AFFLICTION

October 13, 2022

Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org;
The following is by Bruce Lackey (1930-1988) -

Why do the godly suffer? Or anyone, for that matter. This question has
plagued the human race all through history. The Christian is especially
troubled about it, because of the prevailing idea that if one obeys the Lord
he will have a good life with relatively little trouble. Everyone expects minor
illnesses, but the major ones are disturbing. To compound the problem,
religious racketeers have made merchandise of people by insisting that God
never wants anyone to be sick; they assert that all sickness is of the devil.
The attitude of Job's three friends is still with us; if there is major trouble,
God must be punishing the suffering one, either for overt sin, or for
skeletons in the closet.

This author has gotten much help from Psalm 119:71, especially during
times of illness. It will be the basis for this chapter:

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy
statutes."

The study of three great words in this verse yields much help on the subject.
They are "afflicted," "learn," and "statutes."

If the author was King David, then he suffered just about every kind of
affliction known to man. He was afflicted physically; he had known danger,
hunger, and privation, when he was hunted, like an animal, by Saul and his
army. He had also known sickness, if Psa. 38:5-11 and 77:2 are to be taken
literally.

He also knew domestic affliction, being ridiculed by his brother and rejected
by his wife. When David was sent by his father to take supplies to his
brothers who were in Saul's army, his brother greeted him with the
mocking question, "With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the
wilderness?" (1 Sam. 17:28). And that was done publicly, so that David must
have suffered some embarrassment. Much later, when he was king, David
decided to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. It was such a joyous occasion,
that David danced before the Lord. When his wife, Michal, saw him doing
so, as she looked out of the window, "she despised him in her heart" (2 Sam.
6:16). David knew something about domestic affliction, that is, trouble from
his own family.
He also suffered emotionally, as few people have. Think of the broken heart
he must have felt when he learned that his son, Amnon, had raped his
daughter, Tamar. Then that was compounded by another son's murder of
that one, when Absalom killed Amnon. He knew the disappointment of
children who commit gross sin, and the heartache of bereavement when
Amnon and Absalom were killed. He must have also been disturbed when
another son, Adonijah, tried to take his throne away from him as he lay on
his death bed. He knew emotional affliction.

In the light of all this suffering, we must stand up and take note that he
said, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted!" Before we see why it was
good, let us remind ourselves that he had suffered just every way a person
can. All of us should find some comparison between our troubles and
David's.

THE LEARNING

The affliction was good for him, he said, "that I might learn thy statutes."
But did he know God's word? Quite obviously, he did; many verses in other
Psalms indicate that he knew the Bible well. Even in this particular Psalm
he shows that by saying,

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (v.
11).

"With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth" (v. 13).

"I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches" (v.
14).

David certainly knew the Scripture, intellectually. The learning which he

received because of affliction was experiential. When we see references to
knowledge and learning, in Scripture, we should remember that knowledge
may be either intellectual, or experiential, or both, and it is imperative for
us to determine which kind is meant, if we would understand the particular
verse.

For instance, we know about the coming of the Lord intellectually, because
we have read it in the Bible, but we will not know it experientially until He
comes again and takes us up to be with Him in the air. Knowledge,
therefore, may be intellectual or experiential.

He obviously meant the experiential kind in verse 73, when he asked,

"...give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments."

Learning the Bible intellectually is almost always necessary before we

would know it by experience; therefore, we should pay heed to all the
teaching and preaching of God's Word that we possibly can. We must store
it up in our minds, if we would have it to use in daily experience. The
trouble is that many of us Christians put so very little into practice, that
most of our knowledge is intellectual, while almost none is experiential.

Another way to consider the same distinction is by using two words:

interpretation and application. A given verse will have only one correct
interpretation, while it may have several applications. Many of God's people
learn the proper interpretation of Scripture, but do not apply it to every day
living. To help us understand the distinction between interpretation and
application, we will consider 1 Cor. 9:9 which is a quotation of Deut. 25:4.

"For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of
the ox that treadeth out the corn."

The interpretation is that the Israelites were not to put a muzzle on the ox
that they used in their farming; in other words, if the animal worked, he
should be allowed to eat. The application is that all who work should be able
to be supported from their work. The verse is used in 1 Corinthians 9 in the
midst of a discussion where Paul was asserting that he and Barnabas had
the authority to be supported by their converts, because the Scripture gave
such, in this place.

