Aug 27, 2017
by: Jack Lash Series: God's Holy Book | Category: Scripture | Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:3, Psalm 119:71
- Introduction
A. Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
B. Background
1. Moses’ last words, reminding the Israelites, exhorting the Israelites, warning the Israelites.
2. But also: Explaining the last 40 years
a. He delivered several million people from Egypt but then led them into the wilderness, a place where there was no water and no food.
3. I believe there will be a lot of this kind of explaining in the new heavens and the new earth.
II. Explanation of Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
A. He let you hunger? Really?
1. Are you hungry? For a job, for a better job, for a spouse, for a changed spouse, for a child, for more money, for a better place to live, for more excitement?
2. Deuteronomy 8:14–16 “the LORD your God...who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
a. He was doing them good in the end!
B. So what good is suffering? What is this good purpose God had for allowing them to suffer?
1. “He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
2. In order to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, He took away their bread.
3. To help them realize how much they need the word of God. To help them realize that their real food is the word of God.
4. Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.”
5. John 4:32, 34 Jesus said, “I have food you don’t know about. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
6. If all we had was earthly bliss, we would never worry about eternal things.
7. Earthly disillusionment leads us to eternal hope.
C. We tend to think that our happiness is dependent on our earthly comfort, pleasure and success and the approval of others. But God wants to teach us that this is completely wrong. Sometimes He does this by reducing people to a state of poverty, pain or trouble.
D. Suffering helps us know our need for better things than this world can give. .. When we experience lots of earthly enjoyments, we often don’t feel the need for anything else. But when we are oppressed by troubles, then earthly enjoyments no longer provide us satisfaction. And if the Spirit moves in our hearts, then our hearts begin to yearn for something more substantial, something on which our souls may rest, something conducive to our spiritual and eternal welfare.
E. This happened to the Prodigal son. While he was whooping it up in luxury and pleasure, he didn’t have a care in the world. But when his money ran out, and couldn’t find help or pity from man, then he began to reflect on the abundance in his Father’s house, and to desire it.
F. We tend to think that true living is success or approval from others, or fun or pleasure or riches.
1. God’s goal in this is to teach us that He is the source of our live and happiness, not the things of this world.
2. As Paul says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil.1:21)
3. You see, if you have God, you have everything, and without Him, you have nothing.
4. The word of God is more basic to our existence than food.
5. Jesus is the true food. Jesus is the bread of life. (John 6:55, 35)
G. This is what God is teaching us in our suffering. And one day He’ll show us why He did it all in detail.
1. I can’t wait to hear the story of the Lord’s dealings with me from my birth to the end of my life.
2. If our stories were told with the insight we’re given here about the story of the Jews in the wilderness, we would see how similar our experience is to theirs.
III. But being weaned off earthly satisfactions is not the only purpose of suffering with regard to the Bible. Listen to Ps. 119:71: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
A. Suffering helps us to learn God’s word and understand God’s word.
B. It helps us see that God’s word is true and good.
C. Some things in the Bible you can’t understand till you suffer enough.
D. Hebrews 12:6 “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and corrects every son whom he receives.”
E. Divine discipline is designed to teach the beloved children of God.
F. Discipline is designed to open the ears. It drives us to listen. It drives home the truth of the word.
G. Ps.94:12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law.
H. Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
I. Don’t we learn things like these:
1. Psalm 50:15 “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
2. Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
J. Like many of you, I’ve learned these truths through suffering.
K. 2Corinthians 1:8–9 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
L. Think about how many people who never approach the door of a church or open the Bible until a crisis crashes upon their life and all of a sudden they are ready to listen.
M. Martin Luther: “I never knew the meaning of God’s word, until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of my best schoolmasters.”
N. Jms1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” It’s sent to teach us!
IV. Application
A. We know we should be spending time in God’s word. We know we should be giving more attention to the things of God in our lives. But we’re so busy, and there’s so many other things to do.
1. And so in love God sends troubles to teach us how much we need to listen to Him.
2. So often we don’t seek God in His word when we’re at ease.
3. He’s got to get us desperate enough before we start coming to His word hungry.
4. And if we don’t listen to minor troubles, He sends us major troubles — not because He’s angry, but because He loves us.
5. The wonderful thing is that we have a Father who loves us dearly and is committed to our eternal welfare and has many tools at His disposal and knows us how to use them.
B. Not everyone listens, of course.
1. Some children resent the rod of God, they sit angrily reflecting on the pain they have experienced (see Is.9:13) instead of listening to their Father who is in heaven.
2. Clutching their idol ever closer, instead of listening to His word to throw our idols away.
3. Pr.29:1 “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.”
4. The worst affliction is the wasted affliction, affliction which proves fruitless in our lives & hearts.
5. Then we have all the suffering and none of the benefit.
6. This is why Hebrews 12:5 says “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when corrected by him.
7. It is so easy for me to try to pray away my discipline instead of address the reason why God sent the discipline in the first place. My focus is on getting rid of the pain, not on listening to God.
C. But Jesus wants us to look for Him in the midst of suffering.
1. Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”
2. Psalm 23:4–5 “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
3. 2Corinthians 1:5 “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
4. There is a way we meet Jesus in pain, which we can’t meet Him when everything’s fine.
5.There’s a way He speaks to us in our distress which He doesn’t when we are just going along.
6. It’s called the fellowship of Christ’s suffering (Phil.3:10)
D. We read Ps.119:71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
1. The song of the redeemed in heaven: “It is good for me that I was afflicted!”
2. Times when God takes something very precious away from us: but then gives us something better, for He gives us Himself.