I believe God is calling me to do in this life. In other words, there are too many testimonies and too many revelations that I've been exposed to for me not to move forward, for me to stop or to go into reverse is actually an impossibility. I have a question for you this morning. What have you seen, and what have you heard?

Have you been so blinded by the glory of God in your walk with Christ that to give up is actually equal to dying? Have you been so enamored? Have you been so stunned? Have you been so touched by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God? Has your deliverance and salvation been so great that your single purpose in the earth is to glorify Christ in whatever way He asks you to?

And if not, then Lord, take me to glory because it's all about your glory anyway. Have you so burned the bridges behind you, brother? Have you so burned the bridges behind you, sister? Like Elisha, when he was called by Elijah, he went back and he made a barbecue out of his business. Do you realize that?

He was a farmer with oxen and with plows. And when Elijah called him, he said, let me just do one more thing here. Hey, guys. No turning back. We have it on our sweaters.

Right? I'm burning all of this, and let's have a feast because it's one way, and there's no turning back. You know where God wants to bring all of us this morning? God wants to bring all of us to such a place in our devotion to God that turning back or retreating or ceasing is actually impossible because that's the only reason why you live. I don't live for any other purpose.

So I go back and there's nothing to go back to because there's no bridge. Onward, Christian soldiers. Jeremiah said, I can't do it. Even if I'm trying to convince myself, it's not working. Peter says, hey.

We've seen and heard too much to keep silent. The only way you're gonna actually keep us from doing what God's called us to do is if you kill us, and they ended up doing that. I'm sure all of hell had vacation when Paul, Peter, and John died. Jeremiah said, there's a fire in my bones, and I'm weary of holding it in. This is the place where God wants to bring us.

So if you're here today and you're suffering, in what sense? If you're suffering with the emotions of discouragement and despair in light of the lack of apparent fruit in your ministry, take courage. It's not about the fruit. It's about the faithfulness that God looks for in our ministry. I believe Jeremiah Jeremiah was a spectacle to heaven and hell.

Why? Because when all the nation was going downhill, you had a man who would weep because he knew God's heart, and he remained the course. And he's just as human as you and I are. Take courage. Don't give up.

Let's look at another prophet together. We might not consider this man as a prophet. He was a man that perhaps suffered in a way that we would not necessarily immediately consider suffering. But once we explain it more, perhaps you'll be able to say, oh, yeah. I know what that feels like.

This man is a prophet according to the scriptures, saying who is he? Abraham. Abraham. Genesis 27, God describes Abraham as a prophet. And this man is another faithful servant of the Lord, and he had an experience like Jeremiah that we can all somewhat relate to if we really meditate on it.

How did Abraham suffer? I believe Abraham experienced suffering and patience, like James says, in light of this one thing that all of you have experienced, all of us will experience, something called waiting on God. Waiting on God. Go to Genesis 15. Genesis fifteen two.

Genesis fifteen two. But Abram said, Oh Lord God, there's a cry there. Oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. You can't read that verse without feeling the ache in this man's heart.

And he had a desire, and it was not a selfish desire. This man had made great sacrifices to follow the Lord as well. He was called to leave the comfort of his own home. He was called to leave the familiarity of his area. He was called to go somewhere where he did not even really know where he was going and to drag his family with him.

And this man, after a great victory in chapter 14 over many kings, had an underlying cry in his heart, and that cry was, I want a child. I want somebody to continue my legacy. I want a successor. I want an heir from my own seed. And this is something that when you read verse two, you know that this is an ache in his heart.

You know it was in the back of his mind. Oh, even throughout the whole adventure of following the Lord and all the great acts of faith and all the interventions of God, this was still something that he could not fully bury. This was something that always surfaced. It was something that always came up. I'm sure as he laid there in his tent at night, I'm sure when he saw other families with their children, something was stirring in Abram, and he would say, Lord, I really want this, and it's not a sinful desire.

It's not a bad thing to long for. It's a holy thing. It's a wonderful thing. It's a joyful thing. It's a gift from God.

He says, God, will you give me this? And God makes him wait. And he's not in his twenties. He's not in his mid thirties. He's in his seventies.

