OVERCOMING AFFLICTIONS
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTIONLife is full of troubles, sorrow and pain. Life is no bed of roses. However, God works through the various situations Christians run into, to glorify His name and to bring good to His children in the midst of a world of chaos and afflictions. The Scripture states that Jesus suffered when he went through afflictions and so he is able to help believers who are afflicted – Heb. 2:18.
Affliction means: hardship; difficulty; crisis; misfortune; tragedy; poverty; distress; trouble; sorrow; disaster; something negative that befalls someone; an unfavorable circumstance that causes grief and pain.
The Bible says:
“Many are the afflictions of the Righteous but the LORD delivereth him out of them all”
- Ps. 34:19.
The word many simply means a lot of, a large number of. The word righteous refers to one who conforms to the Holy Law of God: a regenerated person or better put, a born again Christian, one who has a right relationship with the Most High God - 2 cor. 5:21.
In paraphrasing Ps. 34:19, the Bible makes it very clear that the troubles, the hardship, the distress, those circumstances that cause grief and pain that befall the Christian, are many. The good news is that our Father, the Most High God, delivers the righteous from all their troubles, hardship, pain and grief. Not from some of their troubles, from all. Praise God!
Note this: there is no man or woman on earth that does not go through afflictions. No man can escape hard times. Fear, anxiety, discouragement, seeming impossibilities, lack, sickness, miscarriage, death of loved ones, joblessness, failure, debts, depression, disappointments, infertility, adverse circumstances, marital turbulence, and so on, are some common forms of afflictions that confront mankind. Jesus himself had his fair share of afflictions. Faith in God does not immunize against afflictions. Faith in God will carry you victoriously through afflictions and promote you. Amen. As long as there is a Satan on earth, people will have troubles and/or tragedies. The enemy rejoices when people get subdued by the trials of life. The Bible says
“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”
- Pro. 24:10.
We must be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might. Christianity or the state of being right with God, offers every believer, God’s irrevocable promises of deliverance from adversity.
Afflictions are stumbling stones to one’s advancement. Howbeit, they are like fertilizer for one’s promotion and breakthroughs. They can also serve as stepping stones to higher grounds for every Christian. I know some of you may wonder: why does God not completely protect and shield the Christian from all forms of affliction? It is important to realize that God does not allow Christians to be afflicted so as to undermine or destroy them but rather to promote and uplift them. Why and How?!
i. Affliction reveals our hidden talents. When Gold is passed through the fire, it becomes purer and more valuable;
ii. Affliction makes us depend on God;
iii. Affliction motivates us to pray;
iv. Affliction is a recipe for our miracles;
v. Affliction educates us and makes us wiser;
vi. Affliction serves as a wake-up-call: it leads us back to seeking our Creator;
vii. Affliction inspires us to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives e.g. Jonah was supposed to fulfill God’s purpose at Nineveh but he stubbornly headed for Tarshish until a fish swallowed him up and that experience redirected his steps.
viii. Affliction equips us and makes us stronger.
ix. Affliction takes us to a place of intense fellowship with God;
x. Affliction reveals our true friends and real enemies.
The Word of God says:
“consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance”
– Jam 1:2-3; (NIV)
Afflictions can make life look utterly hopeless and senseless sometimes and this is responsible for the high suicide rates in the Middle East, in Europe and in other parts of the world. We must realize that all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
Afflictions are man’s divine destiny. The fact that one is going through a crisis situation does not imply that God has forsaken one. It could be part of His plan to lead one to one’s place of destiny and accomplishments/fulfillment. In fact, afflictions are opportunities to prove that the word of God works.
Job for instance was at a point in time extremely wealthy. He loved God and the Lord was proud of him. Howbeit, the enemy afflicted him with sickness. The devourers crept in and swallowed his wealth. Death did not spare him as he lost all his children, seven sons and three daughters. But Job held on to his trust in the Most High God. The Lord delivered Job from afflictions and the end of his matter was better than his beginning as he became wealthier than ever before. Affliction is no respecter of persons.
Another good example is Joseph’s experience. He was despised by his own blood brothers who hated him as a result of envy. They sought to hurt him. His brothers sold him into slavery to some Ishmaelite who subsequently sold him to Potiphar, an Egyptian and a pagan.
Many were Joseph’s afflictions in Egypt but the Bible records that God was with him. The favor and mercy of God encompassed him. His troubles became fiercer at one stage. The subtly adulterous web of Potiphar’s wife closed in on him. Joseph was determined to please God. He refused to compromise. He did not consider having an illicit sexual relationship with his master’s wife as a way to escape his misfortune. In Gen. 39, we see how intense Joseph’s crisis became. The night for him grew darker and seemed unending.
“Weeping may endure for a night but joy will surely come in the morning”
– Ps. 30:5B.
Many people today may have obliged Potiphar’s wife as a way to escape trouble and misery. Joseph refused to sin against the Lord. Then came another ugly dimension to his affliction which is highly predominant in our society today: slander; gossip; lies. Potiphar’s wife lied to her husband that Joseph their servant attempted to sexually assault her. This was a blow on Joseph’s integrity. A lie cooked up in the pit of hell. This allegation may have spread around Egypt. Imagine yourself in Joseph’s condition. What could be worse than that? I am sure Joseph would have been most embarrassed to say the least.
Any one in such a situation will feel sad and miserable. Joseph was consequently committed to prison for a crime he did not commit. Talk about the righteous being afflicted! Many Christians suffer similar fate today. They are being slandered and punished unjustly. Still the Lord remained with Joseph. The Bible states that
“the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden”
- Gen. 39:21 (NIV).
What matters most in life is God’s opinion about you. From prison, God promoted Joseph. He was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt. All the injustices and sufferings that Joseph experienced at the hands of his brothers as well as the Egyptians were part of God’s plan to preserve his life and to exalt him. Adversity is a breeding ground for miracles. God will pick you out of that horrible pit of afflictions like he did for Joseph. He will set your feet upon a solid rock and he will establish you if you would be steadfast. He will put a new song of praise in your mouth.
Let us closely examine the life of another servant of God, Apostle Paul. He was incarcerated in Rome because of his undaunted desire to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly, when the devil thought he had succeeded in frustrating and ending Paul’s ministry of evangelism through his imprisonment, it was at that time that Paul received inspiration and revelation knowledge to write some of the epistles in the Bible which essentially are revelations of the New Creation and the reality of the redemptive work of Christ on Calvary. How wonderful!! Many people give up after very little persecution. We must never give up or retreat. Jesus went through it. So did Apostle Paul and many others. Those who give up never win.
Don’t weep in the face of afflictions. All things will work for your good. Moses could never have led the Israelites out of captivity if he wanted to avoid Pharaoh; David could not have removed the reproach on Israel if he avoided Goliath; Jesus would not have succeeded in bringing about the salvation of our souls if he wanted to avoid the shame and pain of the cross.
“Every man born of a woman is of a few days and is full of troubles”
- Job 14:1.
The Bible states that:
“there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”
- 1 cor. 10:13.
The word of God also states that:
“The LORD knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished”
- 2 Pet. 2:9.
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Ejiro Okene