Lessons Learned in Suffering

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast - where our aim is to connect our global family of sovereign grace churches with our executive director. Mark, there is a kind of Christianity that is taught in the evangelical world that leaves the impression that the Christian life is one of moving from one glory to the next. It’s full of absolute joy, prospering, successful and healthy, which would be quite the opposite what you read in the Bible because the Christian life is marked so often by suffering and loss - always marked by need. We are dependent people, but certainly marked by weakness. Weakness is a common experience for the Christian. You wanted to talk to us about that.

Mark Prater:

Yes, I did. As Christians, we walk through suffering, loss, challenges, and trials that we never thought we would walk through. And as a result of those, we can become discouraged. We can lose heart, we can face our own dark night of the soul. It's what Martin Lloyd Jones might term as a spiritual depression. We can all get in those places. When we do, one of the gifts God has given us are those saints that have went before us and had their own dark night of the soul experiences and captured lessons that we can learn from. One of them is Charles Spurgeon, who was a man who suffered in a number of different ways but including facing times of just going through what he called “The Slough of Despond” - his own dark night of the soul. And if you have his book, Lectures to My Students, he dedicates a chapter to this entitled A Minister's Fainting Fits, where he's very honest about his own darkness and how he addresses it. It’s also captured in a book entitled Spurgeon, A Life, written by Alex DiPrima. He has a chapter entitled Finding Strength Amid Weakness (chapter 11). Alex talks about Spurgeon’s weaknesses in a couple of different ways.

He categorizes them in a few ways. First were the physical afflictions he faced. Spurgeon had a chronic kidney problem, probably would be diagnosed today as Bright's disease. He also had rheumatoid gout. Spurgeon tries to describe the pain to others when he had those cases of gout. Here's what he said,

“Put your foot in a vice and turn the screw as tight as you can - that is rheumatism; give it an extra turn, and that is rheumatic gout.”

That's the pain that he suffered physically. Those were part of ways that he encountered his own weakness and then he also faced mental anguish as well. Again, what Lloyd Jones might call ‘spiritual depression’, what he would term as going through ‘the slough of despond’ at times in his life that brought him pretty low. What he did in all of that is he tried to learn from it. In fact, DiPrima points this out. He said,

“To understand Spurgeon, we must recognize that although he suffered greatly, he suffered successfully as a child of God. Much of His piety as a Christian and as a minister was forged in the fires of distress and affliction. Moreover, perseverance through suffering became a part of the saver of his ministry and a major motif in his preaching.”

Then he writes this beautiful sentence,

“Spurgeon was like a person who plunged into caves of deep darkness and returned with priceless treasures to share with suffering Christians everywhere.”

And it's those lessons that DiPrima goes on to capture. This chapter is good for us to read and to learn from in terms of how Spurgeon responded, both his physical affliction and his mental affliction that he faced and how he suffered successfully as a child of God. Because in those moments, we can lose heart and want to give up. And yet God has so many good purposes intended in our moments of weakness and suffering in trial.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes, it's an excellent book. I did read it after the last time that you talked about on the podcast. It's a wonderful, wonderful book. Spurgeon was just a walking collection of issues including the anguish that he experienced emotionally, mentally from that fire at the music hall when he was preaching and how he carried that with him and the anxiety that came along with that for his whole life. And so he certainly is instructive for us and DiPrima has done an excellent job among other fine biographers of showing us that. And so in his chapter about these lessons that you're describing, you said he provides us with three lessons, what we want to learn from Mr. Spurgeon, what he learned. And so what are those three lessons?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, it's those treasures that he brings up from the cave of darkness. Here's the first one. The first lesson Spurgeon learned in his suffering is that trials are intended by God to sanctify his people. So true. He came to see that God is pleased to use affliction and adversity to refine, humble and sanctify his children to make them more like Christ. And he says this, this is Spurgeon.