He gets to his eighties, and he just he looks at his wife, and he realizes this is just getting crazy. This is not gonna happen, is it? But God promised him. And so this wasn't just like it's going to happen within the they spent every single day counted at this point in his life. And so it was a day by day thing that this man had to walk through and trusting in the Lord's timing.

And again, you could see that because he is worried and he's anxious about this very awesome thing, he starts to make plans. Even in that statement, so is Eliezer of Damascus supposed to be my heir? Is that the plan? That somebody that's outside of my family is going to continue my name? And what happens in the next chapter, in chapter 16?

His wife starts getting antsy and Abraham buys in and what does he do? He marries Hagar. And so you can see that this guy, he's fidgety in the soul, and he's longing, and he's wanting it so desperately that he begins to now maneuver in the flesh, plan in his own ways to make something happen that God said would happen, but didn't tell him when it would happen. And this man loved God. He sacrificed for God, but he had a concern for his future.

Do you have a concern for your future? Do you want something from the Lord, but you just want it right now? That's what Abraham wanted. The sooner the better, Lord. Have you ever prayed that?

I'm ready to get it now. What else do I need to do? What else do you want me to fulfill until you bring this thing into my life? And we even start to give God advice, Lord, I'm getting old here. Lord, I I think I can bring you more glory in my younger years if I do it now.

If you give me this opportunity now. If you give me this relationship now. If you give me that job now, if you give me that ministry now, I think it would be better now. No answer. And you wait, and you wait, and you wait.

And you're saying, yeah, I I know that Abraham waited. So what does that have to do with suffering? Waiting can sometimes be torturous. Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to wait. In fact, some people in here maybe could testify that the most difficult thing in their life right now is that they're waiting.

It's not that they don't have enough. It's not that they don't have the right people in their lives. It's not like no. They're waiting for something and they're not getting it. And some maybe would even pay money to get that thing, whatever it is, just so you can be satisfied in that area of your life.

But here's the joy if you are suffering waiting on God become so overwhelming that it begins to affect our faithfulness. We get so impatient and we get so antsy that we begin to it begins to affect the way we we obey Him and walk by Him and wait on Him and seek Him and we go, well if I don't get it, then I can't serve Him the way I want to serve Him. Listen, listen, listen, listen. This morning, If God says wait, is he still worthy to be loved and served? If God says hold down.

Wait is one thing, let's take it another notch. If God says no, is he still worthy to be served? It's convicting. You know why you can say yes to both of those things? Do you know why you can say yes, brother?

I can I can love him and worship him and adore him? I can do it with joy. You know why? Because whenever God says wait or no, it's always because he has something better. Always.

God is not in heaven using you as a guinea pig just for the thrill of testing you to see what he can get out of you. That's not God's heart or mind. God, because he's your father and mine, whenever like a good dad says wait or no, it's because he loves you enough to not give it to you right now. That's where the pain begins to drain when we realize that the reason why He's not letting it happen in our timing is because he has a mind and thoughts that we don't. And sometimes we need a sermon like this.

We need to be preached to for us to be reminded of that, even if it's a truth that we already have memorized. You know how we can believe that? It's because we know why Abraham had the way to some degree. How do we know? Let me read this to you from Hebrews eleven twelve.

Therefore, as it's describing Abraham, therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven, as many as the innumerable grains of the sand by the seashore. Did you read that slowly? Therefore, why did God make him wait so long? Why at 100 years old of all times, at 100 was Isaac born to Abraham? You know why?

Because Hebrews says that God was waiting for him to be as good as dead. Abraham, I wanna get you to an age, and I wanna get you to a frailty. I wanna get you to such a dependency that when I deliver what I promised to you and what I wanna give to you, that very thing that's been stirring in your heart all these years, I'm going to time this so specifically that the timing itself will be a testimony to my glory. So that when people see little Isaac in your arms, whenever he they hear his giggling and whenever they see him stumbling across the field, they will know that this is a gift, a miraculous provision from God. They won't be able to attribute it to natural circumstance.

They won't be able to say this was some no. Every time they see Isaac, they'll see God. Every time they see your little family picture that's sent over to the neighbors for Christmas, they're gonna see God. In other words, I'm gonna make that desire that you want so bad, I'm gonna time it for a testimony. God's timing is for a testimony for his glory, but all the goodness of God, it goes even deeper than that, my family.

