111 Sermon Illustrations on Affliction

Can you hear the 38

year-old woman from Connecticut said, "My whole life was a

failure. I was struggling with a chemical imbalance all my life, and

during

that time I blamed God, became bitter of everything, especially with

life and

how it was filled with filth. I have spent 18 years of my life in an

institution looking for an answer. I've tried alcohol, prescription

drugs,

illegal drugs, hospitals, people, counseling, AA, church, and nothing

would

help. My life had become a garbage can. . . and I saw no way to make

it

different. My last attempt to help was electric-shock treatments. . .

in fact,

94 of them. They left me a vegetable. I no longer could talk, spell,

write,

even recognize people. I became dead flesh. It was a long, long,

battle back.

I then persisted to find God any way I could. I started to study the

Bible. .

. and very slowly I began to see all my life. . . all my answers

awaiting me

right on the night stand . . . the coffee table: wherever my Bible

was lying.

Any question, any answer I looked for. . . it was right in front of my

face.

Suddenly, I did not have to look any further. A feeling came into my

heart. .

. I was no longer depressed, lonely, or bitter. Bad thoughts left

me. Bad

actions left me. In time of trouble, I gained acceptance by turning my

will

over to

God.-------------------------------------------------------Here is a

68 year-old man who at 60 suffered a stroke that completely paralyzed

his left

side. Fortunately, it didn't affect his speech. He loves to talk.

Seventeen

days afterward, after lots of prayer and determination he says, "I

took my

first step. The 19th day I went home, using a cane, of course. And

the next

morning I fixed my own breakfast. It wasn't easy, but it brought me

closer to

God and fully made me realize that oh! so many things that God can

do."

Listen to him. He says, "My affliction has been good for me. It has

opened

my eyes to all the beauty that God has created. It has taught me not

to

complain, because I see others who are in worse shape than I."

My Source:

THE GOSPEL REMINDER

Bay, Arkansas 72411

September 5, 1999

Author: Marvin Rickett

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JOB'S WIFE

by Marvin Rickett

There is no passage that says "Remember Job's wife," like there is "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). Nevertheless, there are some things concerning Job's wife we would do well to remember. When Job was down and in the very worst of his afflictions--he had lost his family, his wealth, and his health--she railed on him, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die" (Job 2:9). At the time when Job desperately needed the support of those close to him, he is undercut by the one who was supposed to be his closest companion. Is there any wonder Satan did not include her when he destroyed the rest of Job's family?

What we should remember about Job's wife is not to be like her, nor to let somebody like her undermine our Christian faith. Never does the solution to a problem lie in cursing God. God is not malevolent. The God of all earth will do right (Genesis 18:25). Reviling God is among the worst of sins. Polycarp, an ancient Christian martyr, was pressed by the pagan Pro-Consul, "Revile the Christ." Polycarp refused, saying, "For eighty and six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" (MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP). On his part, Job replied to his wife, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips" (Job 2:10).

Some folks come perilously close to being like Job's wife when, under adversity and affliction, they take it out on the Lord by quitting the church with its worship and service. Job drew closer to the Lord, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him; but I will maintain mine own ways before Him" (Job 13:15). He did maintain the righteous way in spite of His wife's betrayal. We should determine that we will trust in the Lord no matter what things happen to us in this life.

My wife rang me on my cell phone with an urgent message to get back across town to our daughter and son-in-law's house. "They've got a fire!" Karen said. As I approached their house, I could see a grass fire burning in the field near their house and rapidly approaching their house. A neighbor's trash fire had suddenly gotten out of hand and had spread rapidly. The firefighters arrived just before I did and thankfully they quickly got it under control. We were really thankful that our kids had been home and had seen the fire or it might have even burned their house. They were told that the fire did not mean there would be a blackened field in front of their house - there would, in fact, be beautiful grass growing there pretty soon, rooted in soil that would actually be enhanced by the fire. And, sure enough, there's a rich field of green today.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Burned Grass, Beautiful Grass."

