Transcript
As I thought about my own experience, I wanted to organize my thoughts, my experience for others in these two categories -- the traps that every sufferer faces and the comfort that is offered every sufferer in the gospel; and the traps are many.
The Trap of Doubt
Let's just take the trap of doubt. Doubt gives the devil an opportunity in my life. There [are] two kinds of doubt. There's the doubt of wonderment. We all have that because, again, we don't get the script ahead of time, so we're always wondering what is God doing and why is He doing it.
But then there's the doubt of judgment. That's the doubt where I've concluded God isn't good and that what He's doing isn't good. The reason that gives the enemy an opportunity is because the minute I conclude God isn't good, I doubt His goodness, I quit running to Him for help because you don't go for help to someone that you no longer trust.
Fear is one of those things. Fear is a good thing on one hand but if fear rules your heart, there are things that you need to grab a hold of that you won't grab a hold of. There are things that you need to do that you won't do because fear is paralyzing. So immediately on my suffering, I'm cast into places of temptation that I've never been in before. This means that a sufferer doesn't just need comfort, he needs warning because there are traps ahead of that person that, unless he's warned, are likely for that person to fall into.
The Trap of Discouragement
A trap of discouragement. What does that say? "What difference does it make? I'm going through this. Why read my Bible? Why pray? Why do the good things I'm doing every day?" If you don't believe that that's a trap for a sufferer, read Psalm 73. That's entirely what Psalm 73 is about.
I love these words. "For no reason have I kept myself pure." That's the psalmist saying, "I've obeyed for this? I've obeyed you and I get hammered? Forget it. Why am I doing this?" Those traps again illustrate your responses in suffering, how profoundly they shape the experience of suffering.
