JonahAffliction

If you turn to Psalm 89, I know we're in Jonah, but the portion of Jonah that we are working through, the end of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3, has more to it than what I was able to do last week, with it. And what I wanted to do was take a week to focus on just the concept of affliction, God's people being afflicted. Jonah was certainly afflicted.

And so without reading Jonah, we can remember that he was in fact cast into the sea and then had to survive in the belly of a fish for three days. And so we can certainly all agree that he was afflicted, afflicted by God, And it was for a purpose. So I want to read to you from Psalm 89. We'll start in verse 20. In fact, let's start in 19. Formerly, you spoke in a vision to your holy ones and said, I have bestowed help to a mighty one.

I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil. I have anointed him with whom my hand will be established. My arm also will strengthen him. The enemy will not deceive him, nor the son of unrighteousness afflict him. But I shall crush his adversaries before him and strike those who hate him.

My faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. And in my name, his horn will be exalted. I shall also set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He will call to me. You are my father, my God and the rock of my salvation. I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

If you don't get it yet, he's talking about Jesus Christ. Just so you know. My loving kindness, I will keep of him for for him forever. and my covenant shall be confirmed for him. So I will set up his seed to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven. Now this is the portion that I want you to understand. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with striking.

But I will not break off my loving kindness from him, nor deal falsely in my faithfulness. My covenant I will not profane, nor will I alter what comes forth from my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. You may be seated. That was God's holy word, Psalm 89. The purpose of today's sermon, I'm going to tell you from the outset, is that I want God's people to have no doubt in their mind of God's love for them.

And I want God's people to understand that if you want to try to figure out if God loves you by looking at your circumstances, it is going to woefully fail you over and over again. Unless, of course, your circumstances is you're in his presence in heaven, in which case you're not here in this church with me. We are changeable. We are emotional. We're capricious.

And we are subject to whims and fancies on a regular basis. We are human. This is normal for us. We are not God. And so I want to give humans, humans who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, or those who are not yet redeemed but are going to be, I want you in my hearing today to know that in the grace of God, there is love that is everlasting. But I also need you to understand, as Jonah had to go through affliction, that you may go through affliction.

And the cry while you're in affliction to God of, oh, God, why is this happening? Or it's not so bad to maybe ask that question, but it's let me rephrase this. It's when we cry out, maybe God doesn't really love me. Because if he loved me, I wouldn't be experiencing this affliction and difficulty. It is that false mythology that I want to attack today.

At its root, the health and wealth prosperity gospel is in fact the antithesis to the teaching of today. And so I'm not here to preach a sermon against the false teachers of that gospel. But if you know people that are entrenched in that kind of religious, or I'll say that kind of religion, this sermon today should give you some thinking that you can give to the people you love who are stuck in that way of thinking.

It enslaves people. so today again the thesis is this god loves you if you are in christ and there nothing you can do to change that and everything that happens to you whether it is even objectively bad or just uncomfortable for you is still actually evidence of God love Because when God sets his love upon you, everything he does is loving towards you. It's not like it's not like for a moment God doesn't love you and that's why you got sick and were vomiting and then for another moment God loves you again and now that's why you got to raise at work or whatever good thing is happening at the moment you need to understand that God's love doesn't change and that his expression of his love was that he demonstrated his love in that while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for his elect. He died for his people.

He died for the ungodly. That is how God demonstrated his love. He does not demonstrate his love by prospering you. And he doesn't necessarily demonstrate his hatred for evil in this world through the lack of prosperity. What is the cry of Asaph in Psalm 73? why do the wicked prosper right he sees the people of his day who we could look out there too right we have hollywood and we have all the different places where all the the beautiful people are that make all the money uh the pro athletes we see all these people who some of which are very ungodly people and yet find great prosperity comfort wealth in this life and despite the actual divorce rate in Hollywood if you looked at the pages of their tabloids and things you'd think they all had these really wonderful loving relationships with perfect spouses that are also perfectly beautiful and those things but if you actually see how many end up divorced you see how unhappy they actually are but God's love for you endures forever And it is completely and utterly independent of how you necessarily feel in your circumstances.

This is contradictory to the way that we often think, because if there's a person in your life who has some way to affect you and that person is intentionally doing things to you that are hurtful. You would be right very often to say, well, maybe that person doesn't love me. OK, one of these young ladies in the room came in and said, my boyfriend does this and that.

What do you think? A lot of us would say, well, you've got to get rid of him right now. OK, he doesn't love you. We all understand this concept. But with God, things are a little bit different because he's sovereign. He's sovereign even over the evil that occurs in your life and around you.