It's one of those "strange ways of God." The fire that burns also produces beauty later on. If you're going through the fire right now, that's something you probably need to know right now. Because at the moment, you can only see the burning - you can't see the beauty. You will.

There is no more amazing life story in the Old Testament than that of Joseph. God's ultimate plan is for Joseph to become the second most powerful man on earth, the assistant Pharaoh of Egypt, the greatest nation on earth at that time. But how will a Jewish boy ever become the #2 man in Egypt? Through the fire. He is betrayed and beaten by his jealous brothers, he's sold into slavery - which gets him to Egypt. He is bought by one of Pharaoh's top military leaders - which gets him in contact with Egyptian royalty. He's thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit - so he can do a favor for a servant of Pharaoh - whose intervention will ultimately bring Joseph before Pharaoh.

Betrayal, beating, rejection, injustice, imprisonment - that's a lot of fire. But it was that very fire that produced an amazingly beautiful outcome - God's man, Joseph, in a world class position where he can save many lives from a famine - including the lives of his own family. So, in Genesis 50:20, our word for today from the Word of God, Prince Joseph says to the brothers who betrayed him, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Earlier, Joseph explained to them the divine plan that was being accomplished, even through their sin. He said, "It was no you who sent me here, but God." (Genesis 45:5)

What is happening to you right now has first had to pass through your Father's hands - the Father who promised He "will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." (1 Corinthians 10:13) And He will bring something beautiful out of what seems so ugly right now. He'll use the fire to bond you closer to your loved ones, to take away one thing so He can replace it or return it with something much better, to put you in a position where you can "save lives" by sharing Christ. They'll listen to you now because of what you're going through. He wants you to experience His love and His power and His nearness as only those in the fire ever get to experience.

The fire that burns will ultimately produce something amazingly beautiful - if you'll stay close to Him as you walk through the fire.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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”For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:17.

This verse draws a quadruple contrast between present tribulations and future compensations; between troubles here and triumphs hereafter. You and I know not what a day may bring forth, and we are very fragile creatures. Sooner than we think, perhaps, heavy weather may beat upon us. Some of us, maybe, are already struggling with the billows. It is well for us to take a steady look at 2 Corinthians 4:17.

First, view it in its context, as the second member in a series of striking contrasts. In verse 16 there is a contrast between the outward and the inward: “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” In verse 17 there is a contrast between the present and the future: “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eter- nal weight of glory.” In verse 18 there is a contrast between the seen and the unseen: “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are tem- poral; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Next, in chapter 5:1, there is a contrast between the earthly and the heavenly: “If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Next, in verse 4, there is a contrast between the mor- tal and the immortal: “We that are in this tabernacle

do groan, being bur- dened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that

mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Finally, in verses 6-8, there is a contrast between being in the body and out of the body: “ Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. We are… willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Dear Christian, you and I should live with these contrasts ever before our minds. They help us to put a true evaluation on things. They set off the merely out- ward and present and seen and earthly and mortal and bodily, against the spiritual and the ulti- mate, and the unseen and the heavenly and the immortal and the being “at home with the Lord”.

But look now, in particular, at chapter 4:17: “ For our light afflic- tion, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more ex- ceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Our present troubles are here des- cribed comparatively in four- fold aspect. (I) As to their nature, they are “affliction”. (2) As to their weight, they are “light.” (3) As to their duration, they are “but for a moment”. (4) As to their utility, they “work for us” eternal glory. Sometimes, when we are undergoing seemingly inter- minable adversity, the cry is wrung from us, “How long, 0 Lord?” Let suffering Paul show us that the victory of faith is to see the transient present against the ever- lasting glory which is yet to be.

Yes, let suffering Paul show us… Theory is one thing; demon- stration is another. Paul not only preaches; he practises — and proves to us. How he endured! Here was a man who, although still amid the physical, was living in the spiritual; although still amid the temporal, was living in the eternal; although still amid the earthly, was living in the heavenly. He was not waiting to shout, “Glory!” then. Despite all setbacks, he was saying it now!

