Romans 8:28
Handling Tragedy
Believe it or not, there are many topics that preachers do not enjoy
preaching on: sin, hell, judgment, and sorrow. We do not preach on
these because we like to. We preach on these because we need to.
There are many "must-have" promises in the Bible.
1. \\#John 3:16\\ - Must-have promise for salvation
2. \\#1John 1:9\\ - Must-have promise for fellowship (dealing with
sin).
3. Romans 8:28 is a must-have promise for handling tragedy.
Someone has said, ""Life may treat people differently but death
treats all the same." I would add that sorrow likewise treats all
the same. If we are not experiencing sorrow, we must prepare for it
to come for:
…it will come.
…it will come soon than we want.
…it will come sooner than we want without warning.
I believe we need to have five truths planted firmly in our spirit
before sorrow shows up. Let me give those truths to you.
I. God is good.
A. This a most important truth.
1. On it, all other Bible truths about God’s love, mercy,
forgiveness, and comfort hang.
2. If we do not believe this truth, we will not have
confidence in any other.
B. This is a Biblical truth.
2. Is God good?
3. YES! for the Bible teaches it.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.
C. This is a first truth.
1. It is a truth we need to be taught very early in life.
2. Have you ever heard this? "God is great. God is good."
3. That may be a child’s song, but it contains a man-sized
truth.
D. The problem is that when sorrow shows up, we often forget it.
1. Job, one whom God called a perfect man, in the midst of
sorrow and suffering, forgot that God was good. Speaking
to God, Job said:
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and
holdest me for thine enemy?
25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and
wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
26 For thou writest bitter things against me,
and makest me to possess the iniquities of my
youth.
27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,
and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou
settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
2. Israel forgot when they were in the wilderness:
Psalm 78:22 Because they believed not in God,
and trusted not in his salvation:
a. That chapter goes on to list—in great detail—some of
the good already HAD done and was doing.
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from
above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat,
and had given them of the corn of heaven.
25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat
to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:
and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and
feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their
camp, round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled….
b. The implication being that with all of the evidence
God had given to them that He was a good God, they
really should NOT have forgotten.
c. But they did.
3. Even Eve, in her sinless state, forgot that God was good
and would not deprive her of anything that was good for
her.
Ge 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
E. Get this:
1. Job, a spiritually perfect man…
2. Israel, an exceedingly blessed nation…
3. And Eve, a sinless woman…
4. All forgot that God is good!
5. Friend, if they could forget, we must work even harder
to make certain we do not.
F. Now, in the sunshine, now in the good days, now when we are
strong and can see clearly, we must imbed within our hearts
and soul that God is good and can never, never, never be
anything but God.
II. If it is bad, it is sin’s doing.
A. Not only is God good, but God never does bad.
1. Why not?
2. Because there is no badness—not even a hint of it—in
God.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning.
B. God does the good. Sin does the bad.
God gives life. Sin bring death.
God gives marriage. Sin brings divorce.
God gives children. Sin brings rebellion.
God gives prosperity. Sin brings ruin.
God gives health. Sin brings sickness.
God gives love. Sin brings selfishness.
God gives peace. Sin brings trouble.
God gives joy. Sin brings bitterness.
God gives hope. Sin brings despair.
God gives confidence. Sin brings doubt.
God gives order. Sin brings chaos.
God gives salvation. Sin brings damnation.
God gives heaven. Sin brings hell.
God gives mercy. Sin brings justice.
C. It is time we quit blaming God for the bad.
1. Several years back, I wrote down what I thought to be the
three causes of bad. I am pleased to say that in recent
days I saw an article written by another who listed the
same three causes in the same order:
a. Human error, stupidity, carelessness - auto accident
b. Human willfulness - Mean and intend to cause problems
(1) This is what suffering for Christ is about.
(2) A Christian stands with Christ and the world
hurts him for it.
(3) That is willful and mean.
c. Effects of sin - We and this world are defective due
to sin and things are becoming more so every day.
