The Healing Word

Guest (Male): What did God choose? He chose the best to give me His grace, His loving kindness, His love, His keeping power. God had something better. God has something better for each of us today.

As we make our way through life, we will encounter pain and suffering along the way. But here's the good news: God is there to supply grace that's sufficient for victorious living. Today, Pastor Jack Morris is going to lead us in a study of Second Corinthians chapter 12 and expound on this wonderful truth in the message, Suffering and Grace.

Pastor Jack Morris: Every day is a new journey, a new adventure. Every day we wake up in the morning usually without an itinerary or a map. All we have maybe some plans that we think we're going to do this day and off we go. I remember when the nurse came by that comes to our house every week, sometimes two times a week to check on Corinne. She was off schedule, she was late, and she told us, she said, "I had my week planned out and my dates where I'm supposed to be, when I'm supposed to be there." And she said, "And then everything changes." She said even now since I've been in the Morris's house, she said, "I received two phone calls." I suspect that they were to do with her appointments that day.

Change is one of the sure things of life. Everything changes and is a constant contact of flux. Each day unfolds before us. I think of Abraham in Hebrews chapter 11. He heard the call of God and he went out and he didn't know where he was going. Well, that pretty well describes my life each day. Some days I just don't know where I'm going, what's going on, but thank God we have the word and we have the Lord to give guidance and direct us—direction to us. Now, there are two things, at least I'm going to mention two things, there may be some other things such as the Lord Jesus who's the same yesterday, today, and forever. But the two things I'm thinking about today that will never change, now listen to me closely as I move into this: suffering will never change.

If you live another week, another month, another year, you're going to experience suffering. As long as you live, as long as I live, there's going to be suffering and conflict in this life. The second thing that will never change is the grace of God. God's love and His kindness will never change. And here is conflict and struggle, and here it is grace and they're coming at each other. But grace is the answer to struggle. And may the Holy Spirit help me now to explain what I'm trying to share with you about God's grace in the midst of struggle.

The nations are struggling. The races are struggling. The families and marriages are struggling. People employed where they work, there are struggles going on. Struggles going on in our own physical bodies. There are struggles everywhere and struggle will continue. Now, I'm not going to stick my head in the sand and say that I don't want to hear about the struggles. I'm going to tell you the truth, speak the truth. It's the truth that will help us and care for us and help us to strategize with God's holy grace during all of these struggles that we're following and that's following us and pursuing us.

First, I'm going to talk about the universal struggle, that's the struggle that has to do with earth and then the struggle that has to do with humankind. Then I'm going to talk about Paul the apostle's struggles and then I'm going to conclude the message by talking about struggle and grace and how grace fits in. And by God's grace we are saved and we overcome. Creation is struggling. I'm talking about the earth, the soil, the atmosphere. There's something wrong in the atmosphere. There's something amiss in the creation of the earth.

When you experience the storms, they say a storm is coming up the coast. People are losing their homes, people are being flooded out, there is drowning. Friend, the earth is mourning. It's a sign that there's something wrong with this earth. It's not supposed to be like this. But Jeremiah in the Old Testament, Paul in the New Testament, both of them said that when there are earthquakes, when there are floods, when there are storms, this is the earth mourning. The earth is hurting. God created it and everything He created He said, "It is good." He turned it over to man and we made a mess of everything. And everything continues to be amiss and a mess. Creation.

I think of Jesus going into Jerusalem mounted on that little beast, the colt. The hosannas of hundreds of thousands of people singing the hosannas on Triumphant Sunday. Isn't it amazing how times had changed? And can you imagine hundreds of thousands, upwards toward two million people in Jerusalem shouting and singing, lifting their voices to give praise? So the religious leaders go up to Jesus and said, "You tell these people to hold their peace," or in other words, "Tell them to shut up and be quiet. Be quiet." Do you know what Jesus said? "If these people hold their peace, if these people are quiet, if these people stop praising Me," He pointed to the earth, creation, He said, "the stones will cry out, because if the people won't recognize Me, the stones will."

I don't know what's going on in this earth or in stones if they are animated or inanimate objects. But somehow creation recognized Jesus as Lord. May God help the church to recognize that we have a Lord that is over us and that we will give praise to the Lord not only with our lips, but with our behavior and our obedience and our lives. This earth is mourning. There are famines, there is starvation, there are droughts, in addition to the things that I've already mentioned. Something's wrong with this earth. There's suffering. There's suffering.

But then there is human suffering. Why is there human suffering? Because man is made out of the dirt of the ground. We call this mother earth. We take our food from the earth. God made man of the soil and He said man is going to go back. So man and earth have something very much in common because we are really one and the same. So if the earth is mourning, this earth is also going to mourn and have difficulties and problems. Every human being is going to suffer from time to time.

