TEXT: Psalm 39:9

SUBJECT: Mute Christian #2

Tonight, with God’s blessing, we’ll proceed in our study of The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod. The author is Thomas Brooks; the topic is Suffering with Grace.

When it comes to suffering, you have no choice. But you do have a choice on how to suffer. Most people don’t suffer well. They rant and rave; they sulk and whine; some even blaspheme God or deny His existence. The reactions are understandable, of course. But they're not safe or right.

The Lord wants His people to suffer quietly. That is, not to rage or murmur when things go wrong. The silence He wants is not stoicism (or a lack of feeling); it’s not pouting; it’s not despair.

Thomas Brooks describes it as

They are (a) the sovereignty of God, (b) the justice of God, (c) the goodness of God, and (d) faith in the promises of God. If you know and believe these things, you can suffer with grace.

Don’t get me wrong! These things don’t make suffering easy. Pain hurts. It hurt Judas Iscariot; it hurt Jesus Christ. It hurts you and me too. The subject, therefore, is not How to Avoid Pain or How to Reduce Pain, but How to Live With Pain in a Way That Pleases God and Does Your Soul Good.

Before he tells us how to suffer quietly, the Puritan tells us why we should want to. He asks,

That’s a very good question! Why shouldn’t we get mad at God when He does something we don’t like? Why shouldn’t we dump all over people when we’re hurt? Thomas Brooks gives us eight reasons to Suffer Quietly. We’ll look at the first four tonight, Lord willing.

You cannot talk and listen at the same time. The more you speak, the less you hear. God gave you two ears and one mouth. He wants you to use them in that proportion. The Bible says so, James 1:19,

"Be swift to hear,

C.S. Lewis called pain "God’s megaphone to rouse a sleeping world". He was right. Suffering teaches us things we’d never learn from books or sermons. But, of course, we’re only taught these things if we’re quiet enough to hear them.

If you spank your kids, you know when the paddle is not doing its job. It’s doing no good as long as the child is screaming! It’s when he "gives him" that he’s ready to learn.

The same is true of God’s children. Our Father’s discipline does us no good until we accept it. Proverbs 29:15 says "The rod and reproof give wisdom". And they do. But only when we’re quiet enough to hear them.

Then he goes on to compare our problems to a switch with many twigs on it.

My mother used to switch me. For small offenses, she used the branch of a fruitless mulberry (it’s fairly smooth). But when I did something worse, she went to the apricot tree. To this day, I can feel every little point on that knotty branch.

God speaks to us in our problems. We only hear His voice, though, if we’re quiet.

That’s the first reason to be quiet under the rod—so you can hear the voice of God in your suffering.

How do most people suffer? Watch TV—everyone is abused. Listen to the radio—everyone is a victim. After making the movie Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg was asked if he ever knew anti-semitism first hand. He answered, "Once in school, I was called a Jew-boy". He likened a stupid, school-boy insult to the Holocaust! One of the richest, most powerful men in America feels like a victim!

Most people don’t suffer quietly. They agonize in public, often over the most trifling things. This is no new thing. 350 years ago, Thomas Brooks described them,

Here’s one way we can be different. Believers suffer as much as unbelievers. By taking it with grace, therefore, we can show them that Jesus Christ matters! That even in sickness and loss and confusion, His

Why should you suffer without murmuring? Because it sets you apart from the world. That’s Number Two.

The Lord suffered more than other men. And more quietly, too. I won’t rehearse the pains He endured. Just remember they were both physical and spiritual, both intense and life long.

Yet would anyone say He was a crybaby? That Jesus Christ murmured against God or griped about the way people were treating Him?

The Bible says just the opposite. He prayed for deliverance, but when He knew it would not come, He submitted,

When people abused Him, what did He do?

"He opened not His mouth".

And more than that, He

The example of our Lord should be followed. Brooks says,

God has willed His people to be like Christ. Part of that conformity is to suffer quietly. When you’re tempted to lash out at God or others for how they’re treating you, I urge you to obey Pontius Pilate, and

On this one, the Puritan minces no words,

In other words, it is better to have all the problems in the world than to gripe about a hangnail. Here’s why: There is no guilt in having problems. The guilt comes from murmuring about them.

God never reproved His people for hungering or thirsting in the Wilderness. No! There’s no shame in these things. To hunger and thirst is human. They were punished for griping about their hunger and thirst. The Bible says they,

Problems are not sinful. Complaining about them is. What’s more, when we have problems, the Lord draws near, Isaiah 63:9. But he can’t stand whining! When He hears it, He leaves.

That’s why the Puritan is right. That’s why it is better to suffer every problem in the world than to murmur about the smallest thing.

Let me ask you a personal question: Are you a complainer? I didn’t ask you if you have something to complain about—we all do. But do you complain about them?

No one’s perfect, of course, so let me put it to another way: Do you complain about things all the time? Or, most of the time? Or even a good deal of the time?

If you do, let me remind you that God cares about your problems. But He wants to trust Him enough to not complain about them.

David wrote Psalm 39:9 at a time of great suffering. His heart was bubbling with anger, he mouth was ready to justify himself and indict the people who were doing him wrong, but he held back…

Because he knew that—behind all his problems—was the God who loved him and brought these things into his life for His own glory and David’s good.

Long before the hymn was written, David knew enough to,

May God teach you and me that lesson too. Amen.