Genesis twenty one six. Look what happens to Sarah when Isaac is born. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. So when when this baby comes, when Isaac, the promise is fulfilled, you know what she says?

She's not speaking sarcastically here as some would assume. She goes whenever people hear of this, they're actually going to rejoice. So I look at that truth and I say, okay, I really want something really badly, and God knows that. But I can take comfort to know that the timing of this being fulfilled is so that God would get maximum glory and that my joy would be to the brim. And not just my joy like Sarah who laughed, but that when other people see it and hear of it, they're gonna rejoice as well.

What an awesome God we serve. That's hard for us. You know why? Because the day we live in, everything in our day is almost instant. You can order a precious product and get it at your front door without you putting your shoes on in a matter of hours.

Everything is in your hands whenever you want it, and it has so affected us. Listen. It has so affected us, And I'm not pointing I'm I'm saying I'm included here too. Here in the West, with all of our services, we are growing more and more impatient to things that are ridiculous even. Things that ten years ago would have taken weeks now take hours, minutes even.

And unfortunately, because our food comes so quick, because our internet service comes so quick, because of our products that come in so quick, all of these things that can come right in the snap of a finger, we've translated that into our relationship with God. Listen. Amazon might have changed how their products come quickly to your house, but God's ways do not change. God is the same in Genesis as he is today, and God has wisdom in his timing. And he knows when to give it for his maximum glory and for the joy of your own heart and for those who would witness your patient endurance.

Or you can birth an Ishmael. I don't want to birth an Ishmael. If there's a prayer you can pray between now and God fulfilling what you believe He wants to fulfill in your life or give to you a gift, a natural holy gift, ask God between that time, Don't let me birth an Ishmael, please. I'd rather not have one than have one that's not from you. Gosh.

You hear some married couples say that even today. We can go on to different prophets. How many prophets can we go to? We can go to so many prophets that have experienced a unique dynamic of suffering. But we go back to James, and what does James choose to do?

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He goes to not a man who was a messenger, not a man who was a messenger called to full time ministry, but a family man. And in James five eleven, it says, behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. So now he he zones in and he says, I want you to consider Job.

You've heard of him. Right? And not only have you heard of him, but you've seen how his patient endurance during that time has brought about a manifestation of the compassion and mercy of God. Now if you've ever read the book of Job, you might have a different opinion. Because if you read the first chapter of Job, I encourage you do this the next time you read the book of Job.

Take a timer, and we've done this before here when we when we went through Job a long time ago. Anybody remember that? Long time ago we've talked to Job. Take a timer and read the moments where everything was stripped away from Job from the moment that he gets the news and read it, and then stop the timer, and realize that the man lost his business, his family, everything around him burned to the ground within a matter of seconds. That's how the text reads.

Because one person comes, and as soon as he finishes, another person comes. As soon as he finished, another it was just literally chaos in a minute. You know what that tells you and me though? Because there was a hedge of protection. If God were to remove hedge of protection over you and I, it would be a matter of seconds before everything in our lives would be destroyed by the devil.

Oftentimes, we don't see God doing something and we get frustrated. Brother and sister, you have no idea what God is saving you from. Every single day, twenty four seven. Job chapter one shows you and me that when the moment God lifts his hand from your life, all of hell will eat you up like cereal in a matter of seconds. So we praise him, and we thank him.

And you read Job and you go, compassion and mercy? Not only do I see that the devil attacked the man to his very bones, I see that God allowed it. And like many things in life, it's not really until you get to the end of the story where you see God's mercy and compassion. Even during, but that's for another time. Because something happens at the end of book of Job.

Job forty two twelve says, and the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. The end of the matter produced something greater than if nothing had happened to Job in the first place. And in light of what James is saying, look to Job and see the mercy and compassion of God, in light of suffering and patience, this is what we can take out of this. That no matter what suffering I experience between now and when Jesus comes back, will always in the end prove for greater fruitfulness and blessing in my life.

That's the principle of the story of Job in light of James. So as I go through it, I may not get it, but at the end of it, there's going to be something better in me, through me, and for me than if I had not been touched by the devil in the first place. Do you see the win win in the Christian life? That That if God protects you, it's a blessing, but if God allows the devil to touch you, I'm gonna be better at the end of it than what if I started without it. So God blesses him.

