Affliction as Opportunity
By Dean Collins
Here is a test question for you:
The things I would most like in my future are:
Winning the lottery
Retirement
Traveling the world
Experiencing affliction
Would any of us hope for affliction and suffering to come our way? Generally, we try to avoid as much pain as possible. Yet the reality is that all of us do, and likely will once again, experience affliction and seasons of significant challenges. It may be something to do with a job, a financial circumstance, the loss of a loved one, or a difficult illness. It might, over time, include all of these challenges. Life is filled with hardships.
Just like we didn’t get to pick who our parents would be, we do not get to choose the challenges we face. Sometimes we might slow down certain health situations, but even with diet and exercise, we often find ourselves facing significant affliction.
The psalmist has a different approach that we might want to consider. Psalm 119:71 says this: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes."
I will admit that I rarely greet new afflictions with this kind of mindset. Maybe at first no one does. While we may not be able to pick our afflictions, we can pick our responses, and our responses will dramatically impact the outcomes in our lives.
As you read the psalms and review the content in Psalm 119, we learn that the psalmist's responses are directly tied to the confidence he has in God’s word. He has learned to depend upon the promises of God.
The psalmist one day realized that his affliction drove him deeper into God’s word; the more he read and prayed God’s word, the more he realized that he would have never gone this deep in knowing God unless he had experienced his affliction.
David and other writers of the psalms understood that God was the creator of everything and that God makes no mistakes with his plans or in his design. So in all things, whether good or bad, we can be confident that the more we lean into God’s word, the better our responses and reactions will be to the events of our lives.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t have raw emotions and reactions from time to time when things are hard. In fact, in verse 84, the psalmist questions how long he would have to endure those who were persecuting him: “How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth…"
It is good to let God hear all of our pain and struggle, but we cannot allow ourselves to stay stuck in our emotions. In fact, we can move into new attitudes and strength as we review God’s promises to us. The psalmist continued, saying: “but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.”
The more we choose to take our burdens to the Lord and then review his promises to help us, keep us, strengthen us, and use us, the more we will be able to understand and live in the reality that it is the hard things in life that draw us closer to our Creator and give us the most joy.
Father, today we seek to see our difficulties as opportunities to grow closer to you. We ask that you use our suffering for your glory and to draw others closer to your side. Thank you for reminding us that your grace is sufficient for us and that your power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Today, we pray with the apostle Paul that we will boast in our weaknesses that the power of Christ might rest upon us. In Jesus's name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 119: 71-96 ESV
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
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