I have heard people say things like this to me, particularly Christian people: "Why am I going through this trial, this difficulty? Why am I suffering like I am suffering? I'm a good Christian." I'm not kidding you. This is what they come to me with. "I'm a good Christian. What have I done wrong that God has done this to me?" I remember years ago, the first time I ever heard that when I was in my late teens. I was dating Corinne and we were at a Sunday night church service and an elderly couple were going home. They lived in the direction where we lived and they said, "We'll take you home." We got in the car, we were driving out in Baltimore. It was dark and a car ran into us. Bang! Hit us pretty hard. And after it was all over, the gentleman in the car which was a fine Christian man, the first time I ever heard a Christian say, "Why has this happened to me? Why me? Why me?"

Because you're human. Because you're made of the earth. And the earth is mourning, and the earth ends within us is mourning also. So there's going to be conflict. There's struggle in Afghanistan. There's struggle on the streets of New York and Chicago and Los Angeles. There's COVID. Things are bad. Why? Why? I don't know why, only in this: that God cursed the earth and He made man out of the earth. So there's going to be struggles. So friends, we need to find out what can we do in the midst of all these struggles that are going on and the struggles that will continue to go on. And our bodies are aging.

I think of the condition that Corinne is in now, and really the founder of the church, she taught the Bible classes and did so many things. I think she's a good Christian. Why are You doing this to my wife, Lord? Why the falls? Why the blood on the brain? Why are these things happening? Friend, they're happening because you are and I am part of the world and this is how it is. What's wrong with us? Do we think that we're in heaven? Or are we immune to the COVID? No, the COVID comes to the sinner and the saint alike.

Friend, it's time that we learn how to live in this world of struggle and pain. I think of those thirteen men and women, Marines, families grieving today. "Why has this happened to these families? Why did it happen to those young men and women? Why were their lives just snuffed out? A week ago today they were so happy, they're going home." They'll never go home now. Friend, this is life. This is real. Someone said, "Pastor, I want you to preach positive sermons." Well, I'm going to preach sermons that deal with life. And this is life. And the struggles aren't over yet until we leave this life and are no longer part of this world.

The apostle Paul, what he went through. Wasn't he a good Christian? Hey, what about Jesus? Would you call Jesus a good Christian? They crucified Him. Even He called out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Friend, why should we be surprised that life treats us mean? Years ago, a pastor in San Diego called me, a dear friend that I've known for years. He's now in heaven. He told me, he said, "Jack, I have one of my members over at Walter Reed hospital and she's dying. She's not going to make it. I can't come from San Diego. Could you go over there and make a pastoral call?" And I went over and visited her and talked with her. Not only is she dying, but her husband said, "I can't stay here and watch you die," and so he took their son and he left and went out into the Midwest and left his wife to die alone.

A good Christian. A good Christian lady. And she began to open her heart and tell me. Never saw that woman before and I never saw her again because she indeed died. And she told me, she said, "He took my son, he's gone because he doesn't want to watch me die." She said, "It's been a bad year." And then she said this as she looked away: "Next year's going to be better." She knew she had a Savior. She knew where she was going. Friend, do you know who you are in Christ Jesus? Well then, thank Him. Thank Him. Give praise and honor and glory to Him who loves you and gave Himself for you. Human suffering.

I think of the ladies, some of the ladies in our congregation who've had breast cancer. Good Christian ladies. Not a one of them came and said, "Pastor, I have breast cancer. Why has this happened to me?" I've had men walk up to me and whisper in a low voice, "Pastor, I have prostate cancer. I'm going to have surgery. Would you pray for me?" Friends, bad things happen to good people. And the people that are saying, "Why has this happened to me? I haven't done anything wrong, I'm serving the Lord," that very person is angry at God or they wouldn't say such things as they're saying.

Friends, this is life and we live in a world that is cursed. A world of war and conflict and cancer and heart disease and corona and delta. It's here and it's here to stay as long as you're here. Conflict is going to be here. God help us to know what to do with conflict and how to make it through and God will show us. I think of the apostle Paul as I mentioned just a moment ago. A "good Christian". If he wrote the book of Hebrews, meaning then he wrote over half of the New Testament. A "good Christian", wouldn't you say? A good Christian.

He was put in prison. Five times he was beaten with thirty-nine stripes. Thirty-nine, thirty-nine, thirty-nine, thirty-nine, thirty-nine stripes five times. Three times he was beaten with rods. A good Christian. "Well God, why are You allowing this to happen to me?" One time he was stoned and left for dead. The people who stoned him thought he was dead. He talks about the times that he went without food and water. You see, this is the man that was caught up into the third heaven. He had a relationship with God like no other. And he came back to earth and he couldn't tell it. Heaven was so beautiful, heaven was beyond language to describe.

