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God Knows Our Suffering

JUNE 1, 2008

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Psalm 23:5

Curtis was an ornery, but witty, little boy. He had misbehaved in church. Back home Curtis was told that, as punishment, he would have to eat dinner by himself. So his mother set up a small table not far from the large dining table. When the young boy was asked to begin the meal with a prayer, Curtis, with a smirk on his face, promptly said, “Thank you, Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” How’s that for originality?

Curtis was just being clever Curtis. He didn’t think of his parents as his enemies. But King David,1 in our text, was “dead serious” when he wrote in this Psalm, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”2 “My enemies,” David said. His enemies were many.3 Some wanted him dead. Others took advantage of him and were looking for more opportunities. Should he use deadly force on his adversaries? No, on the basis of Scripture, he came to learn two vital biblical principles. First, he learned that the LORD would take vengeance on his enemies. Indeed, the Scriptures say, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”4 And second, he learned that justice delayed is not justice denied. I say again: Justice delayed is not justice denied!

To return to our text, let’s think about the imagery of the victory feast that David anticipates. Yes, he is certain that the LORD will make him the honored guest at the victor’s table. His enemies will be there. But they will not eat; all they can do is watch how God honors his servant. The picture, then, is one where David is exalted and his opponents are utterly crushed. When will this be? Well, maybe not in this life. But most assuredly it will occur on the last day, Judgment Day . . . and that is always just a second away.

Let’s review some of the pain and suffering that David had to bear. Oddly enough, we must start with one of King David’s greatest victories. I’m thinking of the time when David faced Goliath. When the two come near one another, Goliath taunts David, saying, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”5 He curses David in the name of his Philistine gods. But David is not afraid, for he trusts in the LORD. So he boldly says to the giant, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.”6 And you know the rest of the story: David killed his opponent with a rock and a sling. No one would ever forget that day, no one!

David’s victory made him a national hero. But King Saul was not a happy camper. The people were praising David more than him. In the cities and towns, the women were singing and dancing. They sang out, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”7 Saul, thus, became very jealous of David’s immense popularity.

In fact, he became so jealous that he wanted David dead. And he used every means at his disposal to get the job done. David became a fugitive. It seemed that, no matter where he went, he was in constant danger. David had to endure hunger, thirst, fear, and suffering. And years later, David’s own son Absalom tried, by cunning, to take the throne from his father—by the edge of the sword if necessary.8

But God knew of David’s suffering and the LORD was with him.9 David didn’t know why hardships befell him left and right. But God did. Gold is refined by fire, but Christians by affliction. The LORD wanted to make David a more mature and a more fruitful Christian.

And the LORD also afflicts us, his children. He visits us with pain and suffering. We don’t know why he does it. All we know is that we don’t like it. Actually, he does it for our good. But we don’t understand. That’s okay because we human beings don’t have the necessary equipment to grasp what God is doing. Thus, the LORD says to us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, ... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”10

What I want to say now is very important. God uses affliction and suffering to get our attention and to cause us to examine our spiritual lives. He often permits hurt and suffering to come into our lives, not to harm us, but to help us.

For example, suppose you go to the doctor complaining of chest pains. They run a battery of tests on you. And you need quadruple bypass surgery. You need it! And you need it now! You will die without it. Suddenly, you’re all ears. You sign a bunch of documents that permits them to pump huge quantities of measured doses of otherwise lethal drugs into you body. And you sign papers that permit the surgeons to cut your chest open, cut and paste some new arteries in, and finally—if all goes well—you get to wake up in extreme pain. And you paid big bucks to let them do this to you!

So, if I’ve got this right, you permitted the surgeons to hurt you. But you did so because you trusted that healing could come only after the hurting.

