Lord! Why Me? How to Deal With Suffering by Pastor Leonard Roy Harris   Sit back now in a comfortable and quiet place. Let's meet with God our father in the bible and discover the hidden blessing in suffering. Stop and think. Are you suffering right now? Why? What purpose does suffering play in your life? In the spaces provided please write at least three things that are causing you suffering and pain right now. For example, it can be something about yourself like your health, or the way that you look. Is there something about your personality that you do not like? Are you suffering from frustration, anxiety, loneliness, fear, stress, or rejection? Etc. Is there a relationship that is causing you suffering? Is it with a man or woman or child?  Is it a boss, supervisor or employee or co-worker? Etc. Is there any abuse you are suffering right now? Do you have financial struggles? Sexual struggles? Struggles fitting in? Do you suffer with feeling like a victim? Like the world is out to get you? Do you struggle with relationships? Etc. 1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Okay, you have provided something real for us to look at. I want to introduce a new way of thinking to you. The Lord wants to change the way  that you look at suffering. He wants you to see it as He sees it. In doing this you will discover the hidden blessing in your suffering. Brother, sister you may look at suffering as a bad thing. It makes you feel bad and uncomfortable and it takes the joy out of life. I want to encourage you to look closely  at your suffering. I want you to see that in your suffering are the clues to your joy. Satan tries to keep you from looking at your suffering as producing anything good for you. He tries to get you caught up in the pain of it. He tries to get you to run from it or deny it or blame it on others. God provides you with a different attitude about suffering. He doesn't say put up with it.  Instead he says: " Your suffering is my intimate and personal dealing with you for your good. I am taking the consequences of your choices. I am taking your weaknesses and sins and I have designed and tailor-made a school of life for you through them. You have brought some of the suffering on yourself. Satan has brought some of the suffering. Some of the suffering you have inherited. Some of the suffering I have allowed. I am putting all of this together for your good, but you have to see  it as I see it and deal with it as I tell you or you will miss out on the deep joy that I have hidden in the midst of your suffering." Does God have your attention now? Can you identify with this now? You are going on a voyage. Are you ready? As you set sail please leave your old thoughts about suffering behind on the shore. You are going into new and deep waters. To chart your course you will be navigating according to the " headings" that your "Captain" has given you. I am asking you to look at the Word of God in a fresh new way. Look at it as a book of "charts" t o guide you through the "sea" of your life. As you sail, the seas you will be in are dangerous. Suffering stirs up quite a storm in your attitude and feelings and what you do and in your relationships. There is the fear, the doubt, the stress, the insecurity, the depression, the pain, the loneliness, the despondency, and confusion, the uneasiness and lack of peace and calm. It is very important to set your "compass point" to God’s " north" and follow a clear course through the storm or you may get shipwrecked in your faith. The compass point setting to God’s "north" is The Peace of Christ. This peace  must always be maintained and you must look at this and understand this before you set sail. We will be looking at Compass Points and Course Headings. The Compass Points will be the main topics or direction and the Course Headings will be the sub topics or details of the direction. What is this peace of Christ? How practical and real is it? How do you keep your life compass set on it? COMPASS POINT ONE Setting to God’s "NORTH" Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Course Heading One: While suffering, do not become anxious about ANYTHING!! Course Heading Two: In EVERYTHING that is causing you suffering: Talk to God about it. Thank God for it. Ask God for His help with it. The effect of this is that it will navigate you through the storm of anxiety in your mind and heart to the peace of Christ in your mind and heart. This will guard and protect you mentally and emotionally as you go through the suffering. Let’s talk about this for a minute. What do you think about this? Course Heading Three: 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." The wonderful thing about the truth of this scripture is that it tells you why you can cast your anxiety on God. This passage is offering something that is not medication or therapy but a truth which can become active in your life by faith. This passage is very practical because it tells you how to use your faith to receive its promise. First, the foundation of your faith is the fact that God cares for you. Do you believe this? God has not abandoned you or left you  just because you are suffering and experiencing the anxiety that goes with it.  You do not even have to earn God’s love. Brother! Sister! I want to tell you that even if your suffering is because of your sin, God’s love for you is unconditional and in His love He is trying to draw you to repentance. If you repent you free God up to forgive you,  deliver you and bless you and establish you. Course Heading Four: 1 Peter talks about this in chapter 5 verse 10 "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen." If you are suffering because of sin, the Lord wants to use it to bring you to repentance, that is a change of mind about the sin that caused the suffering. He first used His kindness to bring you to repentance but if you did not respond, then He has to use sorrow through suffering to bring you to repentance. Let’s look at two passages of scripture that bring this out and then you will return to the compass point of peace as mentioned in Colossians 3:15 Course Heading Five: to Repentance: Romans 2:4-11 