It would be like going out to Grand Canyon. For me to go out to Grand Canyon and view Grand Canyon, even take my phone and take some snapshots, and then I would come back to Maryland and I would go to a man that was born blind and he never saw a thing in all of his life. And for me now to describe the Grand Canyon to him, how could I do that? Paul was in heaven and he came back and he couldn't describe the Grand Canyon, not even in the word. But there was a possibility that he would have began to gloat. "Hey, none of the other apostles saw what I saw and I must be the best of the best of followers of Jesus."

And he said there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Something was digging at him. Something was jabbing him. Something was causing him misery. Three times he prayed, "God, take it away." And you know what God said? "My grace is sufficient. My grace is going to be enough." You know, I think of three times. Paul prayed three times. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed three times before He drank the cup. I think of Jonah in the belly of the whale: three times, three days, three nights. Somebody said when you're having a problem, just wait and pray for three days. Three days, God's going to change things.

He's the God of the resurrection. He's the God of all gods. There's fightings, there's wars, there's inequality, there's racism. How long has that been going on? Look at the history books of the United States. It's been going on ever since there's been the United States. And we think we're going to vote some people into Congress or into the presidency and they're going to fix it for us. No. There's only one great physician. His name is Jesus. He's the one.

So friend, when the problems come, whether it's some virus, some cancer, some heart disease, like the woman over at Walter Reed, her husband left her and took the son, the little boy, took the son. No matter what is it that's sticking you, unsettling you, yes pray about it. I don't know whether God will take it away. He may. But if He doesn't, if you will wait on Him and be quiet for just a moment and stop pitying yourself and looking for others to pity you, just wait a moment. We have allowed this thorn in the flesh to keep jabbing us and jabbing us.

I don't know whether it's a sickness or whether—some thought Paul's shipwrecked, his stoning, his beatings with rods, his lashes, this was the thorn of the flesh. Other theologians thought that it may be that he had malaria because his eyes were thought were watering because when he wrote to the Galatians he said, "You see what large letter I write." When he would make an L, he'd make a big L. When he'd make an O, he'd make a big O. But he said God chose to heal others through me, but He chose not to heal me. But what did God choose? He chose the best to give me His grace, His loving kindness, His love, His keeping power.

God had something better. God has something better for each of us today. Yes, pray. "If it's God's will take this away, Lord. But if it's not Your will to take it away, it's not Your will to do that and it is Your will for the problem, the conflict, the struggle to remain. I know You'll give me grace, loving kindness to carry me through. I'll make it. I'm going to make it." Friend, you're going to make it because of who you are and because of the power of God's grace, His loving kindness. There's not a sweeter, more beautiful word in all the Bible than the word grace and God says I give you that sweetness and I give you that love. Wait on the Lord, call upon God and experience what God has.

Friend, God will make you a champion. You will know His royal blood is flowing through your veins. Look to the Lord, you'll not be disappointed. You're a champion in God's grace. Can everybody say, "Praise the Lord"? Now this is what we're going to do. We're going to just stay seated for just a moment, we're going to bow our heads before the Lord. Now first thing I want you to do is to thank God that you're saved. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins have been washed in the blood of Jesus. Your name has been put in the Lamb's Book of Life. Take a moment and with your lips tell God how grateful you are. It's just basic courtesy to say thank you, right? And God has already given you the most precious of all gifts and no one or no power can take that away from you.

And then ask God about your thorn. What is it that's irritating you and just won't go away and it's causing you to feel bitter? It's just eating at you. Talk to the Lord and say, "God, it's getting me down. Sometimes I don't even feel Your presence. That thorn is so acute and I'm experiencing it in such a way that causes me to forget who I am and who You are." Talk to God like that and watch the power and the strength and you will walk on fire if need be and not be burned. This is God's blessing to you. So let's begin every prayer with thanksgiving and we're going to begin that prayer now. Would you bow? You talk to the Lord.

Guest (Male): We hope that today's message has been a blessing and has strengthened your faith in God. But before we go, here is Pastor Jack Morris with a special invitation.

Pastor Jack Morris: Have you ever asked God why? Why this sickness? Why this divorce, this disappointment? Why these troubles and problems? Why, God? Friend, I've just completed an ebook entitled From Asking Why God to Trusting Him. It's a faith journey. I'll be glad to send it to you free of charge simply for asking. For your free copy go to thehealingword.com and sign up. That's thehealingword.com and I'll send you a free copy of From Asking Why God to Trusting Him. I'm Pastor Jack Morris. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.