“I am sure that I have run more swiftly with a lame leg than I ever did with a sound one. I'm certain that I've seen more in the dark than I ever saw in the light. More stars, most certainly more things in heaven if fewer things on earth. The anvil, the fire and the hammer are the making of us. We do not get fashion much by anything else. That heavy hammer falling on us helps to shape us, therefore let affliction and trouble and trial come…”

In other words, it is far better to go through it with a godward orientation and in the process become more like Christ. That's much more precious than trying to avoid the trial. And we somehow think we can and we really can't because God has sovereignly designed them for us. And I can relate to that. I was just walking through something recently that I was facing and trying to lead through. I was discouraged and I realized that my discouragement - which I think was legitimate - moved towards sinful or drifted towards sinful self-pity.

And I was just grateful that the spirit of God convicted me. It’s something I was confessing in my fellowship group, and I had told Jill and I told them, I said, ‘God cares much more about my holiness than he does the situation I'm facing or how I'm going to lead through it. He cares much more about me growing in Christ.’ And you know what? That is an amazing love for me that I'm so grateful for.

And I really do mean that because it was just walking through a challenge that I was having trouble leading through that revealed immaturity and sin in my life and God loved me and wanted me to grow. I'm very grateful for that particular lesson that Spurgeon points out.

Here's the second one, a second lesson. Spurgeon gleaned is that suffering is meant to lead the Christian to deeper experiences of communion with God. Amen. He recognized that God's purpose is to use suffering to draw believers into a richer relationship with him and a deeper experience of his love. Spurgeon learned that God perfects his power in the weaknesses sorrows and suffering of his people. So well said. He quotes Spurgeon,

“If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else, it is for pain and suffering…”

Can you write that challenge? I don't know if I could write that.

“...I am sure that in these things, the richest tenders, love has been manifested towards me. Love letters from heaven are often sent in black edged envelopes.”

Just so well said, right?

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah.

Mark Prater:

God is loving us in the midst of our weaknesses and suffering and trials. In doing so, drawing us closer to himself. What an amazing love. We get to know him in a way we would never know him if we didn't walk through some of the challenges that sovereignty brings our way or wrestle with some of the weaknesses that we have. Okay, third and last lesson. The third lesson, Spurgeon learned through suffering is how to sympathize with other sufferers. Spurgeon's experience of physical pain, depression, and other forms of distress created within him. Compassion for the afflicted and downcast.

It marked his preaching as he pointed out. And in fact, Spurgeon was one that just exhorted his congregation that way to look upon others suffering in a specific way. DiPrima points out,

“Spurgeon urged those among his congregation who were equated with great affliction and trial not to judge harshly those who suffer.”

 And this is what he said in a sermon that he gave to his church. This is Spurgeon,

“Especially judge not the sons and daughters of sorrow. Allow no ungenerous suspicions of the afflicted, the poor and the despondent. Do not hastily say they ought to be more brave and exhibit a greater faith. Ask not why are they so nervous and so absurdly fearful? I beseech you, remember that you understand not your fellow man but they are under God and God has taken them through them.”

So really, really well said. It is a lesson he applied to his pastoral ministry. He applied to his preaching and he led his church really as I think Piper has said, ‘let his church to suffer well’. And in doing so, to walk with patient endurance with other saints that are going through suffering.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. As he wrote those things with confidence, you feel a little bit your head's down. I thank God for the suffering more than anything else in my life - now that is maturity for sure. But like you're saying, when we understand that weakness is the opportunity for God's power and glory to be displayed in our lives, then we have a rich purpose in it. Now to be clear, we're not talking about sin. “I'm just weak. So I gave myself over to that sin again.” Sin is to be put to death.

But the ordinary experience of need, weakness, deficiency is part of the Christian life. And we need to learn those lessons that Spurgeon learned so well. And then the pastors checking out this podcast, we need to learn those lessons personally because then we need to communicate, transmit, transfer those lessons to our churches as well, so that we do get to serve churches that have learned how to suffer well. It's part of our responsibility and it's a privilege for us as pastors. And like I said, all of this gives meaning and purpose to those dark moments, those dark nights of the soul to know this is not an expression of condemnation. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). We have been taken out of the realm and possibility of ever being condemned, which means whatever we face has passed through the loving heart of God and he knows what's best for us. So Mark, thank you for encouraging us in our regular experiences of weakness so that we can be men, women, and children who walk through this life experiencing weakness successfully for the glory of God. And so thank you, Mark. Thank you all for checking out the podcast and we'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.