In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: God's going to allow some things in your life and my life we'll never be able to answer that satisfaction on this side. So what am I supposed to do? Just doubt God and get angry and have a big pity party about how unfair and unjust He is? Or am I going to be wise enough to say, "Okay, God. I don't have to know why. All I have to do is know how to respond"? And I know that if You allowed this in my life, You've got a purpose that's got to be fantastic.

Guest (Male): Most of us like for life to be well planned out. So when unexpected difficulty interrupts the routine, we don't always respond well. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we begin a series of messages reminding believers that God's grace is sufficient for any circumstance. Stay with us to learn to lean on God's grace for times of trouble.

Dr. Charles Stanley: There are all different kinds of ways to respond to affliction and suffering and hurt and trial and tribulations in our life. Sometimes the simplest thing to do is just to rebel against it. Sometimes we choose to very stoically reserve ourselves and decide we're just going to bear up under it. Sometimes we whine and groan and we moan and we complain about it.

Once in a while we may understand what Paul meant, and we may respond the way Paul responded. And that is with joyful understanding of God's purpose in allowing that affliction or that pain. I wonder which of those best describes the way you respond to suffering and heartache in your life? One of the errors that's going around today is that if you pray long enough and hard enough and if you believe enough, then God will change any and every circumstance of life.

And that change depends really on whether we have enough faith or we pray long enough, hard enough, intensely enough. Well, if that's true, then there's one passage of scripture that we have to look at again. It's the passage that I want to look at today because I believe this is the pinnacle passage in all the Bible, the mountain peak passage when it comes to dealing with the grace of God in the light of how it relates to our pain and our suffering and our heartache and our hardship that we endure in life.

All of us are going to experience those things. It may be physical pain as a result of some disease or some accident. It could be something even worse than that and that's emotional pain. Because of a broken home, because of the loss of a loved one, because of loss of finances, because of circumstances and situations, it could take a thousand different avenues. There's all kinds of causes of pain.

But how does this grace of God, this goodness and graciousness of God, which He pours out toward us without any regard to our merit or our worth, in spite of everything we deserve, what about this grace of God in our life in the times of pain and suffering and heartache? And also what about those things that don't seem to change? Where is the grace of God when things don't change?

Where is the grace of God when you've prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing happens? When your friends have prayed and you've prayed and you've obeyed God and trusted Him and took your stand and claimed this and claimed that and claimed the other, where is God? That's a good question. Because there are a lot of folks in situations and circumstances that don't seem to change and they have prayed.

Their friends have prayed and they've obeyed God and they've given. They've done everything they know to do, and nothing's changed. What about the grace of God? Well, that's what I want to talk about. And I want you to turn to Second Corinthians chapter twelve. Second Corinthians chapter twelve is Paul's answer to this very problem. What about my suffering and my heartache, my difficulties, my hardship, my pain when I have prayed and prayed and prayed and things just don't seem to change?

I'm sure that some of you who are listening are facing that very question. God, I've done everything I know to do and nothing has happened. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says. You'll recall that God has been giving him these tremendous revelations of truth and he's understanding things he's never understood before, things that people have never understood before him.

And so he says in verse seven of chapter twelve: "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'" Most gladly therefore, Paul says, "I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Then he says, "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Now, either this man is faking us out or he knows something that most believers do not know and, of course, the unbelieving world could never possibly know. Here's a man who says: I am well content with such things as weakness, insults, persecutions, pain, troubles, trials, heartaches, you name it. He says, I'm just content in all those things. How in the world could anybody be content in all of that?

Well, I want you to jot down three statements and then we'll talk about each one of them. I'm going to give them to you one at a time and I want you to take the time to write them down. I'm not going to hurry them because they're so very, very important. I want you to jot down this entire statement. Grace is God's answer to my pain and affliction and circumstances of life when He may or may not choose to change my circumstances. God does not guarantee to change my circumstances no matter how painful they may be.