The Old Testament Scriptures would "come alive" to us today, if we would

study them in this way: looking for the applications to our experiences.

Of course, we are not required to offer the animal sacrifices, or obey various
other laws which were given only to Israel and only for that dispensation,
but we may learn great principles from God's instructions to them and make
applications to our everyday living.

The secret of victorious living is learning to apply the Scripture. All of us

have known people who were quite well-versed in Scripture, but who lived
in sin. What was their trouble? Was it that their learning of the Bible did
them no good? Is it a waste of time to study Scripture?
Certainly not! Their trouble is that they have not applied experientially what
they have learned intellectually.

Application of Scripture to everyday living is what James 1:22 means when

it says, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your
own selves."

Affliction comes to our lives so that we will learn to apply Scripture, or so

that we will learn to experience what we already know intellectually. Often,
one does not learn a new verse that he had never seen before; what he does
learn is the actual experience of that particular truth.

THE STATUTES

When we have affliction, most of us want to know why it came; we want to

know the cause of our troubles. However, that is not the main thing that we
need. In many cases, we never learn exactly why it came; God has
something much better. He wants us to learn to experience something from
His Word, during the affliction.

The classic example of suffering is Job. When we read the first two chapters,
we learn that it was God who initiated Job's trouble! God challenged Satan
to consider Job, then Satan suggested the affliction. The rest of the book is
the outgrowth of that. When we come to the last chapter, we note that, as
far as the Biblical record goes, Job never learned of that conversation
between God and Satan. So, he never learned the cause of his affliction. But
something more important than the cause is the cure. Job did not know the
cause, but he learned the cure, and that was exactly what God wanted in
the first place.

Job 42:7-8 records God's direction to Eliphaz, that he and his two friends
should bring a sacrifice to Job so that he could offer it to the Lord and pray
for them. In other words, Job was to be their priest. Verse 9 tells of their
obedience, then v. 10 states the great experience that Job had:

"And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends."

Surely, before this, Job knew that he should pray for others. That is, he
certainly knew it intellectually. The great lesson he learned by experience
was to pray for his friends even when they were his worst critics. How
difficult that is! How few of God's people ever actually experience it!
Learning this great experience was worth much more to Job than learning
about the conversation between God and Satan. He could have known about
that conversation and not been any better for it; consider the fact that many
Christians have read Job 1 & 2, but have not become more spiritual as a
result. But learning to pray for his critics was certainly a great leap forward
in spiritual progress.

This shows us that God wants us to learn to experience some great Bible
truth when we are afflicted. The particular truth may or may not be related
to our affliction, but it will surely make us better servants of the Lord.

To show that this works in our day, the rest of this chapter will be in the
first person.

Several years ago it was necessary for me to interrupt a Bible conference in

which I was preaching to have emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix.
This caused me to cancel several weeks of meetings while I recuperated.
Why did that happen? Does God want us to quit serving Him and lie around
a hospital? Can that really be the will of God? During that experience, I
learned several of God's statutes, which I will briefly mention.

The first is found in v. 75 of this same Psalm, "I know, O Lord, that thy
judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." It is
good to learn that affliction comes from God! Have you ever wondered
whether something came from God or the devil? We really need to get that
settled, for more reasons than one. For instance, if your perception of life is
that of a struggle between God and the devil, you might think that their
power is equal and might wonder who is going to win. In order to have
victory, we need to see from Scripture that God is in control of things, at all
times. Nothing can happen without His authority. Eph. 1:11 says that he
"worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Remember, Satan
could not afflict Job without the Lord's permission. So, it really does not
matter whether we say that God sent the affliction, or that He permitted it;
the end result is the same, and the authority remains with Him. It is good to
know that! If God sent the affliction, then it is for His glory and for our
good.

I also learned, by experience, something about faith. I had often preached

on great verses of faith, such as Mark 11:22 ("Have faith in God") and 11:24
("Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."). However, I had
never been forced to believe God for everyday financial needs without doing
something myself. In other times, when money was needed, I had always
found a second job and earned the extra funds, a practice which is spiritual
(see Eph. 4:28, for example). If a person can work, he should.