And so we are right to understand that even the most difficult circumstance of our life, even the hardest affliction we face actually does have its root in God not only as the first cause but often as the one trying to we'll say win you back to himself. Although we are right to know that it is never right to ascribe to God evil or to assume any kind of evil motive behind why he does what he does. And if you don't believe me just look at the cross. the cross where Jesus Christ was brutally murdered occurred according to the predetermined plan of God God planned the actual worst event in human history and he did it for the good of his elect and for the glory of his own name and in no way is God guilty of any evil in the cross but he is directly involved So now a couple of things I want to get to.

We're going to skip around to a lot of scripture today. It's not going to be a bounce through one passage kind of thing. So get your Bibles ready. First of all, I just want you to remember that affliction is the schoolmaster of the lessons of grace. All right. Very few of us are humble enough that we just simply receive prosperity and think to ourselves, Oh, I better get on my knees and thank God.

Usually when we have prosperity, it's the result of our doing things God's way, which leads to prosperity. And rather than seeing it as a gift from God, we actually see it as something that we ourselves have affected. Effected, that is. But affliction is how God often teaches us about his grace. Jonah was no doubt afflicted. You are often afflicted.

I want you to consider the two types of punishment that God meets out. One of them is that he punishes the wicked in judgment and abandon. The God who said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, is the one who judges the wicked and abandons them. He leaves them and forsakes them. I'll remind you that Psalm 22, which Jesus cried out from the cross. There's more to Psalm 22 than the first verse, but our Lord also said at the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This cry of dereliction is the idea that even momentarily Jesus Christ is experiencing the weight of sin. He is experiencing the forsakenness that sinners apart from Christ will experience for all eternity. Also, Proverbs 1, read a few verses from Proverbs 1, verses 22 to 28. I want you to hear what God thinks of those who are not his people and how he responds when they cry out How long O simple ones will you love simplicity and scoffers delight in scoffing and fools hate knowledge Turn to my reproof Behold I will pour out my spirit on you I will make my words known to you because I called and you refused.

I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention and you neglected all my counsel and were not willing to accept my reproof. Now listen, this is God's disposition towards those who reject his reproof. I will also laugh at your disaster. I will mock when your dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm and your disaster comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer.

They will seek me earnestly, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge. the same God who sent his son to die for the sake of sinners so that sinners could be forgiven is the God that's going to laugh at those that reject it he said it right there in Jeremiah I think chapter 2 God says to the idolaters he says call on your idol on your day of trouble see if he helps you because God knows that that idol cannot help him so with that as the backdrop now i want to consider how god afflicts his children okay we could go on for we could do several sermons about god's wrath upon sinners but just know that god's wrath and god's punishment for the wicked is never with the intention we'll say for their good it is their punishment when sinners who have been made saints through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost go through the affliction of God, it is for their good. Back to Psalm 89. Just looking at verses 30 to 34.

I just want you to get all this on your mind. And then I have some bullet points and just some different things to tell you. If you want to take notes, there's a lot of different concepts today, and it's not just a singularly focused thing. That's why I gave you a thesis statement. God loves you, and your circumstances are not the determining factor if you're understanding that.

In verse 30, it says, If his sons forsake my law, this is those who are the ones that Jesus Christ is the everlasting Father from Isaiah 9, 6, 4. If his sons forsake my law, that's if you and I forsake God's law. That doesn't mean necessarily that you forsake it permanently. This is when we even temporarily stumble and do not walk in his judgments. If we profane his statutes and if we do not keep his commandments, he says, I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with striking.

God promises that his anointed one that he calls David here, and he's referring to Jesus Christ himself, he promises that if the followers of his anointed one break his law, he's going to punish them. So don't you think for a minute that the fact that you're even being punished by God is evidence that he doesn't love you and that he's not your God. Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish.

And we already talked about the fact that it was probably really, really gross in the fish. It was affliction. And at no point did Jonah cease to be God's prophet. 33, the promise. But there's a lot of rules of reading the Bible that people will give you. I'll ask, let anyone call out who knows it.

What are the three most important rules of Bible interpretation? Context, context, context, right? But there's a couple other things to think about when you're studying the Scripture. And one of them is to look for certain words that jump out at you. But is a huge word in Scripture. But shows you that there's going to be a contrast coming up. so although God is going to punish transgressors with the rod and their iniquity was striking in 33 he says but I will not break off my loving kindness from him nor deal falsely in my faithfulness God will remain faithful to his covenant promises verse 34 and he's not going to change any of what has come from his lips already.

