Afflictions

Ps. 119:75

I know, O Lord, that Your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. 

I think that most people would not associate God's faithfulness with affliction. Instead afflictions are negative, a thing to avoid or to be endured. People just want it to be over! But how transforming would it be to think that behind affliction is the hand of God's faithfulness. It would give affliction an entire new twist. Perhaps we could even rejoice because of God's faithfulness to us. I think the problem comes in our thinking. Do we view affliction as a negative or a positive? Do we associate growth in the Lord as a negative or a positive? Always a positive, but if that growth comes through affliction, it often becomes a negative. Quite revealing! We want the growth but without the pain and difficulty. We want God to give us a pass. 

Ps. 119: 71-72 says, It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Here is another plus from afflictions. They teach us God's word. In fact, so much so that the word become better to us than extreme riches. Now that is a thought that blows your mind! Could it be that the reason we don't relish affliction is because we are not in the word enough? Seems logical. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the hear.  Are we giving enough time for the word to discern our thoughts and intentions? It is through this discerning that we can begin to understand our motives in all that we do including our motives and thoughts concerning affliction. 

Father,

I thank You for my afflictions. I know they have given me a love for Your word, and they have made me so much more dependent on You. But I have such a long ways to go. Reveal to me thoughts and motives that are pulling me down. Help me to walk in You constantly rejoicing in whatever comes my way.

In Jesus name,

Amen