I'm Hurting - What are you gonna do about it God?

March 30, 2003
Jeffri Pommerening

Isaiah 43:1-3
2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Being a youth minister means that week in and week out I deal with the toughest of theological questions: "What are we doing tonight?" "Do we have to?" and, of course, my favorite, "What kind of pizza are we getting?"

Seriously, working with teens can mean tackling some of the most basic, yet toughest theological questions. Teens are on part of their faith journey where they are just reaching the age that they can grasp this concept of faith in something that we can not see or touch or feel, but because of that abstractness, the questions will undoubtedly arise. Let me tell you of one such situation that I was recently confronted with.

One young lady, Carrie, was a teen whose faith in God I could tell did not really exist, but I knew that she was beginning to question. During a worship experience, I prayed fervently for God to enter Carrie's life so she could experience God's love. Well, the spirit must have been at work because afterwards, she wanted to talk to me. We stepped aside from the group and I asked her what's up. She proceeded to tell me about how she has seen kids with incredible faith so happy during worship and how she wanted that. She told me that she wanted to learn the Bible. I asked her why and she told me she thought that was the first step to becoming a Christian and having a relationship with God. I told her that she had just taken the first step. It was then that she hit me with one of those basic, tough problems. She told me she was afraid of having a relationship with God, because every relationship that she's been in, she's gotten hurt.

Wow, the openness, the honesty. I was awestruck, impressed, and amazed that she'd be so open about that and think so deeply at once. Now, I had to think of what to tell her. You see, Carrie was right - her life has been full of hurt. She has an alcoholic parent, and she made bad choices which led to problems at school, at home, and much more. Now Carrie's life has turned around, and here she is in front of me, yet she's obviously still hurting. She has problems and she wants to know what God is going to do about them.

Now, when writing this sermon, I avoided the question of where that hurt comes from. I figured that we may never know the answer to that question and the sermon would be so long that we'd never get out of here. My other thought was that knowing where the hurt comes from is not going to help Carrie. When you're hurting and you question why it happened, you can begin to question God, and in the long run, you can end up farther from God.

I had a friend who was once asked if she believed in God, she responded quickly with a no, and yet, provided no reason why. If she had done so, you would know that her lack of faith comes from questioning why God would allow her sister to die so young from cancer. She was hurting, she questioned, and she ended up away from God, blaming God, denying God's existence. In Sunday School, we are taught to believe God always loves us no matter what. This obviously did not help my friend. She obviously did not see God at work in her life and now she will tell you there is no God.

We all experience hurt. Why do I believe God wants to be in our hurt, and hold us like a parent and support us and protect us, while my friend blames God?

Well, let's do Carrie's first step. If you want to know God, you turn to the one piece of physical evidence of knowing God that we believe we still have. The Bible.

I asked Carol and Ralph, uh, I mean - I went searching through my vast array of resources at the church, for a Bible verse that tells us how God wants to be with us in our hurt and will protect us. What was inspiringly given to my by my resources, was Isaiah 43:1-3, just read by Ted. Do you remember what it said about how God works in our lives? When we pass through the rivers, God will be with us; the rivers won't overwhelm us, heck - we can even walk through fire and not be burned or consumed by flames.

I went to the National Youthworker's convention recently, and saw a fabulous speaker by the name of Rob Bell. Rob is the Senior Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Grandville, Michigan. He has done wonderful research about Christ's teachings and has begun a new series of teaching videos called Nooma. In his first film, He talks about going for a walk carrying his child in one of those backpack carriers, and a storm begins to roll in. So he walks faster, and it rains harder, so now, he brings his child to his front and tries to cover him and protect him from the rain.

That's what Isaiah is saying here. Even when you are hurt, and suffering, God will protect us so we won't be overwhelmed. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Can't you just imagine God's arms surrounding you with his love?

There is one thing, however, that happens in Rob's video that is not quite mentioned in Isaiah. Remember, Rob is a parent, he's holding his little kid the whole time on this walk and when the rain falls, he's protecting him, but he does something else. See, his child begins to cry and scream in the cold, hard rain as they are walking. So, like any parent would, Rob begins to comfort and console his child. He whispers into his ear saying "I'm here, don't worry, I'll get you home, it's okay."

I didn't see that in Isaiah. Protection... not getting overwhelmed, not getting burnt - all that's great, but if I'm picturing God as a parent, and that's what we're told in our Sunday School days, I'd want God to comfort and console me too. I don't know about you, but the first thing I did when I was hurt when I was a kid, was go running to find mom or dad.

I did some digging. I went looking farther. All the way into Corinth. Well, 2^nd Corinthians anyways. And I didn't have to go far. Right in the beginning of that book, verses 3-5, the apostle Paul begins his letter with an opening blessing to "The God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction." Now I feel better don't you? God will console us in all of our hurt and in all of our suffering. Abundant consolation through Christ, Paul tells us.

Remember, Paul and his fellow Christians suffered. They suffered a lot in their ministry. They suffered things that we don't even know about (as we find out here in 2 Corinthians.) He goes on to say that they were "so unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself." (2 Cor 1:8) But did Paul lose hope in God? Did he question or blame God? Did he lose faith? No. Because he knew that God was there consoling him and comforting him.

So now, using Carrie's first step of learning the bible,

I have the information that I was looking for. I know that in my hurt and suffering, God will protect me. I know that in my hurt and suffering, God will console me. So much so, according to Paul, that I will be able to do the same for others.

So, what do we do? When we are hurting or suffering - what can we do to receive all of this wonderful protection and consolation? Well according to Peter in 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." Remember asking mom or dad for help when you are hurt? Well, that's all we have to do, is ask God and Jesus for help when we are hurt.

William Muehl in "Why Preach? Why Listen?" tells what it's all about.

Now here I am with Carrie, confronted with a hurting teen who has been through a great deal in her life. She's made bad choices, her family has too, and now she's here, in front of me, ready to have a relationship with God but afraid of being hurt. And I can tell her that while we may never know where hurt comes from or why it happens?

We do know that God will protect us so we won't be overwhelmed, we do know that God will console us with love through Christ, and we know God will do all of that just for taking it to him.