Are you suffering because you are not repenting? Listen up. So far God has been richly showing you his kindness, tolerance and patience in trying to win you to repentance before he is obligated to judge you for your sin. "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?" What is the condition of your heart? Is it sorry for the sins you are committing? Do you realize the tremendous patience and tolerance and kindness of God towards you? What has been your response to God’s kindness? Have you been showing contempt for God? Has your heart been stubborn and unrepentant? If it has been, you are storing up the judgment of God on you. God’s anger is building up against you. Believe me, God will judge you because you have shown contempt for his kindness in that you continue to sin and not repent. You will personally experience the day of God’s wrath and His righteous judgment against you will be revealed according to what you have done against Him and His commands. "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." It is a matter of you taking responsibility to make the right choice. There are two choices before you:  1). To repent and turn from your sin and to become persistent in doing good as you seek after God’s glory and honor and your immortality. You will experience eternal life through Jesus Christ as well as peace. I want to be careful here. You do not receive eternal life because you are persistent in doing "good works". You receive eternal life by repenting  of your sin, which is the first "good work". The next "good work" is to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord believing that He is the Son of God. Believing that He shed His blood to pay for your sins and that He rose from  the dead to bring you to God and to take up residence in your heart. If you have already done this, then repent and return to Him in your heart because He is already there. "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life….but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." 2).To be self-seeking, to reject the truth about your sins and to follow evil. You will experience God’s wrath and anger. You will experience trouble and distress "But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, t here will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" God’s blessing and God’s judgment is shown without Him showing any favoritism. "For God does not show favoritism." The next passage shows you how God leads you to repentance, in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 Course Heading Six: to Repentance: Godly sorrow God uses personal sorrow in your life to bring you to repentance. He does not allow it just to do it. It has a reason. It has a purpose. Sorrow from God is your guide to lead you to repentance. I already mentioned that if you do not follow the kindness of God to repentance  that God uses sorrow as a guide to lead you to repentance. "yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. F or you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us." Sorrow from God leads to repentance as he intends for it to do. If you have not received Christ as Savior and Lord it brings you to salvation.  If you have already received Christ but are experiencing sorrow because of sin that you are practicing, if you repent, the sorrow will save you from more consequences and leave you with no regrets. Keep in mind, the Lord here is not talking about the sorrow that the world sends to guide you to death and misery and pain. He is talking about godly sorrow which produces in you the seven fruits of repentance: Earnestness to want victory over the sin. Eagerness to want to clear your conscience with God and man. Indignation at your participation in the sin. Alarm at the consequences of the sin. Longing to want to please God in that area. Concern that others might be stumbled and God not glorified by your behavior. Readiness to see God's justice maintained through your repentance of sin. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 1See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. A t every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter." Now, we can return to your Compass Points on peace by looking at COMPASS POINT TWO SETTING TO GOD'S "NORTH" (peace) COLOSSIANS 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Course Heading Seven: You are first given a command: " Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." You are not to allow anything to rule in your heart that is in your emotions and feelings except the peace of Christ. This is a basic principle of emotional management.  If peace is not ruling in your emotions and feelings it means that your emotions and feelings are ruling, and according to Jeremiah 17:9 " The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" This means that your emotions can lead you into deceit and emotional damage and confusion. Your emotions can lead you to shipwreck. This is why you are spending so much time on this compass point and its course headings.   When you begin to navigate through the storm of your sufferings you must know how to steer according to God’s "north" of peace or you will get off course through the contrary winds of your emotions.    If you want to continue to read this material  and stay on this course of discovery please e-mail me your name and address and I will send you a free copy of the booklet "Lord! Why Me?"  I will also send you a catalog of other booklets we have written in the Lord as well as booklets we have published written by guest writers. Please e-mail me at lendar@ameritech.net   if you are led to help us make this booklet available to many others free, please send a donation to  Grove Heights  Baptist Church 9800 S. Greenwood, Chicago, IL 60628, United States. Indicate on the check fthat the donation is for Caretaker Publications, we will send you a receipt for your charitable donation.   Thank you for your partnership to bring hope to many in their suffering as they are able to focus on the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in their personal storms.   Yours in Jesus Pastor Leonard Roy Harris Caretaker Publications