So if God promises you that if you will come to Jesus Christ, you will have everlasting life and you will not perish and then you come to Jesus Christ for everlasting life and he says, I will never leave you nor forsake you, then if after that point in time in your life you fall into sin, You jump into sin. You stumble into sin. However you want to phrase it.

God is not removing his loving kindness from you in any way, shape or form. His promises have not changed towards you. But he will bring the rod of reproof in your life. And I will argue that the rod of reproof in your life is more evidence of his love for you than his loathing of you. because the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, just as a father disciplines the son whom he loves.

Romans 8.36. Again, I warned you we'd jump around a little today. It a topical sermon on affliction of the saints and God love towards the saints In Romans 8.36, there's an interesting line, which is a quote from Psalm 44, where Paul says, Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long. We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.

If you go back just one verse, he says, who will separate us from the love of Christ? The context is, how are you possibly separated from God's love? And then he asked the question, will affliction or turmoil or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? So basically all of the hardest things that you could endure, not having clothing, not having food, being in danger, being in danger of evildoers who come at you with a sword or even a government that comes at you with the power of the sword.

Which of those things can separate you from the love of Christ is what he's asking. He already established that your own sin can't separate you. The devil can't separate you. And so to give assurance to all those who are in Christ Jesus that they will make it to the end and be glorified, that's what chapter 8 is about. Paul tells them, for your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things, we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ Jesus. Romans 8 puts a dagger in the heart of the health and wealth prosperity gospel. Romans 8 tells you that no matter what happens to you in this life, no matter what your circumstances, you, if you are justified by the grace of God through faith, will endure to the end and one day be glorified where God will wipe away every tear from your eye and there will be no more death and no more sickness and no more suffering.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 continues to teach us a bit about affliction if for a moment you wonder if maybe God is actually the God who afflicts those he hates and prospers those he loves you only need to look at the scripture but if you just look at church history for a minute You look at some of the best Christians who ever lived, people we look up to for their faith. They suffered greatly most of the time. In fact, who in here is holding an English Bible either in their hand or near them?

You realize that the fact that you have an English Bible is the result of people who cared about a future generation more than their own life. and many people died just to create an English Bible and to preserve it. There's entire people groups with no Bible in their language. I wonder which of us may be willing to die so the people in that language will one day have the Bible.

In 2 Corinthians 4, 7, Paul says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. In every way afflicted, he says, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Paul gives us a number of contrasts here so that we will be able to understand why the affliction and persecution come.

God afflicts his people, but he doesn't crush them. God's people become perplexed, not always understanding what good means God intends through their suffering, but they're never despairing. Does it mean you will never have any despair? Excuse me. that doesn't mean you will never yourself experience despair but the point is you ought not you being perplexed about why god is doing what he is doing is supposed to drive you to faith and to trust the promises that he has made that are clear when everything around you has become unclear in verse 9 he says we're persecuted but not forsaken remember god is going to laugh at the calamity of his enemies he abandons those who refuse reproof his people will be persecuted that is a certainty If you want to have a large church with lots of people, you need to stop preaching about persecution.

You need to stop warning people that there is a cost to the discipleship of Jesus Christ. In some countries, even today, getting publicly baptized is what will get you killed or at least separated from your family. but although persecuted God does not forsake his people in fact it is while being persecuted that many saints have expressed their closeness to God the comfort that God gave them in a special way to know that despite their circumstances God was with them struck down but not destroyed now verse 10 Paul continues always care now remember this is Paul talking about his own life autobiographical. This is not some hypothetical thing.

Paul, one of the greatest Christians to ever live, Jesus says, I will show him what things he must suffer for my namesake. Paul says, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus Christ so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. He says, for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

One of the purposes of your suffering is so that you, by not being despairing but maybe perplexed, You, by being persecuted and confessing that you know that you've not been forsaken, that you might actually show people who Jesus Christ is. Always displaying him or that he may be manifested in our mortal flesh. It is when we go to Ohio State and people will say things to us that are improper. and when we respond with kindness or we respond with truth, we show people who He is.

Our confession has actually many places where this is referred to, but there's two things I want you to consider from chapter 11 and chapter 12. Chapter 11, paragraph 5, that's a chapter on justification. All right, justification is the act of God's free grace whereby he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

Justification is that moment when God treats you as if you had lived the perfect life of Christ and promises that he treated Christ on the cross as if he had lived your wicked and sinful and vile life. your sins are forgiven once and for all and in real time the holy spirit applies the blood atonement of the lamb of god to your life and you believe that he was resurrected from the dead for you and in verse five paragraph five of chapter 11 our forefathers write god continues to forgive the sins of those that are justified yes it's true you're completely forgiven at the moment you're justified and that nothing is going to separate you from God. But there is a relational aspect to your continuing relationship with God in this life where you need continuous forgiveness. We read the paragraph and although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, the saints who've been forgiven, yet they may by their sins fall under God's fatherly displeasure.