God practices a much higher form of spiritual surgery. He permits suffering, pain, and affliction to visit us. It could take the form of sickness, marital difficulties, financial distress, troubles with the law, or the pain of grief. In these ways the Lord hurts us, not to harm us, but to help us. But initially we don’t see the hurt as a means to the helping or healing. We see only the hurt. And it’s in these times that we are prone to cry out, “Why God? Why did you bring this pain and suffering upon me?

It’s only after several months or years that we can look back at the crisis and see that the Lord used it for good and not ill.

I think of my wife, Pat. At the tender age of 28 she suffered a major stroke. At the time I was an unbeliever. But God used that stroke to cause me to look at my agnosticism and make me realize that a living human body is far more than a sophisticated chemical plant. As she and I look back, we see the truth of what St. Paul says in Romans 8:28, namely, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God ….” Please note that Paul does not say that “all thing are good.” No, he says that “all things work together for good.”

I think of the biblical story of Joseph, whose brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God worked good out of this evil by, many years later, reuniting the family. And Joseph, seeing God's gracious hand praised God that the Lord worked good out of the initial hardship.11

I think of Job. Satan comes up to God and says, “Do you have any true believers on your team? And God says, “Of course I do.” And Satan says, “Really, like who for instance?” And God says, “My servant Job.” And Satan says, “Job! Why, the only reason that you think he’s so good and loyal to you is that you’ve given him all your best stuff. Take all the cushy stuff away and he’ll just collapse like a house of cards.” And God said, “No he won’t! And Satan said, “Yes, he will.” Back and forth: “No he won’t.” “Yes, he will.” It goes on like this until one of them said, “You want to bet?” And the other said, “You’re on.” And you know what happens to Job: He suffers incredible adversity. His family and livestock die. His health is so bad that he has open sores from head to toe. He has three friends who give him bad spiritual advice. But in the end, God wins the wager because he knew the ending even before the wager began—and because God silently walked with his servant all the way. Indeed, God walked with David through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4). And after all was said and done, God gave Job an even greater abundance of spiritual and material blessings than before the wager.12,13

But Job is only the prelude to another sufferer. You may remember that, in the case of Job, God said to Satan, “You can do anything you want to him; but you must spare his life.”14 But, then, another Son comes along, not a son of Job or Adam, but the incarnate Son of God. And this time God said to Satan, “You can do anything you want to him. You can even kill him!” And, behold, Satan did. And, in the midst of that, God has his finest hour. It is the hour when the crucified, blood–stained Lamb of God lifts up his voice and says, “It is finished!”15 It is the hour when he says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”16 It is the hour when he hangs his head in death. This is the pinnacle event insofar as God’s glory here on earth is concerned.17 But it is simultaneously the greatest injustice the world has ever known.

But it is through Christ’s hurt, harm, pain, and death that God brings the greatest healing to the life of man on earth. We did not suffer the hurt, harm, pain, and death we deserve. But God’s Son bore it all for us. Indeed, his death stills God’s wrath over sin so that we now have peace with God. We have peace with God through faith alone in Christ Jesus. Christ is our redeemer; we contribute nothing. Christ is our righteousness; we contribute nothing. Christ is our Savior; we contribute nothing. To those who say, “We must contribute something!” I reply, “Yes, I guess you are right. We must contribute our sins.” The Gospel is, indeed, scandalous, for it proclaims, “Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.”18

In this Psalm, King David knows that God will prepare a table before him in the presence of his enemies. He shall do the same for us. Who or what are our real enemies and our worst enemies? Ah, you know. One is sin. Another is death. They will cower on the last day even as you and I are rejoicing. And then, there’s Satan. Look at him trembling. He is forced to see us enjoying our feast. And then, suddenly, he is cast into the lake of fire forever.19 And, then there is our sinful flesh. Behold, even it has been removed from us! And it is then that we discover that heaven is greater than anything we might have imagined.

With King David, we will also say of the LORD, “You anoint my head with oil. And the cup of your blessings keeps overflowing.”

In the name of Christ, the crucified, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Endnotes

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