Now, let's look at the Apostle Paul for just a moment. The scripture says here, in describing his own situation, the nature of his pain was he called it a thorn. He says there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Now, the word thorn here is the only time it's used in the New Testament. It was like a stake sharp on the end. It was the kind of stake that often times large ones would be placed around fortifications to impale the enemy when they attack the fortification.

Paul says God had allowed Satan, this messenger of Satan, to bring about this stake that came into his life, this thorn, this painful experience in his life. And he said it was there and it somehow just continued there. Now, we don't know what the nature of it was. It could have been some physical illness, some people say it was some form of epilepsy that caused him to be depressed at times, or some eye disease, or whatever.

Or some people say it was some form of temptation that continually harassed him and continued to confront him. Or it could have been his enemies who continually assailed him because everywhere he went they either were there before he got there to attack him or they soon showed up. Paul had many, many enemies, the Judaizers who absolutely hated everything that the Apostle Paul preached and taught.

And so he was forced to deal with and to live with what he called this thorn in the flesh. And so the Apostle Paul began his ministry and lived with this kind of thorn. I want you to listen carefully because I know that God has something to say to every single person who hears this message. Sometimes God will respond to our prayers. He will respond to our acts of obedience in other areas.

He will respond and change our circumstances as a result of our prayer and obedience. Sometimes He will. In fact, most of the time He probably does. And so when people say, "All you've got to do is name it and claim it and God will do it," because He does often and probably most of the time, that is no sign that He'll do it all the time.

And we have a right to say, "Well, wait a minute now. Does not the Bible say ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you?" Don't we have a right to expect God to change our circumstances, to take away our pain and suffering and to alter our environment when things get so difficult we just can't stand them anymore? He says ask.

And does He not say in Hebrews chapter four that we have ready access to the throne of grace, that in time of trouble we can go to the throne of God and receive what we need in time of need? Then why shouldn't He change my circumstances when I come to Him and ask Him? Why would God allow me to suffer hurt and pain, whether physical or emotional pain? Why does He keep it there? Why does He just let it lay there?

And besides that, when you think about how good God is, does He not say in James chapter five, for example, that if there's any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church, let them confess their sins, anoint them with oil, and the prayer of faith will save the sick? All these scriptures imply and readily confess and declare that if things aren't the way they ought to be, just talk to God and He'll change them.

Have any of you ever been in a situation where you prayed and prayed and prayed, cried and cried and cried, begged and begged and begged, promised and promised and promised, and heaven was absolutely dead silent? Nothing changed. And it's interesting, you can read this passage of scripture and everything is just going fine with you, you can read this passage of scripture and say, "Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen."

And if you're in the middle of some pain and heartache and suffering and you read this passage, you know what happens? It isn't quite as simple. It's real simple to read this when everything's going your way. But when you're hurting badly and your circumstances appear to be impossible and you read this passage, somehow the joy just doesn't leap off the page, does it? Somehow it just sort of wiggles a little bit and just sort of lays there.

And he says he cried out to God and he cried out to God and he cried out to God. He says three times he brought it to God. Now, sometimes God will change our circumstances. Sometimes He won't. You say, "Now wait a minute. Wait a minute now. God said ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, all these verses we quote about prayer."

And He says come to the throne of grace, praying for the sick for them to be healed. What do you mean sometimes He's not going to change my circumstances in answer to my prayer or in response to my obedience to Him? What kind of God is this? Is He a God of contradictions? Does He make promises over here and fall through over here? What kind of God is this who makes all of these promises and then does not come through to change my circumstances?

Well, let's talk about that. Because that's reality. Anybody who's told you that God will always change your circumstances and always heal you and always make things better and answer your prayer and obedience didn't tell you the truth. What is it that determines whether God changes my circumstances or not? If it is not my faith, if it is not how obedient I am and how long I've prayed, how intensely I've prayed, how sincerely I've been, if it isn't that I love God, if none of those things matter, what ultimately determines whether God is going to change my circumstances or not?