And in the Old Testament, there's an emphasis on physical blessings, material blessings, but in the New Testament, emphasis on spiritual blessings. But I think there's something even more that Job experienced that was greater than more fields and crops and lands and everything else that God gave to him. In verse five, earlier in Job 42, the same chapter, look what Job says. I had heard of you by hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. This was a faithful man, according to chapter one, who feared God, who interceded for his family without missing a beat day by day while they were having their celebrations at their houses and they were eating and drinking.

This father came, not in self righteousness or hypocrisy, and came and said, oh, God. Lest they've sinned against your hearts, would you forgive them? Oh, God. I bring my children before you. I love you.

In the midst of all of his prosperity and blessing, this guy was a business guy. He never lost priority about God. He never lost his relationship with the Lord. And yet, through his suffering and God's revelation of Himself in that suffering, Job says at the end, I've only heard of you by ear, but now I see you like I've never seen you. It's a wonderfully dangerous thing to ask God to know Him more because He just might use suffering to do it.

Not to destroy you, not to harm you, not to crush you, but only as we sang to refine you. And in that refining, not only do you look like him more, you get to see him with clearer vision. You say, how can you say that? Because I know people who have suffered, and when they've suffered, they've said, brother, Jesus is nearer to me than ever before. I don't want this to end.

You don't want this to end, man. You have cancer. I know, but I know that the moment this cancer comes off me, I'll start walking my own way. I've only heard of you with my ears, but now I see. What is he trying to say?

I've perceived you in a manner that I've never perceived you before. In the midst of all this chaos, oh god, if this is the only reward that I have, that you are more beautiful than you were when I first knew you, then let me suffer. Jesus is coming back soon. That's a promise. But know this as another guarantee that you and I as Christians may suffer and some more than others.

And maybe you're suffering right now. In light of these three examples, maybe you're suffering in the fact that you're serving the Lord faithfully like Jeremiah, but you are not seeing what you thought you would see. In fact, you were seeing the opposite of what you anticipated. Two, maybe you're suffering like the prophet Abraham suffered in what sense, in which he was waiting on God for a promise, though he was walking with the Lord, and you are on the verge of birthing an Ishmael, and God right now is telling you, don't. Wait for the Isaac.

Or three, maybe you have suffered like Job has in a very real way where you've lost someone or something and you don't understand why. But let me tell you this, according to this book, wait till the end of the story of your life. You'll realize something about God that you never thought you would realize, and you'll realize that it was better for you in the end than it was before you were put on this journey of trial. Let's pray. And before we pray corporately, I wanna end with this note.

Do you know how each of those men handled their suffering while they were going through it? Because though their suffering was unique, they all experienced one common thing. If you read those men's stories carefully, they all express their pain to the Lord while experiencing it. Each of them came to God in honest form and brought about their need while they were going through it. And funny enough, hear this.

Just hear it. In James five thirteen, after these instructions about suffering and being patient, look what he says in verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. That's what he says.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. I can come to God if I'm not seeing what I'm supposed to what I believe I'm supposed to be seeing and say, God, I don't know what this is all about. I did not sign up for this necessarily. Would you help me?

As you're waiting, God, when will you give me this? They didn't shun him. He didn't say, get out of here, you faithless kid. Or Job who says, oh, that I would have a mediator. Oh, that I would come before him and plead my case, and God comes and blesses him.

And so if there's one avenue between now and the the end of this thing, it is this, that I can come before the Lord and say, I need you. And he's all ears. So now as a response to this message, we're gonna do just that because maybe you find yourselves in one of those three categories or you're in a whole different category itself. James, by the Holy Spirit, gives you permission to pray no matter what you're suffering with, and God is there. Why pray?

Why does why do we pray while we suffer? What kind of because there's something that comes out of it for you to endure it. That's why. Let's pray now. Just seek the Lord on your own, just in your own heart.

You know what you're going through. You know what what part of this was for you and just bring it before the lamb and just speak to your God. And then we'll sing together and then close in prayer. But just now just do what the Bible says and pray.