WHY DO THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFER?
By John R. Church
Radio Talks
Delivered at Asbury College
Extension Studio of WHAS
Wilmore, Kentucky
The Asbury Press
Asbury College,
Wilmore, Kentucky
Copyright, 1936
By John R. Church
Third Printing, May, 1942
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PREFACE
Dr. John R. Church of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Approved Evangelist of the Methodist Church, has been a frequent speaker on the Asbury College radio programs. On the occasion of one of his visits to the campus, he spoke three times over the radio on the question: "Why Do the Righteous Suffer?" These messages met with wide approval of the Asbury radio family.
Dr. Church agreed that this excellent message might be printed in booklet form so that it might be sent forth on a mission which would render service to thousands of readers.
The first two editions have been exhausted and as this third printing is made it is rededicated to those who are partakers with Him in the ministry of suffering.
In His service,
J. Byron Crouse,
Radio Director of Asbury College.
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FOREWORD
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to dedicate this message to the Asbury College Radio Broadcast, to be used by them for the advancement of the work that they are doing. I am in hearty sympathy with the work of the Broadcast and also of the College, and am happy to have some part in this glorious work. To my mind there is no college in America that is doing a greater work than Asbury, and there is no institution that I love as I do this great College. I rejoice that God is blessing the work in such a wonderful way, and I pray that His blessings may abide upon this great institution.
I have learned by actual experience that the Asbury Radio Program is doing a great work, and is a real asset to the College. Therefore I feel that I am helping both the Broadcast and the College in this way. I am also thinking of that great host of people who listen in each morning to this program, and my heart goes out to them. Many of you wrote in and said the messages on this subject were of help to you, and my prayer is that the printed message will be of still greater blessing to you. My greatest desire in life is to be of help to others in their efforts to live for Christ. If this message can be used of Him, then I shall be happy.
I trust and pray that this message may be a blessing to those who read it, and that it may also be of help to the Asbury Radio Broadcast.
Sincerely His and yours, John. R. Church.
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SCRIPTURE LESSON:
Hebrews 12:5-14—"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint not when thou are rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
Romans 8:28—"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
2 Cor. 4:16-18—"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
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WHY DO THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFER?
Psalm 119:67—"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word."
V. 71—"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes."
In the Book of Job we are told, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." We certainly find by actual experience that this is true. We are living in a world of trouble; a world that is filled with heartache and suffering of all kinds. All classes of people have their troubles. The rich suffer as well as the poor. The proud suffer as well as the humble. The educated have their troubles as well as the uneducated. The sinner suffers and also the saint. There is none that escapes suffering of some kind.
Whichever way you turn you find suffering of some kind. Some of it is mental, some physical, and some spiritual anguish. Even those people who often appear to be the freest from trouble and care, if you could only get down next to their hearts, you would find them bearing some kind of burden. They are wearing their sackcloth within upon their flesh. Nevertheless they are wearing it, and many times the sorrow that is hidden from the world is hardest to be borne.
Now the Bible teaches us that suffering in general came into this world as the result of sin. That is, if there had never been any sin in the world, we have reason to believe that there would have never been any suffering; but since sin has come we have suffering to contend with, and always will have as long as there is sin.
However, I hope that you will not misinterpret this general statement. I do not mean to say by that, that because an individual suffers, he is suffering because of his own sin. Job's comforters made that mistake. They reasoned that suffering was the result of sin, and that Job was a great sufferer, and therefore he must be a great sinner. The Book of Job was written for the very purpose of refuting that idea. It was written to show that even saints are called upon to suffer at times, and that when they do suffer it is not necessarily because of their sins.
The truth of the matter is that many people suffer because of the sins of other people. There are wives that suffer because of the sins of wayward husbands. There are parents that suffer because of the sins of wayward sons and daughters. There are children that suffer because of the sins of parents. Sometimes the fathers or mothers reap their crop of wild oats, which were sown in their youth, in the broken and diseased bodies of their children. Their children go through life with the fruits of their parents' sin in them.
Usually when we see unsaved people that are suffering and passing through some kind of trial, especially if they have lived very bad and wicked lives, we can console ourselves by saying, "Well, the wages of sin is death. The way of the transgressor is hard. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Be sure your sins will find you out," and many other such passages as these. And we can usually satisfy our minds in this way, about their suffering and trouble.
