Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, November 24th. Every year seems to bring fresh proof that hardship is unavoidable. Today, we begin a series of messages that show how to endure and even thrive when adversity strikes. Are you experiencing some adversity in your life? It may be sickness or it may be financial.
Maybe something emotional may be in your family. Whatever it might be. What is your response? Do you blame in God? Why did you let this happen to me, God?
I've seen other people who are doing thus and so, and it's not happening to them. In other words, what's your real response? Have you thought about stopping and saying, Lord? I don't know what you're up to. But I know that you said you love me.
and you don't make mistakes. And so I know that whatever your purpose is, it has to be good.
So I'm going to trust you. Can you say that? Or do you still feel angry? Bitter, resentful, hostile toward God for what you're going through. You see, it's our response that either turns it for something good or we suffer the consequences.
Now The two primary questions that people ask about difficult times. And the first one, of course. Is God, why do you allow this to happen to my life? Why? And somebody says, well, if you're a real Christian, you won't ask why.
Well, you and I know somebody who asked that question, don't we? Jesus said, My God, my God, why? Hast thou forsaken me? And the reason he was saying that, because he was bearing the total guilt of all mankind for all ages in those moments, in his body, his mind, his will, his emotion. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Even though he had a oneness of relationship unequalled by anything you and I could enjoy in life. He was feeling it. He was bearing it. And he was asking, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I'm grateful he did.
Because there are people today who ask the same question: My God, my God, why do you let me continue in this? Just take me home, God. Why have you allowed this to happen?
So, the question of why is a relevant question. And let me just say this to you. God doesn't get upset because you ask Him why. He knows why you ask him why. And he understands your lack of understanding and your lack of knowledge.
Because you see, you and I look at today and God looks at today, but he's also already seen. tomorrow. And that's why God can do the most awesome work in our hearts. And changing our attitude and lifting the burden, doing all kinds of things in our life, because He not only hears our ache and our pain. But he also knows what he's up to.
So the question is, why does God allow these things? Then of course there's a second question though, and that's who? That's who's behind this.
Well, who can be me? If you live a life of disobedience to God, Indifference to the word of God, mistreat your fellow man, or whatever it might be, and then you wonder why there is adversity in your life. No, you don't. And I was talking to someone not long ago, and I thought I was going to have to convince this person of why they were going through the difficulty they were going through. And all of a sudden, the person said, I know why I'm here.
Decisions that I've made in my life, and I look back and realize I've made decisions that got me where I am. I was blessed but grieved at the same time. that at least they understood why they were going through the adversity they were facing. as sin brings only adversity, for one thing, and secondly, Satan. He is behind it.
Satan hates godly people. And when you look in the scripture, for example, you read the book of Job. what happened and how God allowed Job to suffer. but how he blessed them in the end. And then, of course, God is the ultimate cause of some of our adversities that we know.
No, wait a minute. You mean that God loves me? And has the best for me, and will allow me to go through pain and suffering and heartache and loss, and the answer is yes. Yes, he will. We don't even need to read any more scripture.
Look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He says, All of these things I've suffered through. and have survived Besides, the weight and the burden of all the churches in those days, remember these weren't churches like this. They were groups of people meeting together separately, and they did not have a Bible, as you and I have. And imagine the kind of things that they had to deal with when it comes to their doctrine and what they believed in the middle of a Roman Empire that was absolutely saturated with wickedness and vileness and immorality.
And here's a group of believers here and a group of believers there, and he felt responsible. And so, does God allow adversity? Does he even send it? Yes, he does. Listen to this.
2 Corinthians in the next chapter 12. Listen carefully. In other words, we know it's because of our sin. And we know it's because of the devil, but listen to this. because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations.
For this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. A messenger of Satan. to torment me. to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this I implored, I prayed.
The Lord, three times that it might leave me. God, deliver me from this. And he said, to me. My grace is sufficient for you. For power is perfected in weakness.
Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weakness.
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, persecutions, difficulties for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
So Does God allow it? Yes. Can God be behind it? Yes. But for the most part, people disobey God and they begin to suffer the consequence.
And of course, Satan's always behind all kind of suffering and difficulties. But what you and I have to deal with is this: we have to look at our lives and be honest and say, did I bring this on myself? Because this is the law of God. It's a law we live by. We reap what we sow.
And either I do it to myself Or Satan attacks us and we have God's help and strength as he is through that. Or it may be something that God wants to do in your life. And I can look in my life and see a few things that I didn't want to do. That I prayed about it and tried my best to get God to change His mind, and He didn't change His mind. And I can look back and see every single time I own it my way.
God never let me have my way, and I thank God He didn't let me have my way a single time. You know why he does? Because he loves us. too much. He loves us too much to let us have our way.
And then when we go beyond the point. Of no return when I'm going to have my way anyway, then we suffer the consequences. Adversity can either drive you to God. Or It can drive you away from God. It depends upon how you and I respond.
and adversity can be dealt with properly. If we are willing. to eliminate all the excuses And say okay God. What's your purpose? You see, if you remember that whole list of Paul's adversities, all the things he went through?
And God didn't remove it. But he yielded himself to God till the Lord showed him. I'm doing something in your life to protect you. Listen. I'm going to protect you from ruining your testimony.
I'm going to protect you from wasting your life by doing it some other way than the way I've said do it.
So when I look at all that and think about How God works. And um I want to just mention four principles that we need to remember when we're going through adversity in our life. And the first one is this. Adversity is one of God's. most effective tools for strengthening our faith.
Because our faith gets tested. in times of trial and adversity. And If I trust him, What happens? And nothing changes, and I trust them, and nothing changes, and I trust them, and nothing seems to change. But what's happening?
