Introduction

What do you do when things go wrong? I get calls from people when things go wrong. Many people pray when things go wrong. What do we do when things go wrong? What can we do when things go wrong?

Body

I. Often we ask, is this for something I have done?

A. It was the question that was raised by Jesus disciples.

(John 9:2-3 NKJV) And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

1. That’s not the answer you wanted was it?

2. Think of what this man went through, and it was no fault of his own.

3. Many have suffered much for nothing they have done.

B. Sometime tragedy does come because of sins.

1. Isaiah spoke of problems which God brought on people to bring them back to Him.

(Isa 1:3-9 NKJV) The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider." {4} Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. {5} Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. {6} From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment. {7} Your country is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. {8} So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city. {9} Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

2. Amos spoke of God withholding the rain.

(Amos 4:7-8 NKJV) "I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered. {8} So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.

C. When problems come, we need to ask ourselves, is this God’s chastening?

1. In the case of Israel, it was.

2. In the case of Job and the blind man it wasn’t.

3. When in doubt, we can always ask God, and seek His forgiveness for anything we may have done, even if we are not aware of it.

(2 Cor 13:5 NKJV) Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?; unless indeed you are disqualified.

D. How do we sin?

1. We can sin with our attitudes.

a. A judgmental or critical attitude.

(Mat 7:1-5 NKJV) "Judge not, that you be not judged. {2} "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. {3} "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? {4} "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? {5} "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

b. We may feel we are without fault.

(Psa 139:23-24 NKJV) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; {24} And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

2. We can sin by failure to do the things we should be doing.

(James 4:17 NKJV) Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

II. Some turn to God to find help in time of crisis.

A. Paul did that.

(2 Cor 12:7-10 NKJV) 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. {8} Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. {9} 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. {10} 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.

1. We don’t always understand why, but God does not always give us the answer we want to all of our problems.

2. Job suffered much at the hand of Satan.

3. We must understand that we suffer in this world because of sin, disease, and the work of Satan.

B. We are encouraged to always take our problems to the Lord.

(1 Pet 5:6-7 NKJV) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, {7} casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

B. King Hezekiah spread the letter from the King of Assyria before God.

2 Kings 19: 9." . . . So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, {10} "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." {11} 'Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? {12} 'Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, . . . {14} And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. {15} Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. {16} "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. {17} "Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, {18} "and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands; wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. {19} "Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone." {20} Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.' {21} "This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: 'The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back! {22} 'Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. {32} "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. {33} By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,' Says the LORD. {34} 'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'" {35} And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses; all dead. {36} So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. {37} Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

III. Some take the counsel of Job’s wife: curse God and die.

(Job 2:7-10 NKJV) So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. {8} And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. {9} Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" {10} But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

A.. Today, when things go wrong, how often do we hear a few curse words with anger and emotion?

1. In adversity, Job did not blame God.

B. Job said his wife was like a “foolish woman” for making the suggestion to curse God.

Conclusion

What do we do when things go wrong?

It’s often good that we ask, “Is it something I have done that caused this to taken?”

It could be the result of a mistake we have made.

It could be because God is trying to get our attention.

We can always ask for God’s guidance in getting through any problem or trouble.

If others are the ones who are suffering, we can always show Christian sympathy and care.

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