Questions

Dear bro Keith,

Greetings to you and your family in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. Hope all is well with you all, my regards to you all.

Please my father and beloved in the Lord, satan have vowed that he wont leave my poor family alone. Since 2009 till date we have not cease from visiting hospital base on sickness. My family now have become talk of the town, two days ago i asked my mother if she and my late father have ever indulge in any form of evil in the past and she said no, and now the question is why is satan wickeding innocent family? what did we do wrong? who have we eating his bread falsely? and who is after our life?

Our first son who had been missing since 2001 and my mother took his family with her, now satan have visited the first daughter who is in her class 5 in secondary school with a disease in her two legs living her crippled at the moment. We have taken her to the same hospital where Ikechukwu my brother that had motor accident was treated.

My much concern is my mother, she is unconsolable and her condition don't need the type of tears i saw her with, please if the brethren with you can join hands together and pray and fast for my family we will appreciate it and satan will know that battle is not ours alone.

Please i am making one applea, i will want you to write my mother and give her some words of encouragement perhaps she may be consoled by your words.

We really needs this prayer from you and the brethren, sorry for all the disturbance we have been giving you.

Chizuru Lowell Odoemelam.

Answer

Dear Sister Odoemelam,

My heart goes out to you in your distress and sorrow. Sometimes troubles come upon us like the towering waves of the ocean and threaten to destroy our faith. We know we must turn to the Lord and His Word when this happens.

The apostle Paul endured many troubles. He wrote to the saints in Corinth:

Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness--besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. (2 Corinthians 11:23-30)

But one problem greatly bothered him, and he prayed about it.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Paul's thorn in the flesh? Some have contended he had epilepsy, some that he had eye trouble (cf. Galatians 4:13-15; 6:11), others affirm he had malaria, others still maintain he had a speech impediment (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:10), others yet think he had leprosy, some say a bodily disfigurement (2 Corinthians 10:10), and some maintain the thorn was the Jewish persecutions he endured (Acts 20:19; 2 Corinthians 11:24).

But the Lord chose not to reveal what the apostle's thorn in the flesh was. It remains a mystery. Thus, we should not speculate about it (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Because we do not know what it was that so persistently troubled him, we can apply his suffering to ours regardless what causes us to suffer.

We learn from him some truths about suffering. Christians are not exempt from afflictions. Paul suffered greatly, and we may do so as well. Job, the most righteous man in the world in his day, suffered as few ever have (Job 1:1,5,8,13-22; 2:1-13). Job's suffering was so great he wished he had never been born (Job 3:11). Since sin and death came into the world when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, it has been the common lot of mankind to suffer (Genesis 3:16-19).

Sometimes people suffer because of their own sins (1 Peter 4:15; Romans 1:27), sometimes people suffer because of the sins of others (Exodus 34:6-7), sometimes we suffer for righteousness' sake (Matthew 5:10-12; 10:21-25; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12-16), and sometimes, as Paul, we suffer for no reason we can discern (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-3).

Job never knew that Satan was behind his suffering, testing him if he would continue to serve God even though he gained nothing from it (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5). Satan was also the source of Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). It is not the will of God that we suffer and die; it is Satan's.

Paul prayed that his fleshly infirmity would be removed (2 Corinthians 12:8). We should pray for relief from our afflictions (James 5:13), and we should pray for others in their troubles (James 5:16).

The Lord answered Paul's prayers but not in the way the apostle desired. The Lord replied, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Lord's grace is sufficient for us as well. He will not allow Satan to try us beyond our ability to endure (1 Corinthians 10:13). Our faithfulness in adversity can become a lesson for others. When we are physically weak, we learn to depend on God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. He hears and answers our prayers (1 John 5:14-15) but not always as we expect or desire. We must learn to pray and really mean, "Your will be done" (Matthew 26:39,42,44). He heard His Son's prayer and strengthened Him for His ordeal (Luke 22:42-43; Hebrews 5:7). Simply because you continue to suffer does not mean the Lord hasn't answered your prayers.

The apostle learned and accepted, even embraced, that his suffering was for his spiritual good and for the good of his work. In His physical weakness, the power of God was manifested to all. The Lord can defeat a numberless army with 300 as well as with 32,000 (Judges chapter 7). When Paul was physically weak, he was spiritually strong. He forgot pride (1 Corinthians 4:9-13). He even learned to take pleasure in his infirmities (2 Corinthians12:10).

I pray for your family daily and will continue to do so. Above all else I pray that the Father will grant you the strength to remain faithful through your adversity so you might one day be reunited with our beloved Friday Odoemelam in a beautiful land where the suffering and death of this sin cursed world will be no more.