God never promised us a life free from strife and suffering. Even though we believe in God, our loved ones still die. We still develop diseases. We are still robbed, oppressed, abused, attacked and maimed. We are not protected by God physically. He protects us spiritually through His word. His word causes us to walk on safe paths and not to fall into sin.
Psalm 119:1-16, 33-40 – Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong but follow his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.
9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word…
These scriptures are speaking of a spiritual protection for those who keep God’s commandments, decrees and word in general. It is not referring to physical protection. There is a danger in believing in a physical protection from God. When trouble befalls people who believe in this way, their misguided faith fails them. Then they begin to doubt His word. When in reality, God never promised us such physical protection in this fallen world.
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. 35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. 36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. 38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. 39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. 40 How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life.Believing and keeping God’s precepts, ordinances and commandments keep us safe spiritually from sin.
Psalm 23:3 – He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
God’s Protection Is Through Spiritual Conviction
God protects us by His spirit, which convicts us and chastises us with shame and guilt, when we act contrary to the scriptures.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 – yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
A sorrow based on the world’s philosophies, leads to eternal damnation. But a sorrow (repentance, shame and guilt) based on the philosophies of Jesus, brings salvation and eternal life.
1 Corinthians 11:32 – Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
This shame and guilt (sorrow) is how we are judged here on this earth. It is so that we will not be condemned in the age to come, like the rest of the world.
Hebrews 12:4-13 – In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
How To Recognize God’s Conviction
For God to be able to convict us at all, our beliefs must be in line with the Bible through the teachings of Jesus. Otherwise, God cannot warn us of our sin and waywardness, if not by the word of God. We must not have a private interpretation from Jesus and the apostles.
2 Peter 1:20-21 – Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
This includes denominational teachings. If the denominational teachings differ in any way with the interpretation of Jesus or the apostles, then this is considered a private interpretation of scripture, and we must not accept it.
How will we know that the conviction we feel is of God? We can compare and see that it does not contradict His word. If what we hear contradicts God’s word, more specifically, the teachings of Jesus, then we know that the spirit from which we are hearing, is not the Holy Spirit.
Luke 9:55 – But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;
1 John 4:1 – Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 Corinthians 13:5 – Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
We must constantly test our beliefs to see if they coincide with the teachings of Jesus. This is how we know whether what we hear is from the Holy Spirit or not.
Lamentations 3:40 – Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
We must examine our beliefs everytime we take communion, to see if we are truly following the teachings of Jesus. Our examination must determine whether we truly have the Holy Spirit or if we are deluding ourselves. Are we in line with the teachings of Jesus or have we manipulated them to suit ourselves? Are we covering up our sins so that we do not have to repent and feel shame or guilt? Or are we confessing and admitting them to God so that we can be forgiven by God?
1 John 1:8-9 – If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We must constantly examine ourselves to make sure our interpretation is in line with Jesus and the apostles.
1 Corinthians 11:28 – Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
We must not ‘run ahead’, meaning away from the teachings of Jesus. We must believe according to the teachings of Jesus, without adding or taking away from it to suit ourselves.
2 John 1:8-9 – Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
God’s promises are in no way to be taken in a physical form. As children of God, we are not exempt from pain and tragedy. Our loved ones may contract and develop disease and die. Our homes may be broken into or burned down. We might be attacked and robbed. Anything can happen.
Job’s Suffering
God does not promise to protect us from such physical harm. The book of Job captures this concept clearly. Job’s battle of suffering was one of physical tactics. Disease, death and loss were used to tempt Job away from his obedience to God. Job was tempted to compromise God’s word and his integrity.
Job 1:6-18 & 22 – One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
God is praising Job to the devil for his integrity.
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The devil proposes to tempt Job from his integrity. He wants to cause him to compromise God’s word by causing him to suffer physically. Satan asks for the power to take away Job’s physical health, assets and family. Even today, he uses the same tactics against us.
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“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.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job understood that God would not protect him from physical suffering in this world. So he did not curse God out of a false belief, that somehow God had failed him or His word, through any wrongdoing.
Job 2:1-10 – On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
God praises Job again for his integrity. For not compromising His word in spite of his suffering.
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
So then Satan proposes physical disease to cause Job to compromise his integrity in the word of God.
