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Coping With the Difficulties of Life

Wayne Galloway
12/22/24 - Sunday Evening Worship

Coping With the Difficulties of Life

Heb. 10:32b-34a

 

Introduction:

 

1.  Life is difficult and challenging.

2.  What we haven’t experienced personally we have through others.

3.  This passage speaks of “a great conflict of sufferings,” “reproaches and tribulations” and about “becoming sharers with those so treated.”  We might define this in our vernacular as “bullying.”  These were being bullied by those in more powerful positions.  Abuse is not pretty.

4.  Yet there are other things that make life difficult.  Loneliness.  Sickness.  Pain.  Emotional loss.  Mental illness.  Tragedies of every sort.  I read recently of a man and his family hit by a drunk driver.  He lost his wife, his mother and his 3-year-old daughter.  His 3 sons were painfully injured.  You have heard about the man in Germany who deliberately drove his car into a crowed shopping area.  People are disabled, divorced, lose their jobs, and lose those who are dear to them.

5.  We ask questions from our sorrows.  “What am I doing wrong?”  “How could God let this happen?”  “Will the pain ever go away?”  “Will I ever overcome the bitterness, the anger, the guilt, I feel?”  “Why is life so hard?”

6.  I read the Scriptures longing for answers.  I find the cries of others who are asking similar questions.  

7.  How are we to respond?  How are we to cope?

 

Discussion:

 

I.  The frustrations.

 

   A.  Psa. 13:1-4.  How long?

   B.  Psa. 39:1-3.  I restrained myself.  My sorrow (pain) grew worse.  My heart was 

        hot within me.

  C.  Psa. 69:1-4.  Weary from crying.  Flooded.  Parched.  Looking for deliverance but 

       nothing seen.  He waits for God.  Injustice.  Did not steal but must pay back.

  D.  Psa. 79:1-9.

  E.  Psa. 88:1-9, 13-18.  Cries to the Lord, but there is no evidence of help.

  F.  Psa. 94:1-7.  How long?  People are crushed.  Afflicted.  Widow and stranger 

       slain.  Orphan murdered.

  G.  Psa. 102:1-11.  Personal suffering.  Social isolation.  Enemies reproach me.

  H.  Psa. 109:1-5.  Done good for them, but they have repaid me evil.  I am in prayer.  

         Do not be silent.  Is he expecting silence?  Has he already experienced silence?

         Is he saying, “Don’t be silent any longer?”

     I.  Cf. Jer. 20:7-10, 14-18.

 

II.  The temptations.

 

    A.  The difficulties and frustrations make us want to escape.  Suicide becomes 

         attractive (cf. Jer. 20:14-18).

    B.  We want to deflect the pain and use various avoidance mechanisms.

          1.  Many form addictions after they experience loss(death, relationships, job, 

               etc.).  Our sense of orderliness and familiarity is turned upside down.  Our 

               desperation and disorientation cause us to go berserk on binges.  We 

               saturate our senses with anything that will satisfy for the moment.

          2.  We watch TV every moment.  We work 60 hours a week.  We drink alcohol.  

               We use drugs.  We eat.  We go on sexual rampages.  We spend money.  We 

               pursue relationships (Jn. 4:18).  We pursue pleasure (1 Pet. 4:3).

          3.  We are trying to avoid the pain.  Or maybe we are feeling numb and we hurt 

               ourselves just to feel anything or we may feel guilty and think we deserve to 

               hurt and so we punish ourselves.

    C.  We become angry.  Ex.  The Psalmists.  Jeremiah.  Job.  

          1.  At ourselves.  We feel guilty.  We blame ourselves.

          2.  At God.  “How could you?”  “Why don’t you . . .?”  

          3.  At our enemy.  “I hope God punishes him/her/them.”  “I will punish them.  I 

               am going to give them what they deserve.  I want them to hurt the way they 

               have hurt me.”

          4.  Just angry.  Cursing reflects anger at God, at another, at oneself.

    D.  We bargain.  

          1.  With ourselves.  “I deserve to hurt.”  “I don’t deserve this; I deserve 

               pleasure.”

          2.  With God.  “If you will rescue me . . . I will . . ..”

    E.  Like the Psalmists, like Jeremiah, like Job we think God is just silent in response 

         to all our frustrations.  We ask “Why?”  We ask, “How long?”  There seems to be 

         no answer.  Maybe we are not able to understand, comprehend or appreciate 

         the answer.  Maybe no answer will be satisfactory to us.

 

III.  The faith.

 

     A.  Psa. 93:1-5.  The Lord reigns.

     B.  Psa. 91:1-4, 11-16.  The call to faith.

            1.  Faith does not know all the answers.

            2.  Faith may ask questions for which there are no answers.

            3.  Faith endures (Heb. 10:35-39).

 

Conclusion:

 

1.  I hope that you understand that your frustrations are O.K.  The people of God throughout the ages have been frustrated, perplexed, and questioning.

2.  Be careful that you don’t allow those frustrations to lead you into sinful and unhealthy ways of responding.  The devil is adept at using our attempts to avoid and deflect painful experiences to destroy us.  

3.  Sometimes we must walk together through the valley of the shadow of death (Psa. 23:4).

4.  “My righteous one shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:37-38; Cf. Hab. 2:3-4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11).