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How a Crushed Faith Comes Home · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: We talk often about suffering at Desiring God. Suffering saints
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  Speaker 1: send emails to us just about daily, dark, wrenching emails
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  Speaker 1: describing life pain in very vivid detail for us to see.
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  Speaker 1: Those emails to the podcast are not accidents. We know
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  Speaker 1: many of you out there are suffering. And suffering has
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  Speaker 1: become a major theme for us over the years. It's
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  Speaker 1: especially suited to Christian hedonism. As Pastor John, you have
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  Speaker 1: developed it over the years. God's design in our suffering
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  Speaker 1: fits our theology of our deepening joy in God. And
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  Speaker 1: it fits our employee team as well. I'm thinking of
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  Speaker 1: John Knight, a man so beloved here at Desiring God.
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  Speaker 1: So we talk a lot about how God uses suffering
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  Speaker 1: to wean our hearts off this world so that we
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  Speaker 1: can find greater delight in him. That's how it's supposed
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  Speaker 1: to work, building our faith stronger. But often that's not
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  Speaker 1: how it works at first. Today on Ask Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: how a crushed faith comes home. A listener named Rachel
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  Speaker 1: asks the question, Hi, Pastor John. In your devotional, Suffering
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  Speaker 1: That Crushes Faith, you explain that suffering can drive us
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  Speaker 1: either toward or away from God. You write this, quote,
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  Speaker 1: If you think your suffering is pointless or that God
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  Speaker 1: is not in control or that he is whimsical or cruel,
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  Speaker 1: then your suffering will drive you from God instead of
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  Speaker 1: driving you from everything but God as it should. So
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  Speaker 1: it is crucial that faith in God's grace includes the
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  Speaker 1: faith that he gives grace through suffering. What if suffering
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  Speaker 1: has already driven someone away from the Lord? What if
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  Speaker 1: because of suffering, you feel distant from him as if
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  Speaker 1: he's angry, disappointed, or no longer hears or cares for you?
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  Speaker 1: It's a frightening place to be. How do I come
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  Speaker 1: back from this? How do I begin to believe that
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is with me in ever-present help in times
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  Speaker 1: of trouble, faithful, loving, and caring? Is it too late
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  Speaker 1: for someone like me whose faith has been crushed, not
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  Speaker 1: strengthened by suffering? I felt your devotional was a good warning,
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  Speaker 1: but for those of us in this position, it leaves
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  Speaker 1: a sense of hopelessness without guidance on how suffering can
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  Speaker 1: draw us closer to God and strengthen our faith in
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  Speaker 1: the end.
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  Speaker 2: I am so glad Rachel has asked this question because
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  Speaker 2: I would hate to leave the impression from that devotional
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  Speaker 2: that our experience of suffering at the front end is
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  Speaker 2: the only time it can be redemptive or destructive. If
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  Speaker 2: I left that impression, I certainly don't want to. So
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  Speaker 2: let me clarify that, yes, when suffering strikes, it can
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  Speaker 2: drive you to God or it can drive you from God.
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  Speaker 2: That's true. But neither of those has to be the
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  Speaker 2: end of the story. Some who turned to God in
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  Speaker 2: their suffering may later make shipwreck of their faith. And
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  Speaker 2: some who turned away from God in their suffering, may
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  Speaker 2: later be turned back by that very extension of suffering
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  Speaker 2: in their lives to God, the God of patience, the
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  Speaker 2: God of hope. So let's take a few biblical examples
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  Speaker 2: so Rachel can see, we all can see, it's not
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  Speaker 2: just my opinion, but God's plan for some of his
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  Speaker 2: beleaguered people to come back after turning away. The first
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  Speaker 2: one that came to my mind was the prodigal son. Now,
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  Speaker 2: of course, it's not suffering that drove him away at first.
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  Speaker 2: I know that. It was just sheer rebellious love for
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  Speaker 2: the world, not love for his father. So he takes
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  Speaker 2: his inheritance, and he goes to a far country, and
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  Speaker 2: he squanders it in dissolute living, and then the suffering comes. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what's his first response? It's not to go back to
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  Speaker 2: his father. His first response is to get a job,
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  Speaker 2: try to fix the problem. So when he had spent everything,
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  Speaker 2: it says, a severe famine across the country came and
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  Speaker 2: he began to be in need. So he went and
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  Speaker 2: hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country.
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  Speaker 2: That's his first move. I'm going to fix this and
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  Speaker 2: get back on my happy track. And they sent him
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  Speaker 2: into the fields to feed the pigs. And he was
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  Speaker 2: longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.
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  Speaker 2: No one gave him anything. He's miserable. And he's miserable
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  Speaker 2: because he didn't go back to his father right away.
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  Speaker 2: The suffering didn't turn him home immediately. And then he says,
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  Speaker 2: I'll get myself out of this suffering. Myself, with feeding
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  Speaker 2: these pigs, put some money in the bank, get back
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  Speaker 2: to my good life. and it didn't work. So what happened?
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  Speaker 2: When he came to himself, he said, how many of
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  Speaker 2: my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but
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  Speaker 2: I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go
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  Speaker 2: to my father. That's what Rachel can do. His misery
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  Speaker 2: mingled with the grace of God woke him up to
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  Speaker 2: the foolishness of trying to solve his suffering on his own,
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  Speaker 2: and so his suffering drives him back to the Father.
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  Speaker 2: And my point is, it didn't happen right away, and
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't happen right away for a lot of people.
