Affliction

Affliction (by David Peterson of The Rock Of Jesus Church)

While in Jerusalem the last week of His life, Jesus had words of scorn for the scribes and Pharisees when He says in Matthew 23:25-29: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.”

Their indiscretions can be considered afflictions because they are detrimental to their living holy lives and consequently lead them into painful, empty, and misery filled lives.

The Puritan preacher and author, John Bunyan, once wrote: “One day as I was passing into the field this sentence fell upon my soul: Thy righteousness is in heaven. And I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness. Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons. Now, I went home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.” Bunyan expresses his joy from the righteousness Jesus provides him; he is joyful to be freed from his afflictions.

Johannes Olearius, a Lutheran theologian, wrote the hymn “When Afflictions Sore Oppress You”. Verse 3 reads:

Call on God, knock, seek, implore Him,

'Tis the Christian's noblest skill;

He who comes with faith before Him

Meets with help and favor still:

Who on God most firmly rest

Are the wisest and the best;

God will with such strength inbue them,

Ne'er shall any foe subdue them.

Olearius calls on God to inspire us through our faith in order to overcome our afflictions and enemies.

Let us pray: Lord and Savior Jesus, in saving us we have inherited your righteousness. All our sins, indiscretions, and afflictions have fallen away because of your favor upon us. We love you! Amen!