The Benefit of Affliction

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

I first discovered this verse (buried deep in the longest Psalm) about 15 years ago, when I was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for Stage 4, “incurable” Colon Cancer.

On first blush, one might think that the great poet, shepherd, and King, David must have been out of his mind to think that affliction was a good thing.  After all, for years he had been threatened, hunted, and intended to be killed by the God rejected King Saul. But during his time as a fugitive, David learned some valuable lessons. One of which was there are times that it us good for us to be afflicted.

Dr. W. Moodie has enumerated some of the benefits of affliction as follows:

I. THEY AWAKEN US TO SERIOUS THOUGHT. When, by reverse of fortune, we are deprived of the means of pleasures in which we had too profusely indulged; when the companions of our happier years forsake us; when pain and disease unfit us for tasting our wonted comforts, and forewarn us of death; on a sudden, the enchantment is broken; our conduct, to which we had not hitherto attended, rises in review before us; virtue and vice are exhibited in a light in which we had not viewed them before, and our souls, awakened from the dream of dissipation, commune seriously with themselves.

II. THEY SERVE TO MODERATE OUR ATTACHMENT TO WORLDLY OBJECTS.

III. THEY SERVE TO EXERCISE AND DISPLAY OUR VIRTUES. It is the storm that tries the strength of the vessel.

IV. THEY HAVE A NATURAL TENDENCY TO IMPROVE OUR PIOUS AFFECTIONS. When the fabric of our felicity falls, we perceive whose hand it was that supported it, and whose hand it is that alone can rear it anew. We feel our dependence on that Providence which, before, we had neglected to acknowledge, and seek, in communion with God, the consolation which our sufferings require.

V. THEY HAVE A TENDENCY TO ENLIVEN OUR HOPE OF IMMORTALITY. The doctrine of a future existence is no longer regarded as a subject of cold speculation; it addresses itself to the tenderest feelings that can arise in the human breast; your minds are prepared to yield to the evidence by which it is confirmed, and you cherish it as your support under afflictions which admit of no other consolation.

As I mentioned earlier, I had come across this verse during a very difficult time in my life. The cancer was aggressive and considered to be incurable. I was only 54 years old. I had only been pastor here for two short years and was still on my “honeymoon” period with the congregation. Our sons were just getting their own families established, and we had three little grandsons whom I had hoped to watch grow up.  We had mortgages on three pieces of property that I dreaded leaving for Linda – along with all the medical bills that would be left behind! And naturally, I was hurting due to the disease and the vicious treatments that we hoped might give me some “extra time”.  I could see no blessing in any part of this dark time of affliction.

But God intervened. I didn’t die like “I was supposed to”.  After a period of two years of treatments, surgical and other related procedures, I went into remission from that cancer with no recurrence of it still today!

Looking back, I began to understand some of the ways in which “it was good for me that I had been afflicted.  When I was first called to WBC a neighboring pastor told me I might be making a mistake.  “They are not very good to their pastors” I was told.  “It’s a revolving door”, he said.  But, I was also told by GHBA Director of Missions, Doug Virgin, “There are good people there. They just need someone to love them and lead them”. I set out to try to do that.

During my first two years at WBC I sought to minister to the people.  I ministered to a lot of hurt.  But then after two years I was stricken with the malignancy, and for the next two years, the church ministered to me!  God used my illness to help bring our church closer together as a faith family.

That time of affliction gave me a stronger and deeper love for this congregation. Having gone through such a trial enabled me to have more empathy for others (who were suffering, themselves) to whom I was ministering.

That time of my affliction drove me deeper into the Word of God, for instruction, for comfort, and for answering my questions as to why me?    After all, remember, David wrote “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

That time of my affliction drew me closer to my family and friends, burning into my heart the blessing of having them all in my life! Life was more precious.  The grass was greener, the sky was more blue, and people, in general, became more precious to me.

That time of affliction brought me closer to God.  I learned to truly trust Him, and that everything He brought my way was either for my good, or His Glory, or BOTH! I began to more fully understand His peace that surpasses all understanding, that I had preached and talked about for decades.

I learned to identify with what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9, But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Over this past year and a half, I have been facing some new physical afflictions, with a new cancer, one for which there is not a good chemotherapy. More recently a wicked infection has caused me to lose more of my right foot.  It’s been a rough 18 months – but the lessons learned years ago regarding affliction remain strong in my memory, and I still claim the ancient promise of Psalm 119:71 still today.

I love what Charles H. Spurgeon said about this verse: “Trial is our school where God teaches us on the blackboard. This school-house has no windows to let in the cheerful light. It is very dark, and so we cannot look out and get distracted by external objects; but God's grace shines like a candle within, and by that light we see what else we had never seen.”

The late Veda Young, who was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor back in 2004 told me, “I’m not going to spend the rest of my life dying”, and she didn’t.  I have tried to make that philosophy my own.

 

As we approach Thanksgiving, let us not only remember to thank God for our blessings but to even be thankful for the blessing of affliction!