The Reality of a Suffering World Wrecked by Sin

WE ALL SHOULD KNOW but we DON’T know as we should, that the hatefulness of SIN is the cause of ALL suffering on earth, and has always been, since the Garden of Eden and the fall of man by the enticement of Satan.  DEATH itself, and all suffering short of death, the very curse of the earth is due to sin.

If you open your eyes, if you do any reading of the trials, tribulations and suffering of others, you know but a speck of what has been taking place on this sin-cursed planet for some six thousand years.

So DEATH is the wages of  SIN, but GRIEF is the fruit of sin, along with all suffering. Sure, I have suffered loss and I have experienced devastating grief in losing a precious help-meet and wife.  Not that it  eases that loss, but this is common to man—others have had terrible losses, too, and went on living. My father once went to the doctor for arthritis, only to be told by the doctor, “You are not the only one.” In other words, arthritis is a common ailment. But that is not much help when YOU are the one hurting.

But really, it DOES help some when what we are going through is known to be “common to man.” The Bible itself will attest to this:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Now isn’t THAT a gracious promise!!!

Furthermore, our everlasting and continual attitude should be, no matter what our suffering, that OTHERS have and ARE suffering even worse, and we should have feeling  for them, and even be thankful to God that we are not any worse off than we are. For we ALL have more mercies and grace in life than we rightfully deserve!

After my wife went to be with the Lord, a very dear Christian brother (who is in the habit of sending me good reading material from time to time), send me an older book entitled, “They Looked for a City,” by Lydia Buksbazen. It is the incredible story of a Jewish family in Eastern Europe, tasting suffering and death, like when Russian Cossacks brutally ride down shoppers on their fast horses, especially focusing on molesting the Jewish population. The story that is told by Lydia Buksbazen about her parents and family during these years is heart-touching and heart-wrenching. The cruelty and brutality is inhumane and  makes your heart cry out just to read about it, knowing that it was not a “story” for them but it was stark REALITY! Sheer, raw SUFFERING!

But this gripping, spell-binding book is just one such story.  We cannot even imagine the drama, the conflict, and the stories of terrible, horrendous suffering that fill this world cursed by SIN.  For man, suffering and grief becomes a way of life; it is permanent, more or less as far as this life goes. But thank God, He WILL put an END to EVERYTHING bad in His own time. He will completely defeat death. And all fruit of death, which is itself the fruit of SIN, will be done away. There will then be no more sin, no more wickedness, no more evil—not even an evil or unholy thought will remain. No more suffering; no more pain; and no more sickness, or any such thing.

In the meantime, especially for the godly, for the Christian, this world is a virtual battlefield. It is a training camp. Just think about how gracious and powerful God is, that He can take such evil things, like death and grief and turn them around for the GOOD of His people, and to His own glory. He can take these bad things that later will not even exist, and make them for the improvement and the betterment of His people whom He loves with an eternal love.  Satan thought to really defeat God with his massive destruction, but, after all, his worst efforts are only TEMPORARY. Even his time is short!  His chain is getting shorter and shorter. His time is drawing to a close, even as we speak. And that is what is making him so mad, or angry. He has power, but it is limited and will soon end forever. “The desire of the wicked shall perish.” (Psalm 112:10)

Asaph the psalmist at one time was feeling sorry for himself. He saw the prosperity of the wicked and thought his attempts to live a holy and righteous life were for nought. Upon thinking on this, he says it “was too painful” for him. That is, until he went into the sanctuary   of God for corrective thought. At this point he said, “Then understood I their end. Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.” (See Psalm 73.)

Asaph ends his psalm in triumph. Just listen to his beautiful testimony:

“Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from Thee SHALL PERISH: Thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from Thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy  works.”

Had YOU rather be classed with the wicked or with Asaph?

If anyone wants to learn of the end of the wicked, just look up in a complete Bible concordance the  word “wicked.” You will see more than you can thoroughly study. God leaves no question marks. Here are just a few:

“For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

(Psalm 37: 9-11)

“But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the END of the WICKED shall be cut off.” (Psalm 37:38)

Let the sinners be consumed OUT OF THE EARTH, and let the WICKED be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.” (Psalm 104:35)

“Violence shall NO MORE be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.   . . . The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” (See Isaiah 60.)

TRULY, TRULY, TRULY, the Eternal Land of glory is coming as the inheritance of all of God’s saints. Even death has to bow and will end. For God can even now say, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15)

Most essential is to have the heart-realization that we are not just IN a sinful world, but we ourselves are sin with a lost and fallen nature. We are by nature “children of wrath even as others” (Ephesians 2:3).  We in no way can save ourselves yet we need saving. Even for us to “believe” is “the work of God,” as is the new birth which is God creating us in Christ Jesus (John 6:29; 2 Cor. 5:17; Galatians 6:15). Nothing creates itself, in nature or in spirit.

Most essential is to have the heart-realization that we are not just IN a sinful world, but we ourselves are sin with a lost and fallen nature. We are by nature “children of wrath even as others” (Ephesians 2:3).  We in no way can save ourselves yet we need saving. Even for us to “believe” is “the work of God,” as is the new birth which is God creating us in Christ Jesus (John 6:29; 2 Cor. 5:17; Galatians 6:15). Nothing creates itself, in nature or in spirit.