I will bring the third part through the fire, and will … try them … they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. — Zechariah 13:9.

An American traveler was in Italy when one day he stood watching a lumberman, who, as the logs floated down the swift mountain stream, occasionally jabbed his hook into one and drew it carefully aside. He said to the man, “Why do you pick on these few, for they all look alike?” The lumberman replied, “They all look alike, but they are not all alike, signor. The logs I let pass are grown in the valley where they have been protected all their lives. Their grain is course; they are only good for lumber. But these logs, signor, grew on the mountains. From the time they were sprouts and saplings they were lashed and buffeted by the winds and so they grew strong with fine grain. We save them for choice work; they are not lumber, signor.”

Afflictions, though they seem severe

Are oft in kindness sent.

They fit us for God’s service here,

And are for blessings meant. alt.

An unlikely fleet is set to make port on the beaches of Britain. After fifteen years and nearly 17,000 miles, hundreds of yellow plastic ducks will find their journey complete on the shores of England. On January 29, 1992, three massive containers on a cargo ship from Hong Kong crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a storm. The containers were filled with brightly colored bathtub toys bound for the United States. Instead, 29,000 little plastic ducks began a journey that would be carefully monitored by children, oceanographers, and newscasters alike.

After a decade and a half, the tiny bobbing chicks have traveled past Japan and back to Alaska, drifted deliberately down the Bering Strait and past the length of Greenland, and carefully floated down the eastern coastline of the United States. They have persevered through storms that would have left boats and crews in dire straits. They patiently endured four years frozen in ice as they crossed the Arctic Ocean. They have arrived at various intervals on various shores, faded and tattered by sun and surf, some with animal bites and barnacles to show for the journey. But each smiling plastic face seems to return with an ironic confession: the smallest vessels on tumultuous seas are not necessarily the most vulnerable.

Life is far more than an attempt to keep our heads above water, and yet at times it feels a suited metaphor. Like tiny rubber ducks in an oceanic bathtub, we are tossed about the rocks of fear and anger, pulled under by currents of despair and disappointment, and broken at times by the journey. Human fragility is often as startlingly obvious as the image of a bath toy in the Bering Strait. We are at times almost averse to this fragility, whether seen in ourselves or in others. Fighting to keep afloat in an unpredictable sea, we take on distracting cargo and build defensive walls -- anything that makes us feel less like tiny vessels lost at sea and more like giant ships passing in the night.

But metaphors of strength can be misleading, and vulnerability is often misunderstood. Though we may be reluctant to hear it, Scripture clearly puts forth the story of a fragile and fleeting humanity. Jesus spoke readily of his own death and wept at the grave of a friend. The apostle Paul wrote of our bodies as “jars of clay,” words hastening back the image of David who lamented that he had become like “broken pottery.” But well beyond the fragile images of humanity given in Scripture, the vulnerability of the incarnate Son comes into focus and redefines all of our terms. The image of Christ on the Cross turns our understanding of fragility on its head, challenges our discomfort with brokenness, and redirects our associations of weak and strong. We discover the vulnerability of God is far stronger than our greatest images of strength. In the cruciform image of Christ, God uses the weak to shame the strong, a suffering Son to heal the wounds of creation, and the vulnerable image of a broken savior to show us the all-surpassing vessel who saves us.

It is by the Cross that we live, by a seemingly weak vessel that we are brought home. Christ is not an escape raft for the hard realities of this world. On the contrary, he calls to us in our weakness and reminds us that it is not unfamiliar to him. Through tumultuous waters, he beckons us to see there is potential in fragility, meaning in affliction, and life beyond the journey that currently consumes us. Something like the image of tiny ducks arriving after an unlikely voyage, Christ redirects our thoughts on vulnerability, the weak and the strong. And God is aware of every last and fragile vessel, going after even one that is lost, longing to gather us unto himself like a hen gathering thousands of chicks under her wings.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.