It looks like it's not changing, but my faith is growing. I'm trusting him and watching him help me. And strengthen me, and enabling me to live through this pain and heartache, and whatever it may be. And so it's a time for strengthening of our faith. Secondly, Remember this principle.
When God sends adversity in their life, He never sends it to hurt us. But to help us. God always allows it to help us, not to hurt us. that we may feel the pain. Yeah.
But ultimately, he's in the process of helping us in some way. And God helped the Apostle Paul. And somebody, wait a minute, don't give me the Apostle Paul business. I'm not the Apostle Paul, I'm not a preacher, I'm not a missionary. And all the people go, wait a minute.
He was just a man. He was a man given a task unequal like any task God ever put on anybody. And he had to learn just like you and I have to learn. How to respond to the most difficult times. God will do something good in your life if you'll let him.
But you have to remember that he's not here to hurt us. And then the third principle is this And one of the most important ones, we are never alone in our adversity. Thank God. He's always there.
Sometimes you don't feel is there.
Sometimes you wonder where in the world of God are you? He's always there.
You remember that verse? I will never leave you nor forsake you. Period. You cannot face any adversity if you're a believer. You follow Jesus as your Savior.
Listen to this. not may not Not might not. cannot. You cannot walk through one moment of adversity as a child of God without His presence. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Period. Not except if what? No. A child of God is always in the company. In the presence of Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ, who lives on the inside of us.
What an awesome assurance. And then The last thing I would say here is this. Adversity can be a precious gift from God. And that's the way he intends for it to turn out. A precious gift from God.
Anything that turns me around from the wrong direction. Anything that takes my hands out of where they should not be. Anything that guides my step. in the right way. Anything that changes my mind and my thinking.
and thinking about God. is always good. And one of the biggest problems with people going through adversity is this: they're ignorant of the Word of God. They don't know what the Word of God says about God's love. They don't know what the Word of God says about trials and tribulations and heartaches.
and His sustaining power strengthen our faith Encouraging us, strengthening our testimony, making our life valuable for the kingdom. In other words, they don't think about any of that. And if I should ask you today, And I will. When is the last time you're going through some difficulty in your life? When's the last time you opened the word of God and said, Lord?
I need to hear from you. I'm not doing very well, God. I need to hear from you. and opening the Word of God and start reading. One of the primary reasons for failure and despair And hopelessness, and all the things that many Christians go through is because they do not take the medicine.
This is the prescription book right here. It isn't one or two lines, and it's not a spoonful. It's a heartful. God wants to help you through it. But if you never listen to him, You say, Well, I pray.
What do you pray? Listen, I can tell you, I feel just as dependent to read the Word of God every day. Just for me, not for sermons, just for me. And I can tell you. It works.
It works all the time. That's why God gave us this awesome book, The Word of God. And if you close the word of God and expect to make it in this life, you're going to be horribly disappointed. This is God's guidebook. to enable us to walk through a world of adversity.
pain, suffering, heartache, separation, and all the rest. and come out on top. Confident. and a loving God. who will one day call us home to rewards that He's provided for us.
You're not going to live a godly life apart from the Word. You're not even going to live a good life. You're not going to live the kind of life that God who created you to live with a closed Bible. And if you want to understand what God's doing in your life in times of adversity, you open the Word of God and you just say, Lord, I need to hear from you. And I can tell you this.
I've opened it many, many times. He's always answered. My petition. And sometimes he'll turn me to a verse. It looks like it says, Dear Charles F.
Stanley. Here's what I want to say to you. You know why? You say, well, Europass has nothing to do with it. It has to do with a loving Father.
Who is, watch this, who is willing to walk with us through our adversity step by step. But I don't know what step by step is until I open the word.
Somebody says, I don't know where to start. Start in the Psalms. Start in the Proverbs. if you just want to start somewhere that you can remember. God'll show you how to walk.
Through whatever adversity you are experiencing.
So if you remember those four things. That puts a whole different tone to adversity. Does it make it less painful? Not necessarily. But there's some listen.
If you feel all alone, what do you need? Companionship You have it. in the person of Jesus Christ.
So whatever you're going through It's like this. It's like sometimes I think, Lord, here we go So hold my hand, Lord here we go I see it coming. And so when We are willing to respond correctly by trusting Him. He will see us through that adversity. and will profit from it.
That is, if you're a believer. I trust if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour. You will be wise enough. to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins. Not because you deserve it, but because He loved you enough to send His Son Jesus to the cross.
And what that's all about is Jesus, the Son of God, dying on the cross, shedding his blood. Which Was the payment for all of your sins mine and the sins of the whole world? and if you are willing to ask him to forgive you, on the basis of Christ's death. On the basis of the testimony, of His Word in all these pages of the Word of God. He will forgive your sin.
He'll give you a new beginning. Begin to live His life in you, on the inside of you, so that you can think the way He thinks, is what we've been talking about. This is the way God thinks. And I would just encourage you, if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, listen, you're headed for mess. There is no way to live in this world and survive and have any peace or joy or happiness.
that's prolonged and continuous. Doesn't mean you ought to have up and downs. But the peace that you're looking for and the joy that you're looking for It begins with Jesus. It continues with Jesus. And it ends with Jesus.
And without him. You don't have a chance. And Father, we thank you this morning. For the awesome assurance of your word. And thank you for all the years that you've proven.
over and over and over again. the truthfulness of your word. I pray that you will speak to that somebody strongly. who desperately needs to get saved today. Speak to their heart.
and give them the wisdom to make that decision today in Jesus' name. Amen. Um Thank you for listening to An Intimate Look at Adversity. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org.
This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