2. Most of the bad is self-inflicted and all of it is a
result of the fall!
3. Someone casts against God and accuses Him of "allowing"
bad.
a. God does allow the bad, but only for a reason.
b. God allows the bad to help us benefit from His grace.
D. But it is never God that brings the suffering and the sorrow.
1. Never. It is always sin and the wages of sin.
2. Someone asks, "When will it end?"
3. The Bible answers, "When sin is removed!"
Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither SORROW, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away.
III. If we let Him, God will do something good with the suffering.
A. This is not my guessing. This is God’s promising.
B. Romans 8:28 was introduced to me through Dr. Roberson. In
the 1940s or 50’s, Dr. Roberson lost a child while away
speaking. Of course this bothered him, but it was around
that time God gave Dr. Roberson this verse. As a result of
his daughter’s passing, God laid it on his heart to start a
camp for children. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, were
saved at Camp Joy. Dr. Roberson learned that God will bring
good out of suffering.
Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation
worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience,
hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed….
C. I am constantly repeating myself. It is not because I have
dementia yet. It is because some truths apply to many
different situations. So it is here.
1. God most likely will not do what you want Him to do with
your suffering.
2. What you would want is for Him to take it away.
3. If God was going to remove it, He probably would not have
given it in the first place.
4. But God will bring something good in your life out of your
suffering and sorrow so that when you are reminded of
that sorrow, you can see the good.
D. Herein is the problem and I mentioned it in my main point.
1. For God to bring good out of our suffering, we must allow
Him to do so.
2. That may not be completely accurate.
3. Perhaps a better way to have said it is, "For us to see
the good God has brought out of our sorrow, we must allow
God to show it to us."
a. So many are wallowing in loneliness, depression,
defeat, and sorrow, that they miss the good God is
doing in their lives and even with their sorrow.
b. I am not trying to throw stones or place blame.
c. But I know that I often do not see what I AM looking
for. How can I see what I am NOT looking for?
E. Friend, try to take your life off your loss, hurt, and sorrow,
and see the good God has done.
IV. If it is happening now, it is because it is the best time for
it.
A. I have no Bible verse for this, but I believe it to be so for
two reasons:
1. Because of God’s goodness.
2. Because of God’s power. Only God could look at every
year, every month, every day, and every second of a day
to pick a time when it was best for the person doing the
suffering, best for the ones who loved the person who
suffered, and best for the glory of God.
B. But I get that is a problem.
1. A death that comes at the age of seventy is more easily
dealt with that one that comes at the age of 7.
2. Why? Because of the timing.
3. For whatever the reason, God has allowed your sorrow to
happen now.
4. We must believe it is for some purpose.
5. If you do not believe this, you will doubt God for the
rest of your life.
V. If these things seem hard to believe, it because our faith has a
flaw.
A. If your faith is flawed, you’re in good company.
1. Peter’s faith was flawed.
2. Mark’s faith was flawed.
3. Elijah
4. Noah stumbled.
5. David tripped.
B. All of these have the common thread in that they did get over
their flawed faith to go and serve God.
C. However, there are others:
1. Lot
2. Demas
3. Phyellus
4. Hermogenes
D. These apparently did not recover.
E. Hence, two possibilities.
1. If your faith has a flaw you can either let God rebuild
it—better and stronger—or you can let your suffering
shatter your faith.
2. Some do, but I bet you don’t let that happen.
3. As I have said before, don’t waste your suffering.
4. The suffering is going to come for it is in your course
of life.
5. Don’t let the hurt and tears shatter you faith. Let God
expose the flaw in it and fix it.
F. I’ve been at this for a while now.
1. I have talked to preachers who wanted to quit.
2. I have talked to parents whose child died and they wanted
to quit.
3. I have talked to church members who have had bad
experiences and they wanted to quit.
4. But if we quit, God was not be able to work all the
bad things out for our good.
5. We must stay and endure until God brings the light from
the far end of the tunnel to us.
Don’t let your suffering go to waste. Let God do something with it.
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