"The Lord Gives and the Lord Takes Away"

“Stare at the glory of God until you see it.” Ray Ortlund

1. Satan is attacking; his attacks are the means of his defeat, by God’s design, Job 1:12, 20-22; 2:10; Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28.

2. Satan's desire is to make you a disgruntled Christian. He uses pain and pleasure.
“With all his hatred of God and spite against His people, he cannot emancipate himself from that sovereign control, which binds him to God's service. In all his blasphemous designs he is, in spite of himself, doing the work of God. In his rebellious efforts to dethrone the Most High, he is actually paying Him submissive homage. In moving heaven and earth to accomplish the perdition of those whom Christ has ransomed, he is actually fitting them for glory. Fiend as he is, full of bitterness and malignity, and intent on every form of mischief, he is constrained to be that which he most abhors, and is furthest from his intentions and desires, helpful and auxiliary to the designs of grace.” William Henry Green

3. Suffering…
   A. Reminds us that this world is broken, Romans 8:20-23.
   B. Is the consequence of Adam's and our sin, Genesis 3; Hebrews 12:6-7.
   C. Keeps us dependent on God, 2 Corinthians 1; Job 19:25-27.
   D. Makes us long for heaven, Romans 8:18; Revelation 7:15-17.
   E. Makes us more like Christ, Job 23:8-12; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Philippians 3.
   F. Awakens the lost to their need for God, Psalm 119:67, 71.
“We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C. S. Lewis

   G. Works in us so that Christ will be our strength and He will get the glory, John 9; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 12:9-10; Ephesians 3:13.
“The demonstration of the worth of God in the faith and reverence of his people is the most important matter in the world.” John Piper
   H. Keeps us trusting, Job 26:14.
   I. Is answered ultimately in the Cross, Matthew 16:25; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 2 Corinthians 4:6-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

4. It is a great comfort to know that God sustains and keeps us; He sends good and adversity; He has plans for us that if we knew their full extent, we would NEVER change them, Job 2:10, 41-42; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 45:6 Lamentations 3:37-40, 19-36; Amos 3:1-8.
   A. Be honest about pain, Job 1:20.
   B. Forgive.
   C. Submit to God’s sovereignty. “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases." "He does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What doest thou?'" "The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life."
   D. Rest in the work of the Cross. “It is finished”. “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
“Stare at the glory of God until you see it.” Ray Ortlund