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  Speaker 2: People are driven away from God by their suffering, and
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  Speaker 2: then they realize there is no hope in this suffering
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  Speaker 2: without God. And then there's Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law. She's driven
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  Speaker 2: out of her land by famine. Her husband dies. Her
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  Speaker 2: two sons-in-law die. One of her daughters-in-law returns to her people,
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  Speaker 2: and only Ruth is left. And so the suffering drives
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  Speaker 2: them home, back to Bethlehem. But what does Naomi say
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  Speaker 2: as she arrives? She said to them, Do not call
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  Speaker 2: me Naomi, which means pleasant. Call me Mara. which means bitter,
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  Speaker 2: for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I
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  Speaker 2: went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.
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  Speaker 2: Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me,
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  Speaker 2: and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? This is
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  Speaker 2: not a looking to the Lord for help in her suffering.
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  Speaker 2: This is a sinking in bitterness. The suffering did not
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  Speaker 2: at first drive Naomi to God. It drove her to
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  Speaker 2: complain against God. But that's not the end of the story.
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  Speaker 2: The faithfulness of Ruth, the faithfulness of Boaz, and God's
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  Speaker 2: mercy to Naomi bring her to herself. And the story
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  Speaker 2: ends with Naomi hearing these words. Then the women said
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  Speaker 2: to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left
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  Speaker 2: you this day without a Redeemer, and may his name
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  Speaker 2: be renowned in Israel. So finally, Naomi could see. She
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  Speaker 2: could see now the good hand of God in all
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  Speaker 2: that she had been through. Amazingly good hand and what
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  Speaker 2: incredible things he had in store for her and her lineage.
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  Speaker 2: And finally, perhaps everyone would think of Job. He's an
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  Speaker 2: interesting character because He's wonderful. He's good. He's a good man.
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  Speaker 2: He's a complex person. When his possessions and his family
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  Speaker 2: were destroyed, he set a beautiful example for us. He rose,
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  Speaker 2: tore his robe, shaved his head, fell on the ground,
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  Speaker 2: and worshiped. And said, the Lord gave, and the Lord
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  Speaker 2: has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: But when the suffering went on and on, the boils
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  Speaker 2: were horrible, he lost his peace, and he said some
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  Speaker 2: terrible things about God, that God was his enemy, which
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  Speaker 2: was not true. So God intervened, and he brought Job
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  Speaker 2: again to repentance, and he put his hand on his mouth.
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  Speaker 2: Job did. He put his hand on his mouth. and
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  Speaker 2: he worshiped again. So Job is an example of responding
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  Speaker 2: well to suffering, and then responding badly to suffering, and
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  Speaker 2: then responding well again after a season. And Rachel, I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure you know people who are alive today who provide
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  Speaker 2: contemporary examples of this very thing. One thinks, for example,
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  Speaker 2: of Johnny Erickson Tada, who has written her own story
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  Speaker 2: about her broken neck and her paralysis that did not
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  Speaker 2: send her flying immediately with trust to an all-sovereign God.
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  Speaker 2: That came later through wonderful discoveries of God's grace and
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  Speaker 2: important people in her life. My friend John Knight, who
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  Speaker 2: works at Desiring God, would not mind me telling you
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  Speaker 2: that when his son, two and a half decades ago,
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  Speaker 2: when his son Paul was born without any eyes, sent
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  Speaker 2: John into a deep season of wrestling with God, pulling
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  Speaker 2: back from church and God's people. And then, after a season,
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  Speaker 2: God gloriously steps in and causes John Knight to become
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  Speaker 2: one of the most articulate spokesmen that I know of
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  Speaker 2: on behalf of the sovereignty of God and his love
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  Speaker 2: for people with disabilities. So, Rachel, please be encouraged that
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  Speaker 2: no matter how torturous life your pilgrimage into suffering has been.
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  Speaker 2: No matter how crushed your faith may have felt, the
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  Speaker 2: word from God for you is that there is a
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  Speaker 2: way home. He knows our frame. He remembers that we
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  Speaker 2: are dust. As high as the heavens are above the earth,
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  Speaker 2: so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him.
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  Speaker 2: As far as the east is from the west, So
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  Speaker 2: far does he remove our transgressions from us. That's who
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  Speaker 2: awaits us when we turn toward home.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, there's always a way home. When suffering strikes, it
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  Speaker 1: can drive you to God or it can drive you
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  Speaker 1: from God. That's true, but neither of those has to
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  Speaker 1: be the end of the story. Yes, suffering may first
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  Speaker 1: drive someone into anger, bitterness, self-reliance, or confusion, and yet
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  Speaker 1: later become the very means by which God brings that
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  Speaker 1: person home. As we see for ourselves in the prodigal son, Naomi, Job,
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  Speaker 1: Johnny Erickson Tata, and our good friend John Knight. Speaking
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  Speaker 1: of the much beloved John Knight and the sorrow of
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  Speaker 1: the shattered dreams he had for his beloved son and
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  Speaker 1: resulting anger. And then eventually into a deeper trust and
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  Speaker 1: joy in God. If you don't know his story, you
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  Speaker 1: need to. Back in 2012, I edited a little book
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  Speaker 1: you can get for free at Desiring God. It's called
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  Speaker 1: Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God. You can find
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  Speaker 1: it on the books page at DesiringGod, DesiringGod.org, forward slash books,
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  Speaker 1: Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God. In that little
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  Speaker 1: book on pages 30 to 58, you can read Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John's three-part interview with John Knight. We transcribed that for
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  Speaker 1: you to see for yourselves. You really need to read it,
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  Speaker 1: especially if you're suffering through the pain of a loved one,
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  Speaker 1: especially would be relevant. Life-changing stuff, life-changing story. Lord, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for Johnny and thank you for John Knight. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Tony Reinke. We'll see you back here on Monday. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: for listening.