“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept thy word.” Verse 67
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn from thy statutes.” Verse 71 “Afflict” is defined in my New Webster’s Dictionary, “to give continued pain to; cause distress and grief.” Therefore to live in affliction is to live in continual pain. This can be physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain, or all three of these at the same time. It appears that affliction is a bad thing, but in our two texts, the psalmist had good things to say about it. He seemed to be telling us that affliction is good for us – thus my title. The two verses written above, give us some information about this. First, I want to point ;out that we are not expected to go out of our way to be afflicted. I’m sure the psalmist would agree with that. In my bout with cancer in 2011-2012, I did not tell God that I wanted cancer so that I could learn from it. I met a lot of people in the infusion room where we got our chemo treatments, and I did not meet one person who was shouting for joy because he or she had cancer. I just want to make it clear that we do not learn from affliction because we want it, but because when we are afflicted, we do not have a choice. How we react to it is up to us. We can either react to it with faith or with complaints, but how we react to it will make a difference in our faith; therefore, it will make a difference in our lives. . Second, I want to point out that the psalmist was going astray, and then when he was afflicted, he ceased straying. Because of his affliction the psalmist kept God’s word. In other words, he went to the scriptures that he had and not only learned from them, but also kept them. Affliction of any kind will cause us to draw closer to God, or move us away from Him. We can either blame God for allowing our affliction, or we can go to Him for help in our affliction. We can whine and complain and ask why, or we can accept the reality of the affliction and turn to the Lord and to His word and learn from it. In my own affliction, I leaned on Christ and His word like I have never leaned on it before. This doesn’t mean that I ignored the Bible and prayer before my affliction, but that both meant more to me in my affliction, because His presence was evident in my life. Whatever your affliction at the present time, do not let it make you bitter, but let it make you better. (I know, I know. That is a cliché, but I couldn’t help it.) Run to your Bible and to your prayer closet and let God go through it with you. Third, I want to point out that the psalmist wrote in verse 67 that he learned from his affliction. What did he mean that he learned from his affliction? When we are going through afflictions of any kind, we will either learn from God or we will not learn from Him. We might as well use the moments of affliction to let God teach us instead of whining and complaining. Paul wrote about his affliction that he referred to as his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12. He asked Jesus three times to rid him of that affliction but Jesus told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) What did Paul learn from this? He tells us in the remainder of the verse: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” whatever it was, taught him more about the power of Christ. Paul reminds us in verse 10 of another lesson he learned from his affliction: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong.” I don’t know what afflictions you are encountering in your life now. Your affliction could be emotional, spiritual, physical, or all three, but whatever your affliction is, Jesus wants you to know that He is going through it with you, and, like the psalmist, you can glean more from God’s word, or you can learn some things about God and yourself. It is really your choice. If you have no afflictions, thank God, and get ready for afflictions to come when you least expect them. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|