Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

(sermon preached in Brecon Presbyterian Church 31st. January 2016)

Introduction

Here are some words from the new hymn we sang earlier:
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord (Matt Redman)
This song is saying, “I’ll bless and praise God when life is good and all is going well. And I’ll bless and praise God when things are hard too”.

It reminds me of this verse from the Old Testament:

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labour of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls– Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19. NKJV)

Here the prophet Habukkuk is saying exactly the same thing as the hymn writer Mat Redman – “I will keep on praising God when things go wrong”.

And Job also in the book of Job – ( although he does complain to God for the disasters that have come upon him, and he does say “why is this happening to me?” Yet it is to God that he turns in his despair and he refuses to curse him. (Job 2:9-10)

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Two responses

Well how can this be? How can people continue to praise God when life’s difficulties come their way? And what about life’s tragedies? Is it possible to still praise God?

Now it seems to me that people have generally two responses to adversity. Some cry out, “Why me God. What have I done to offend you?”. And they may find their faith in a loving God is completely shattered by their experiences of life. But others turn to God and find strength in him in their times of suffering. Sorrow turns them to him and makes them more aware of their dependence on his divine help.

Truly “God is a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1)
And so many of God’s people have found this to be true.

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The Problem of Pain

Why God allows bad things happen to good people is a mystery. It presents a philosophical problem to us – known as “the Problem of Pain”. It may be simply expressed in these words:

if God is all-loving and all-powerful, why does he allow his children to suffer? If he is all powerful, and thus can do anything, why doesn’t he protect us from suffering? Is it because he is not loving?

That’s the Problem of Pain presented in the simplest form. And it is a problem we all have to deal with. My way of coming to terms with it is this –

“God Is Love” – we know that. He has revealed himself to us in Jesus his Son, and Jesus lived and died in love. Indeed, his death was an act of love towards the whole world. Through his Cross he opened the way to Heaven for all who believe in him. He removes our sins, gives us strength by his Holy Spirit, and has prepared a home for us in heaven. The heavenly home is beyond our imagination, but we know that there will be no sorrow, sickness or pain, and death itself will be abolished. We shall be happy for eternity – praising and worshipping God. In the words of Charles Wesley: “lost in wonder, love and praise”.

Now the Apostle Paul was a man who suffered a great deal in his life. He endured great hardships, persecution, beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, poverty – all for the sake of the Gospel. He also suffered from some physical illness he referred to as his thorn In the flesh. Yes, Paul knew all about suffering. And yet he wrote these words:
Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Paul said the heavenly reward he looked forward to far outweighed the earthly suffering he endured.

And I would say that this is my take on it too. If I didn’t have a sure and certain hope of eternal Life in Jesus Christ then I myself could well doubt the existence of a loving God.
Personal experience

I remember when I was a young student in Cardiff. I had just experienced a spiritual conversion. I had come to know Jesus as my personal Saviour and Lord. For quite some time I had struggled to find assurance of faith, assurance that I really was saved. I needed assurance that my sins had been forgiven and that I had received eternal life. I just didn’t seem to be at peace – however many times I prayed and tried to dedicate my life to the Lord. But at last, after some months of struggling, that assurance came. It came in a mysterious way – I can’t describe it. All I know is that one day I was in some turmoil of spirit and unsure of my salvation, and the next day I was full of peace and joy. At that time I remember thinking, “Well, whatever life has to throw at me now, whatever sorrows may lie ahead, I’ve always got something to praise God for. He has give me salvation, and there is a place in heaven for me”.

Inexperienced as I was in life, I was thinking that even if I were to suffer pain and illness, opposition or persecution, it would still be worth it for the joys of heaven that would come afterwards. I was only a young person and I hadn’t yet tasted a great deal of life’s trials. Nonetheless, what I said then remains true in my life today. I look to the coming of the Eternal Kingdom for the final balancing and setting right of all wrongs. I look to that place where there shall be no more sorrow, crying or pain, and I trust in Jesus to get me there by the merits of his death on the cross.
Conclusion

The problem of pain remains. We are not able to say exactly why God allows people to suffer such things as natural disasters, or some of these horrible diseases. Nor can we say why he allows evil people to inflict such terrible terrible sufferings on others. We don’t know the answer to this question at present – but we will know it one day. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 – “ Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”.
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord

(Matt Redman)