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
God gives Satan this power and he is given the same power also today, over our physical lives. He can tempt us to compromise our integrity of the word of God. For us to manipulate its meanings to suit our predicament, which is blasphemy.
It is important to note that although the devil can cause us great suffering, physically here in this age (on this earth), he does not have the power to take our life. That is up to God alone.
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Even Job’s wife is used to tempt Job to compromise his beliefs.
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
But Job maintained his integrity through his belief that God does allow physical suffering as a test of our integrity.
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Through all his physical suffering, Job refused to sin (meaning compromise and manipulate God’s word). This is proof that God does not protect us physically on this earth. Although Satan does not have the power to take our actual life, he does have the power to take everything else, including our health. It is important that we understand this, so that we will not curse God and sin when our time comes to suffer, physically. We also must make sure that we do not compromise and manipulate God’s word on that day to accommodate our sin or to end our suffering.
Ezekiel’s Suffering
The same thing happened with the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 24:15-18 – The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your moustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.
In this case, it was God himself who caused Ezekiel’s physical suffering by the death of his beloved wife. In spite of Ezekiel losing his wife, he did not curse God or disobey His commandments. In no way does God promise to watch over us physically. We live in a fallen world, where Satan has been given authority by God, over our physical situation. It is also God’s right to test our integrity. Our job is to make sure that we do not manipulate the word and sin by cursing God in this way during our physical suffering.
Maintaining Our Integrity In The Midst Of Suffering
Satan has no authority over us spiritually, when we maintain our integrity and obey God’s word in spite of our hardships.
James 4:7 – Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Ephesians 6:11 – Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:13 – Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
1 Peter 5:8-9 – Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Ephesians 4:27 – and do not give the devil a foothold.
When Jesus was in the wilderness, Satan tempted him by omitting a very important scripture when quoting it to Jesus:
Matthew 4:6 – “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’
Satan is trying to cause Jesus to compromise the word of God and lose his faith, by misquoting Psalm 91.
Psalm 91:11-12 – For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Satan specifically left out “to guard you in all your ways”. This means to guard you in the spirit, from manipulating and compromising the word of God. To ‘strike your foot against a stone’, is a stumbling block. This is spiritual in meaning, not physical. Through his manipulation, the devil was trying to make Jesus lose his integrity and faith. He wanted Jesus to believe that God should save him according to His word, from any form of physical suffering. This is false and God does not promise any such thing.
This is how Jesus explains it to Peter.
Matthew 16:23 – Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
When we think of ending our physical suffering, it is a human point of view and this is how we set our minds on the things of man. But when we focus on obeying God’s word in spite of physical suffering, this is how we set our minds on the things of God.
This is exactly what Jesus was explaining to the disciples before he made this comment to Peter:
Matthew 16:21 – From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Through Peter, Satan was trying to tempt Jesus not to go through with the physical suffering. He was trying to get Jesus to set his mind on the things of man.
Matthew 16:22-23 – Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.
Then Jesus explains that in order to be his follower, we all must go through physical suffering.
Matthew 16:24 – Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
We must remember the devil’s tricks who make us think that by keeping God’s word, we will not suffer physically. Once the devil was done tempting Jesus, we then see the fulfilment of Psalm 91. We see how the angels kept Jesus in God’s ways, not by physically saving him from pain, but rather by ministering to him, so that Jesus would not compromise the word of God. This is how God protects us. It is a spiritual protection and not a physical one.
Matthew 4:11 – Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Mark 1:13 – and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Protecting Our Spiritual Health During Suffering
Even though many scriptures may seem that they are physical in nature, they are not. They are spiritual in nature. We must not be concerned with our physical well being over the spiritual. We must always place our spiritual well being above the physical.
Matthew 10:28 – 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 12:4-5 – “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
In no way does Jesus state that man cannot harm us physically because of God’s protection.
At some point in time, we all experience physical suffering. We would only be fooling ourselves if we continue to believe that we won’t just because we are children of God. That somehow we are exempt from receiving any pain or suffering. Anyway, any physical suffering is only temporary as our bodies are dying everyday. There is no way of avoiding this inevitable fact.
What we can avoid, is losing our integrity when we are met with suffering. We can ensure that we are able to recognize God’s convictions through the Holy Spirit and the teachings of Jesus. In doing so, though our physical bodies suffer and waste away, we can protect our spiritual lives from real eternal suffering.
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