34:18: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” 73:26: “My flesh and my heart fail: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous” is true. Think about Joseph, Moses, David, Paul, Peter, etc. All of these great men of God had all kinds of troubles. Joseph had to deal with his pesky brothers – a vast understatement. Moses had to deal with his fellow Israelites through forty years of traveling through the desert, then because of their stubbornness, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. David had to deal with King Saul and various other people during his life, not to mention his own weaknesses. Paul’s problems and troubles are well-documented in Acts and in most of his epistles. Peter had more than his share of problems as he took a place of leadership in the fledgling Church. So if you are a Christian and you are having problems, take heart, you are in good company. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” is not the end of the story. Read on: The verse continues with good news: “But the Lord delivers him out of them all…” Sometimes that deliverance comes immediately, and sometimes it takes longer, in some cases many years, but deliverance comes. When I think of this, my mind turns to Psalm 13, which begins with a lot of woe and self-pity, but ends on a victorious note. It begins: “How long will you forget me O Lord? forever?” He goes on to bemoaning that he has “sorrow in his heart daily.” He bemoans that it seems that his enemies are exalted over him. But he begins to pray and to draw closer to the Lord and his moaning turns to rejoicing: “But I have trusted in your mercy, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.” I want to suggest that you read this psalm, memorize it, and adopt the last two verses for your own life. Christians will have good days and bad days, like all other human beings, but Christians have a resource in the Lord, who can deliver them from, or through, the bad days. Needless to say, I have to remind myself of this quite often when I seem to be sinking into a deep funk for one reason or the other. It is true that the Lord will deliver us from all of the afflictions of life. One day He will deliver us from it all and take us to heaven. Psalm 73:26 is another reminder of our theme: “My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” Asaph, who wrote this psalm, wrote that “my flesh and my heart fail.” “Flesh” has a tendency to do that doesn’t it? As long as we are in the flesh, we will encounter troubles of some kind, whether illness, bad relationships, or just bad days. Thank God that “flesh” is not the end of the story. If all we had was “flesh,” life would be woeful indeed. Paul stated this in 1 Corinthians 15:19: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” But the great truth that “God is the strength of my heart” breaks through and gives our “failing hearts” a boost. Asaph realized that his own strength could not sustain him through the difficult times in life, but that he had a resource in the Lord to deliver him through them. Further, he declared that the Lord was his “portion forever.” Through Christ and the Holy Spirit, the Lord is always a part of our lives. He is our “portion forever.” Psalm 73:23-24 gives us further insight: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” (NIV) If this was true of Asaph in his day, it is equally true of us in Christ. What you have to do now is to adopt these verses as your own, realizing that you have an eternal resource to get you through the difficult times. Bro. Joe
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