However, we find a different problem on our hands when we see the righteous person passing through trials and troubles. When we see a person who has lived a godly life and is consecrated to God, and trying his best to do the Lord's will; when we see him have troubles and trials, we are inclined to ask: Why? Why does God permit that person to suffer? Why does God's saint have to suffer? Why do I, who am trying to do God's will, have to pass through such things as these? Somehow or other we have the feeling that the saint of God ought not to have to bear the same thing as the man or woman who does not try to live for God.
Many times good people are perplexed over this question and cannot find an answer to it. Then, too, oftentimes their children cannot understand, and grow stubborn and resentful about it. Now I realize that it is a big question, and I do not presume to say that I can answer it fully.
There are some things that we will never be able to fully understand until we see and know "even as we are also known." "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face." Then we shall be able to understand and tell the story how we overcame. God's ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. There are some things that we will have to trust to Him and leave in His hands. We do know that He is our Father and that He loves us, and even though we cannot understand and explain everything, we can at least trust our Father and believe that all things work together for our good, because we love them. We may not be able to explain how they work for our good, but we can at least believe it, just because He said they would. It is not for us to explain or even understand, but it is for us to believe.
"If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out."
That is one thing that any of us can do. Even the most feeble saint can trust. You can trust when you cannot do anything else.
Now after saying that, I do want to say that there is some light on this most vexing question. I am thankful that God has not left us entirely in the dark on this question. The Bible does give us some suggestions as to why the righteous may be called upon to suffer at times. In fact there are at least four good, Scriptural reasons why a righteous person may be called upon to suffer. I want to invite your attention to a careful consideration of these reasons.
However, before entering upon the study of these reasons, I would like to call your attention to the fact that God has not promised to exempt His children from the common experiences of the world. Suffering is the common lot of all men, and God has not promised to free His children from it. To be frank with you, I am glad that He has not. It would not be good for us if He did.
Christianity is given to us to use in this world. It does not free us from suffering, but it does give us strength and grace to bear all the experiences that are common to man, and be more than conquerors over every trial and test of life. The grace of God does not free us from these tests; but it does make us to triumph over them, and they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
If God freed us from these experiences of suffering, there would be the temptation to serve God in order to escape them. In other words we would be tempted to serve Him in order to escape the sufferings and trials of life. He does not want that kind of service. He does not want us to serve Him because of the loaves and fishes but He wants us to serve Him out of love that we have for Him.
Then, too, if the saints did not have to suffer, they would not be in any position to sympathize with the unsaved world that does have to suffer. Just suppose that no child of God ever had to suffer. Suppose that God's children never had any heartache of any kind. They would not know how to sympathize with the rest of the people who did. God does not want His children to be like that. He wants us to know the sorrows of the world, and then be able to sympathize with other people. Jesus suffered in order that He might comfort those who have to suffer. He was made a perfect Captain of our salvation through suffering. He was not made morally perfect by suffering; He was already perfect in that sense. But He was made a perfect Captain of our salvation. In other words, He entered into all the experiences that are common to man, so that He might be our Leader and Captain. He can sympathize with us, because He knows just what we are going through. We need just the same thing in our lives, so that we may be able to help and sympathize with other people.
We need to remember also that some of the best and most precious things have come to us through suffering. The only way that God could fully reveal His love to a lost world was through the cross. God had to suffer in order to let us know how much He loves us. One reason why we love and appreciate our mothers so much is because they have suffered so much for us.
I might also call your attention to the fact that the world would never have an example of what the grace of God can really do for people, if it were not for the suffering saints. As the world looks upon one of God's children and sees him passing through the same kind of trials that they have, and yet sees him have light and victory, they are led to see that it is worthwhile to have something that can bear such a test as that. The greatest proof of religion is to see it put to the test and then see it triumph. I thank God that it can bear the most severe test and shine all the brighter.
Some of the most radiant saints that I have ever seen have been those who have had the most severe trials and tests. They did not fail because of them, but they did shine more brightly because of them. They were more than conquerors through Christ in the hour of trial. I thank God for their glorious examples, for I can point to them and say to the world, "It works;" and after all that is the real test.
There are several other reasons that I might suggest as to why it would not be wise for God to let His children escape the suffering that is common to man, but I think these will suffice for the time. I next want to call your attention to four Scriptural reasons why a saint of God may be called upon to suffer. I hope that you will consider them carefully and that you will be benefited by them.
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