One simple thing. What makes the determining factor is God's purpose in allowing the pain and suffering and heartache and trouble and trial and difficult circumstances. What is His purpose? Look at the life of the Apostle Paul. He said he prayed for God three times. He says he prayed for God to remove this thing. Remove it. And he said somehow God didn't remove it.

Now, here was a man who had an awesome responsibility and you would think it would only be right and fair for God to do it. And yet God didn't remove it. And to my knowledge, there's not a single verse in the scripture that says God ever removed this thorn in the life of Paul the Apostle, His great missionary statesman and His great evangelist. God never removed it.

There's no sign He ever removed it. Paul said the reason God didn't remove it was in order to keep him humble. Now you say, "Well, listen, if God will just tell me to get humble, I will. God doesn't have to send me any of those things to get me humble." Well, that's what we think about ourselves. But he said to keep you from exalting yourself because if you exalt yourself, Paul, what you're going to do is ruin my big purpose for your life.

Paul, if I don't keep you humble, if I don't keep you on your knees, if I don't keep you weak, if I don't keep you absolutely totally dependent upon Me, you're going to blow the whole thing, Paul. And My purpose is far greater than your individual life. Think what you and I would have missed. Two thousand years later, what are we doing? We are reading these epistles, learning how to walk in the Spirit of God, learning the ways of God to discover who He is.

Now, this is the same man who is saying now, "Therefore I am content. I boast about my weakness." Four years later, he's in prison. Listen to what he says in the epistle to the Philippians in the third chapter. The Apostle Paul learned something. He says four years later now: "More than all the things that have happened to me that are good, I count all these things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, count them all as rubbish in order that I may gain Him."

He says thorns, stakes, hardship, suffering, beatings, imprisonments, you name it, nothing is compared to that. He's saying there's something far more valuable to him than God changing his circumstances. He says, "I've learned something that is far more profitable to me than changing my circumstances." Now listen to this. How many times have you and I come to God with some great petition that we had from Him and "Lord now God I want, I need an answer"?

Usually, here's what we say: God answers in three ways: Yes, no, and wait. He can say yes, He can say no, and He can say wait. But then He can say what He told the Apostle Paul. He didn't say, "Paul, no." He didn't say, "Paul, yes." He didn't say, "Paul, wait." He said, "My grace is sufficient for you." Paul, My love, My presence, My undergirding, My surrounding, My overshadowing, My providing, My kindness, My gentleness, My provision, Paul, I will be your sufficiency.

Paul, My grace, My overflowing, never-ending, inexhaustible, adequate, sufficient, fulfilling, contenting love will be sufficient for your suffering and pain and heartache. He didn't say He won't answer, He didn't say He will answer, He didn't say He's going to answer later. He just said, "My grace is sufficient." I wonder if that is what God has been trying to say to you in that circumstance in which you find yourself, that you want so desperately for God to change it.

You just want Him to alter it. You've made Him a thousand promises of what you'll do if He'll just change your circumstance. "God, here's what I'm willing to do if You'll just change it." And He doesn't change it. You've prayed and cried and begged and wept and promised and pleaded. You've done everything. He hasn't changed it. Could it be that He has something better than changing your circumstance?

You say, "Now wait a minute. Don't tell me this stuff about being contented in my circumstances and my suffering and my pain." Well, let me ask you this. Do you think one bad circumstance is the only one you're going to get in life? You're just going to suffer one time in life? All of us are smart enough to know that suffering and pain and hardship and trial and disappointment are just a part of life. That's the kind of world we live in.

So if the only way for God to deal with it is to remove these every single time, there may be some situations and circumstances in which God knows it is better for me to be in that circumstance, suffering that pain, that inescapable situation, in order for Him to accomplish in my life what He desires. That was true of the Apostle Paul. Are we above the Apostle Paul?

So those people who say, "Well listen man, if your faith gets right, all you got to do is name and claim it, God's going to answer. God is obligated to answer your prayer." He certainly is. Yes, no, wait, be My guest in the pain. Yes, He is. It may not be what we want. None of us like that kind of answer. We want God to remove it. We say, "If God will just remove it, that'll strengthen my faith. When I see Him change my circumstance, it'll strengthen my faith."

