Paul David Tripp - Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesnt Make Sense

I didnt know that I could feel so out of control. I am a doer and a planner. I tend to have a project -o riented way of approaching life. I know exactly what I want to accomplish every day, how fast I need to work, and all that needs to be in place to finish my task. I tend to hate delay and chafe against interruptions. I am always aware of everything I need to control in order to get things done. And I know the people I need to support my efforts. You wouldnt generally characterize me as controlling in the negative sense of what that means, but you would surely see me as task oriented and maybe on my bad days a little too much of a self -s overeign .

Then I got sick. I want to take you back to those first moments that I wrote about in chapter 1. That first hour in the emergency ward examining room is a case study in loss of control. Suddenly things got very serious. Five physicians were poking, prodding, and pricking me from seemingly every direction. I was told that my questions couldnt be answered and that I wasnt going to leave the hospital anytime soon. Suddenly my life was in the hands of people I didnt know, my body was doing things it shouldnt do, and the rest of my life and ministry was on hold. As they wheeled me to a longer -t erm room, I was having trouble processing it all. Processing is what I do, helping people make sense of their lives from the perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wasnt processing; I was reeling. I was bombarded with so many questions that I was confused.

I could feel my life being yanked out of my order -l oving hands. Then those horrible spasms started. My body shook and cramped, with accompanying spikes of intense pain, and I had no ability to turn it off. I never thought that I would be afraid of my own body, but I was. I was so out of control that everything else important to me faded into insignificance. All I could think of was surviving the physical trauma that had invaded my body. Just when the spasms began to subside, the doctors visited my room with dire descriptions of my diagnoses.

I kept asking the doctors when I would be released, but they evaded my question. I wanted to get back to my routine and my project -o riented lifestyle. Little did I know of the multiple surgeries, hospital stays, and months of convalescing that would become my life for a long time. Little did I know that I would never again be physically the same. I was in the throes of something I had no power to control, and other than doing what the doctors told me to do, there was nothing I could do about it.

Suffering Clarifies Who Is in Control

Hardship has the power to burst the bubble of our self -s overeignty . I dont think Im alone in saying that Im tempted to give myself comfort by convincing myself that I have more control over people, places, and things than I actually have. We want to believe that if we eat the right things and do the right exercises, we can control our health. We buy into thinking that if we parent our children well, we can guarantee that they will turn out all right. We want to believe that if we budget well, invest wisely, and save carefully, we can assure a good financial future. We want to think that if we dedicate ourselves to a loving marriage, we can secure its health and permanence. These are all good things to do, but the assumption that doing them controls outcomes is just not true.

From the very first breath of Adam, the Bible confronts our delusions of and desire for control. It is clear that Adam and Eve were not created for independent, self -s ufficient living but for dependent, others -r eliant living. And, like Adam and Eve, we dont have what it takes to make it well on our own because we dont have the power to supply all we need for this to be possible. Adam and Eve werent made to make up their own rules and to live as they thought best. They were made to live inside the boundaries of the rules and purposes of someone greater. And they werent placed in a world that would submit to their commands and do their bidding. They were called to be the resident managers of a world created and held together by the sovereign power of God.

Yes, weve been given many natural intellectual, emotional, and spiritual gifts, and if we exercise them as God intended, we can do much to help our lives be relatively comfortable and stable. But we cant take credit or blame for things we had no power to produce. If I were in control, there is no way I would have allowed physical travail into my life. In fact, I will make a confession. If I were in control, I wouldnt let difficulty of any kind, big or small, into my life. Hardship confronts us with our tendency to assume that were in greater control than we really are, and because we think we are, we take way more credit for the good things in our lives than we should. The opposite is true as well. Because we assume greater control than we actually have, we blame ourselves for things we have no power to cause. A loving wife of an unfaithful husband haunts herself with questions about what she could have done to keep him from wandering. Good parents blame themselves for the spiritual and relational rebellion of their children. People who have invested with untrustworthy investors kick themselves for being so trusting. Even children tend to find reasons to blame themselves for the separation of their parents. In all these cases, people are adding to their suffering by assuming power and control that they didnt have and never will have.

Suffering causes us to scan our lives and face the fact that we control very little. So we mourn not only our suffering but also what it has forced us to admit about ourselves. Our loss of the illusion of control also adds to the fear that accompanies suffering.

But realizing we are not in control is also one of sufferings biggest blessings. Its one of difficultys paradoxical comforts. The fear and pain of being out of control stand before us as doorways to something very good. Its only when we give up the delusion that weve been or can be in greater control that we can find rest in the One who is in control in our place. Suffering proves that helplessness is the portal to help. It is only when we abandon our independence that we find rest in one greater. Hopelessness is the only doorway to hope. When we forsake our trust in our power, were then ready to entrust ourselves to the power of another. Our smallness and weakness arent our greatest dangers; the greatest danger is the delusion that we are bigger and stronger than we are or ever will be. Here is sufferings paradox: the very things we would do anything to avoid, the very things that confront our understanding of who we are, and the very things that cause us the most pain become the very things that usher into our lives the blessings of the help, hope, peace, and rest that we all long to experience.

I want to examine one more thing before I unpack the comforts every sufferer can find in Gods sovereign control of all things. I want you to think with me about mystery. God does things that will remain a mystery. God brings into our lives life things that confuse us. At times we struggle to reconcile what God has said with what hes done. Sometimes Gods declaration of who he is seems to contradict what he has ordained. Sometimes Gods plan doesnt make sense. At times God appears bad, even though he tells us he is good. At times it is hard to live in the tension of what God has promised and what he has brought our way. There are passages in life when we live with more mystery than clarity. We all face times when we cry out for answers that well never get but that seem impossible to live without. Painful times come when we cry, Why? If only _____, or How long?

Everyone faces moments when a cloud of mystery covers theological clarity. In these moments we dont want a theological outline or a set of wisdom principles. We cry out for an answer that will dispel the mystery that has us in its emotional and spiritual hold. At times we are tempted to withhold our trust until God gives an explanation. There are times when were tempted to believe that we wont be able to trust until we are able to understand, that our peace of heart is dependent on mysteries being solved.