Psalm 34:19-22
English Standard Version (ESV)
19 (A)Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
(B)but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
(C)not one of them is broken.
21 (D)Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord (E)redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be (F)condemned.
(B)but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
(C)not one of them is broken.
21 (D)Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord (E)redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be (F)condemned.
If
anyone ever told you that if you became a Christian, life would have not
troubles, they may have led you astray.
As we see in this scripture passage, afflictions will come our way, in
fact there will be many. Take special
notice though of the first word in the second line, “but”, a refreshing word in
this sentence. It is followed by, “the
LORD delivers him out of them all”. We
can see affliction throughout the Bible, New Testaments Christian were not
exempt from affliction. The greatest affliction was Christ on the cross but He
arose! Paul was beaten many times but
God gave Him to the strength to write many letters to churches that were in
trouble and were being afflicted. God gave Him enough strength to sing while in
prison even though he was in chains and had been beaten.
The
Lord does not always take the affliction away but He leads us through it. So in some ways those who tell people the
Christian life is a good life are telling the truth. Not that we don’t have troubles but that we
have someone who will deliver us from those trials and tribulations. We can’t conquer the affliction on our own
but we can be led through it by the God of comfort. Contrast that with an atheist or anyone who
is against God. They believe that we are
here for a short time and then gone. Our
bodies are nothing, live for the moment, when we die it is the end. What purpose is there to live a life like
that? Why have children? Why marry?
We are just here and gone. When
troubles come their way they have no one to comfort them. Words of comfort mean nothing to them. Rather than seeking God they finally say, “Well
if there is a God, He isn’t any good” because they do not have or know the comfort
of God.
I,
myself, can’t imagine living a life without the comfort of the LORD. He is the comforter of all those who
comfort. He is the One that brings peace
in times of trouble. He is the One who
spoke the Words of Matthew 5: 1 – 12
Matthew
5:1-12
English
Standard Version (ESV)
5 Seeing the crowds, (A)he went up on the mountain,
and when he (B)sat down, his disciples came
to him.
4 “Blessed are (G)those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted.
7 “Blessed are (L)the merciful, for they shall
receive mercy.
10 (R)“Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness' sake, for (S)theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11 (T)“Blessed are you when others
revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely (U)on my account. 12 (V)Rejoice and be glad, for
your reward is great in heaven, for (W)so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
Blessed means “happy” or “content’. We are blessed because Christ took our sins
upon Himself on the cross at Calvary. We
are blessed because He conquered death and in doing so conquered sin. He is alive and He is there to comfort
us. He didn’t promise us a life with no
troubles but He did tell us that we can be content because of our salvation. Prosperity preaching is incorrect if the
focus is on this life and its comforts but
if the focus is on the comfort of the Lord then it is right on. We will have trials, tribulations, pain, but
Christ will lead us through it. He has
promised us an eternal life with no pain and we wait eagerly for that day but
while we are here on earth we can be assured it is not the time.
Seek Him and know that He is
good.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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