* The trials of life are simply a reminder that we are not God.
* They are an essential ingredient in spirituality.
* Trials are the pathway to growth, but they involve pain.
* And pain, according to Skip Moen, “… re-establishes the order of subordination.”
* In Job, we see there are two ways to respond to pain - positive and negative.
* Positive = acceptance / Negative = rejection.
* Acceptance = submission / Rejection = control.
* Positive - Accepting pain grounds you with reality.
* Reality - You are not God, you are not in charge, you need to align yourself “under” Him.
* Accepting pain recognizes that God has the authority to do what He pleases with His creation.
* Acceptance is true obedience - “cooperation without explanation.”
* Acceptance brings peace and builds faith.
* EX: Jake’s back - “accept it” - Proverbs 18:14 - “A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness.”
* vs 21 - “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
* Job properly accepted the pain, and this is why he was commended for his faith.
* There’s also a negative side to pain:
* Rejecting pain leads to a desire to control.
* You refuse to accept your role as a created part of someone else’s universe.
* It begins with the denial that life should include suffering.
* It is egocentric and demands an explanation like an unruly child.
* It pushes you more and more into a spirit of domination.
* You seek to become god rather than accept God.
* In the West, pain is wrong!
* Pain is anti-human and I must do all I can to bring it into submission.
* In this kind of world, I must become my own god.
* But Job reminds us that we are not God and since we are not, we must learn what pain has to teach us.
* EX: Jesus said we’ll always have the poor w/us.
* Key - when pain comes, submit to God and accept the pain.
* Don’t reject it in a desire to control your situation.
* Otherwise, you’ll become a god unto yourself.