Dancing With Broken Bones

Our pastor had been feeling very burdened to share this sermon for several weeks. He has seen so much suffering in and out of the church and wanted to share this to encourage all of us. These are all just my notes. I hope you can understand them and get something out of them. God bless!

Suffering. Pain. Difficulty. Hurt. Hardship. Tragedy. Disappointment. We live in a fallen world in which these things are a reality and are unavoidable. None are exempt from the brokenness, even those of us who are followers of Christ. In fact, Jesus spelled it out clearly for his followers in John 16:33: "...In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Psalm 30:1-12, Psalm 44:23-26

"Suffering is wanting what you don't have and having what you don't want."

Suffering can be caused by other people. People ask "Why doesn't God stop that?" If He did there'd be no "us". There'd be no more people!

Suffering can be caused by natural disasters or accidents.
All suffering is caused by rebellion from creature to Creator. If God took away suffering, He'd have to eliminate creation. Instead He says He is going to redeem creation.
How do I take heart?
John 16:33  /  Psalm 51:8  /  Psalm 30:1-12

If I'm going to dance with broken bones I will have three results.

1. Redemption from the past (v.1-3)
Job 17:11 - Job wanted to sit it out (give up)  - but six chapters later (Job 23:10) he learns to "dance".
James 1:2-5 - Suffering is where we are refined.
Romans 8:28 - My suffering is not for nothing. The Bible assures that. It is not in vain!

2. Care in the present (v.4-5a)
Sometimes I don't want care (God's care), I want answers! Why? So I can take care of myself. I don't like groping around in the dark. This is a big leap of faith to trusting God when He doesn't give me all the answers right away but simply takes care of me.
Psalm 30: 1-2  /  Isaiah 55:8-9  /  Deuteronomy 29:29  / 1 Corinthians 13:12

Have you ever cried alone? Psalm 56:8 - No, you haven't! You have never been alone. God sees your tears. He cares.
All dancing involves hope. All dancing sees the path.

3. Hope for the future (v. 5b:11-12)  Psalm 30:1-12
He'll get me to the point where I don't have to dance with broken bones because they will be totally healed.
Romans 8:18-25

Joni Erickson Tada became a paraplegic when she was 17 years old. She went through her time of wanting to "sit it out" and not join the rest of the world. She even considered suicide. She was completely broken. But she allowed God to use her in a dramatic way. Today she blesses so many people with her art work that she does with a paintbrush in her mouth. She also collects wheelchairs for war torn and poverty stricken countries and delivers them to people who never would have had the opportunity to move around. She used to pray for healing, of course. She finally realized that God could use her better in her wheelchair. When she went to one of these countries she talks about how people will come up to her and touch her. It doesn't matter that they don't speak the same language. They see that she is just like them and there's a connection.
I was blessed to hear her speak at our church years ago. If ever I've seen the face of Christ on someone, it was her. She had a glow about her that I've only seen a few times. You could literally see the Lord in her. She has peace. She knows that this is her temporary home. She knows that someday she will experience her perfect healing. In closing she said that she knew that someday she'd be dancing with Jesus in Heaven, whole and complete.

"For now we see the glass dimly. One day we will see clearly."

One day He will turn that tapestry so we can see beautiful picture. Right now we only see the tangled mess from the other side.

Christ, in His grace, offers us strength, a credible mind-set for our endurance as we live our lives companioned by brokenness, and peace in the midst of the difficulty. He can even take our broken bones of our journeys and enable us to dance - and dance deeply - with them.

At the end of the sermon they showed the 1992 Olympic runner Derek Redmond who suddenly collapsed with a hamstring injury and got back up to try to hobble over the finish line. His father pushed his way through the crowd, past security to come alongside his son to help him cross that finish line. His son told him he had to cross that finish line and his father said "then we'll do it together."

The apostle Paul talks about the race set before all of us. We all have to run this race. We can give up, sit down and refuse to run the race, or we can push forward to cross that line, even if it means we have to limp over the line because of all the injuries we've sustained here on earth. But we also have a loving Father who will come alongside us and help us cross that finish line if we let Him.

I hope this blesses all of you as much as it has blessed me.