Won't this strengthen it even more? That He will so enable you, strengthen you, live on the inside of you with such overflowing, ever-flowing love and grace and goodness and mercy and power and enablement that while your circumstances don't change, in fact they may get worse and worse. The pressure may become more and more intensified.

The circumstance may be such that not only is it pressure, but it's just continual harassment. It may just get worse and worse and somehow there is this awesome sense of indescribable perfect peace. Which is the greatest lesson? Which is the greatest reward? Which is the greatest answer to my prayer? That God has to remove something in order for me to be at peace? Or God be something within me while the things that steal my peace can steal it no longer?

Guest (Male): God may not remove all your problems, but don't interpret that as evidence that He's uncaring. Today on In Touch, Dr. Stanley's message reminded us that sometimes the Lord has a long-range purpose to accomplish through your current situation, but He is always with you through every trial. We'll hear more about trusting in God's grace for times of trouble on our next program.

But you can stop by intouch.org anytime to study more about God's purpose for adversity and look for the link to "Today on Radio" to hear this message again. If you'd like to have a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, you can order it at the bookstore. The title is "Grace for Times of Trouble." Or order his teaching set, "Grace for Today." Our web address once more is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

What would happen if you offered your deepest pain to God and yielded your life to Him? Today's "Moment with Charles Stanley" is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: In our spiritual journey, we often have questions. "How do I know God's will for my life? Does God hear my prayers? Why do bad things happen?" The answers are found in the word of God, but how do we know where to start? The free In Touch devotional can help point you in the right direction with biblically-based content from Dr. Charles Stanley. You'll gain insight and wisdom through daily devotionals, Bible studies, and more. The In Touch devotional, delivered monthly to your mailbox. Subscribe for free at intouch.org/daily.

Guest (Female): Have you ever forgotten something God taught you when you were reading the Bible? When we take note of what God reveals to us, it helps us to apply it to our lives. With the Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Journal, you can keep track of your spiritual journey and be transformed by God's truths. This journal features artwork of Dr. Stanley's 30 life principles, lined pages for writing, a prayer journaling section, and more. To order, call 1-800-IN-TOUCH or go to intouch.org/journal.

Guest (Male): This is In Touch. What's your greatest obstacle? With encouragement for believers from Second Corinthians chapter twelve, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The Apostle Paul would have said to us, sitting in a prison four years later, "I wouldn't take anything in this world for this thorn in my side because let me tell you about this Christ who in all of my traveling, in all of my struggling, in all of my persecution, all of my heartache, I can get up and wipe off the dust and praise Him.

No matter what has happened to me, there's something inside of me so powerful, so strong, so great, so overwhelming, so contenting, so satisfying. They can't beat it out of me and they can't keep me in prison long enough to sweat it out of me." Which is better? The lesson that he learned in that fashion? Or that God has to take away the circumstance, change everything, in order to make me happy and be at comfort and peace and all the things that most of us like?

Well, what he says here is God didn't say yes, no, wait. He just said, "Paul, My love, the way I'm going to express it in you and through you, My grace is sufficient no matter what you're going to face and what you'll have to face in life." So what he's saying to us is that God's purpose for our life may be that our circumstance, our situation, our suffering and heartache and pain, His purpose for our life may require that it remain there.

A short period of time, a long period of time, or until He calls us home. Now here's the question: It isn't a matter of whether God has the power to remove it, that's not even the issue. The issue is this: Do I love Him enough? Do I want His will more than I want my ease, comfort, and pleasure? Am I willing to say with the Apostle Paul, "Yes, I can rejoice even in the midst of pain and suffering and heartache"?

Guest (Male): At intouch.org, you'll find resources to help believers persevere through adversity. Do you have a story about how God's grace has touched you through this broadcast? We'd love to hear it. On our next In Touch program, if you're discouraged or even at the point of despair, remember that God knows about your situation and offers you His grace for times of trouble.

I hope you'll join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.