There is nothing spiritual about laziness, or about "mooching" off of others.

Of course, when this happened, I was unable to work at any kind of job, not
even at the one to which God had called me. As I lay on the hospital bed and
realized that there would be no offerings coming in (since several weeks of
meetings were canceled). I wondered where we would get the money for
the house payment, food, tuition, and other everyday expenses. The Lord
reminded me of Mark 11:22, "Have faith in God!" I knew that I needed it,
but had to admit that I did not have it. I had never been forced to depend on
God, and God alone, for daily needs. Now that it was necessary to do so, I
had to be honest and confess that I did not have such faith.

Then the Lord reminded me of another verse which I had often preached
and taught, Rom. 10:17, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God." I had often told people that they could get faith from the Bible, and,
of course, had experienced that, myself, when I believed on the Lord Jesus
for salvation from sin. I realized that now I must go back to the Bible to get
that faith which I needed immediately. I was led by the Lord, I believe, to
the Psalms, a precious portion of God's Word which I had often read, and
from which I had preached many times. As a matter of fact, I had preached
through all 150 Psalms on Wednesday nights, when I was pastor of
Lakewood Baptist Church, Harrison, Tennessee. Naturally, I thought I knew
much about the Psalms, but this time, as I read them, I learned something
new, because I was looking for something different. I experienced the
creation of faith in my heart, just as Rom. 10:17 promises! As I began to
trust the Lord for the necessary money, it started coming in. One friend in
the ministry brought a cash gift when he visited me in the hospital. Others
sent checks in the mail. Some came from people that I did not even know;
no solicitation had been made from me to them.

The only explanation for such is: God!

God kept His promise to answer the prayers which come from a believing
heart (Mark 11:24). Every single need was met during that time of
recuperation. We paid every obligation on time, some ahead of time! All of
this is said to the glory of God; no attempt is made to boast about my
personal faith. If the same were to happen today, I would have to go back to
the Bible and get more faith, for my heart is fearful today of insecurity. I am
not naturally strong in faith, but I can testify that God's Word will do what
He promised!

The greatest blessing was not all the money that was given, but the
experience of receiving faith from the Bible, then exercising that faith in the
living God and seeing Him prove His promises!

It was good for me to be afflicted and learn that! Without the affliction, I
probably would never have experienced Mark 11:24 in financial matters.

Another great experience out of it all was the winning of one of my

roommates in the hospital to Christ. A man came to my room on the day I
came out of surgery. We briefly met, but not much conversation took place
because I was not feeling very well.

Later, the Lord moved my heart to witness to him about the Saviour. Even
though I did not really want to, because I felt sorry for myself, I obeyed the
Lord and learned that the man had never been born again. He told about
the offices in church which he had held, but admitted that he did not know
what it meant to be born again. I took my New Testament and showed him
the way of salvation, with the result that he received Christ as his personal
Saviour and was born again, that day.
Later, when both of us were released from the hospital, I sent him some
helps for a new convert. It was a great joy to get a letter from him some
time later, telling me of his continued faith and desire to go on for Christ.

The interesting thing about this man was that his surgery was rather minor,
the kind that could have been performed in a doctor's office. Why did he
come to the hospital for it? I have no doubt whatever that the Lord sent his
affliction and guided him to my very room, so that I could tell him of the
Saviour and he could be born again. Would God do that? Would He actually
make a person sick? There is no problem with that, when we consider how
much more important it is to be saved, than merely to be healthy!

Also, I am confident that one of the reasons God ruptured my appendix was
so that man could be saved. Would God do that? Would He put me to all that
pain and expense, just for that? We should remember that He put His only-
begotten Son to infinitely more pain, so that the world could be saved. God
is interested in saving sinners!

It was good for me to be afflicted; I rejoiced in the great verses from

Scripture which I experienced, and would not go back to change any of it.

How tragic it is that many of God's people go through some kind of suffering
without learning anything. Probably, the reason is that we are so occupied
with self-pity that we do not seek what God has for us. May He give us the
grace to repent, and seek the great truths of His Word which He has for us
to experience when affliction comes!

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