God, in Good Times and Bad

One of the failures a church or pastor can make is not preparing its members for the suffering, losses, and hardships that will inevitably come into the life of every believer. In particular, those of us in churches that emphasize the power of God and are part of the Pentecostal movement always speak of victory, power, and spiritual warfare, but often we do not speak enough about those times when we may find ourselves going through suffering or illness

, and which will require an attitude of faith and humble obedience to the sovereign will of God.

How many times have you gone through a difficult situation in your life—illness, financial need, difficulties at work or in your profession? Perhaps there has been a time of spiritual dryness, even depression, marital problems, and difficulties in life, and you have prayed to the Lord to let that cup pass from you. You have fasted and confessed every sin you can remember, and even those you might have committed without realizing it. You have reconciled with everyone who wronged you and with those whom you have wronged. You have rebuked and declared; you have done everything the Pentecostal manual prescribes for coming through the trial victorious, and yet the problem, the illness, the difficulty continues.

Often, when the trial persists despite all our efforts, we tend to doubt God’s faithfulness and mercy.

The truth is that situations will come into our lives that we cannot explain in any rational way. And in those cases we will simply have to accept that God is sovereign. We will have to acknowledge that God is Lord, that he makes no mistakes, and that, by definition, he does nothing wrong. We will need to acknowledge by faith that everything he does in the lives of his children is good by definition, and that although we may not know the explanation while we are going through the trial, the Lord knows it is necessary and is for our good, and even for the blessing of those around us.

Often our sufferings will not come because we are outside the will of God, but precisely because we are within the will of God. We see this in the case of Stephen, who was doing the will of God, preaching His word, defending the lordship of Jesus Christ. His martyrdom comes precisely because he is declaring God’s truth and walking in integrity as a minister and preacher of the Gospel.

Second Timothy 3:12 says: “… And all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution…” At times, because we speak the truth and maintain exemplary conduct, there will be people who want to persecute and attack us. The enemy will try to destroy us and lead us to deny God’s faithfulness and mercy. He will want to neutralize our testimony, which blesses the people around us so greatly.

In an earlier episode in the history of the Early Church, God had chosen to deliver Peter and John from martyrdom, miraculously bringing them out of prison. Yet in this case, with a man full of the Holy Spirit and upright in his walk with God, God sovereignly chooses not to deliver him from a painful and cruel death.

Why these two different ways of dealing with his servants? God’s designs and ways are not our ways. Sometimes he has purposes for which there will be no easy or obvious explanation. Often, when an undeserved trial comes into our lives, if we have no clear answer to our questions, we will simply have to say, “Father, although I do not understand, I submit to your will. You are Sovereign, and I know you are good. Let your will be done and not mine.”

Stephen chose to glorify God in the midst of his terrible martyrdom. His heroic and exemplary conduct has served to inspire millions of believers throughout two thousand years of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. Perhaps his innocent blood, shed in that martyrdom, was instrumental in the eventual conversion of the man who would become the great apostle Paul years after Stephen’s death.

The words of Habakkuk in chapter 3:17–19 are immortal words that we should always engrave on our hearts:

“… though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, and the sheep are taken from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in Jehovah and delight in the God of my salvation. Jehovah the Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of hinds and makes me walk upon my heights…”

That is the attitude the devil will never know how to manipulate or turn to his advantage. A Christian can never be defeated as long as he maintains that attitude, that posture of complete surrender to the sovereign will of God in his heart.

Remember that your sufferings are never in vain. There is always a sublime purpose behind each of our sufferings. God is always working for good in the life of each of his children. Nothing that happens in the life of a servant of God, man or woman, lacks meaning or purpose. God will use it all to fulfill his benevolent purposes in your life

Let us live the Christian life with the conviction that nothing can separate us from the love of God. In the sublime words of the apostle Paul, “neither height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Certainly, “for those who love God, all things work together for good.” With that confession, launch yourself confidently into the waters of life, and let God fulfill his sovereign purpose in you. If you trust in him, you will never be disappointed.

(This text is part of a sermon preached by Pastor Miranda. You can watch or listen to it in its entirety: Doing God’s Will and—Even So—Suffering).