And in that condition, they usually do not have the light of his countenance restored to them until they humble themselves, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance. This paragraph is telling us that although justified, your sins will separate you from God in a relational way, whereby rather than you sensing, we'll just use an anthropomorphism here, rather than you sensing his smiling face upon you, it's like he's frowning on you. And I will tell you that sometimes that will come through affliction.

Paragraph says, usually, leaving room for the sinner that is not quite chased down his heart by God for his sin in the moment. Point being, your affliction that you suffer, The displeasure of God that you feel is not a displeasure whereby somehow you have out sinned the magnanimous sacrifice of Christ on your behalf. It's that temporarily he is reminding you that you are still a sinner and that you need to renew your faith and repentance.

God, in his love towards his children, will not leave them unpunished. just as a loving father in this life will bring the rod of reproof on his son or daughter. It is because you love your child that you discipline them. Now this is mixed up at times, right? Because I'm sure we can all think of instances where no, sometimes I discipline my child not out of love but because I'm annoyed.

I've disciplined my child simply because my preferences weren't being met at the time. Or I was angry. Or I was hangry. We all err in this way as earthly parents. Sometimes we discipline our child for good reason and we do it really, really poorly. And so if your imagination goes from your bad parenting to God and you place your bad parenting upon Him And so now his discipline is not good.

You're looking at it the wrong way. The problem is that we should be like God and discipline well. We should do it in love and we should do it appropriately. And although we fail, we keep doing the right thing. And we understand the analogy. the analogy is that God loves his children even infinitely more than we could paragraph 12 on adoption 1689 all those that are justified God conferred in and for the sake of his only son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of adoption by which they are taken into the number they become his children, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God.

Have his name put on them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for. All these great things happen when you're adopted by God. Which, next time you meet somebody that says you can lose your salvation, just ask them how all these things get undone.

But the rest of the paragraph is this. I'm going to go back to the subject. So all those that are justified are chastened by Him as a Father. yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation. Our confession tells us God, the Heavenly Father, loves His children, will never cast them away.

In fact, you will get the same inheritance no matter how bad a sinner you are. After your justification. As if you had become a really good person afterwards. Because your inheritance is based on Christ's work. As your federal head. But both those paragraphs remind us.

That you can fall under God's fatherly displeasure. He wouldn't be God. If he ignored your sin as a Christian. he is good and he is loving and he will keep his covenant faithfulness and part of his covenant faithfulness is the promise that he made in psalm 89 that he will bring the rod of reproof to all those that break his statutes but are his children now these are some reasons god does this i'm sure you could think of more one reason to bring back the wanderer turn to psalm 119 verse 67 Now we're going to do the jumping around I spoke of a little more.

One reason God does this is to bring back the wandering sinner. Psalm 119, verse 67, David says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. God afflicts those who are going astray that they might keep his word in the future. Did Jonah go astray? Jonah tried to flee the presence of the Lord.

He went astray and God afflicted him. And as we saw last week at the beginning of Jonah, when God tells Jonah the second time arise and go to Nineveh, Jonah goes according to what God said. And you would do well to do the same. In each and every one of your lives, you have a personal relationship with God. Sometimes it bothers me when people say that evangelism is trying to tell people that they need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

You already have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The question is, is it reconciled or not? And if your relationship with Jesus Christ is not reconciled at this time, you are to humbly repent of your sin and beg him for mercy. Elijah made a good suggestion at the beginning of the service, fall on your knees and ask him. You don't have to, but it might show yourself your sincerity. if you would humble yourself.

Some of us know that it's okay to pray in all sorts of different places and we'll say positions you could be in and yes, you can still talk to God, but you know, it might show a little more respect for him and a little more humility if once in a while you get in a position that just wasn't so comfortable. Okay, I'm not trying to teach monkery here. I'm just saying like, maybe we could pray with a little less of our own comfort in mind and more mourning of our sin.

So God desires to bring back wandering sheep. Number two, for your assurance, Hebrews 12, verse six. I'll go back to five. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of Yahweh nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he flogs every son whom he receives. You actually are supposed to do the opposite of the health and wealth gospels teaching when you receive affliction, rather than see that as evidence that you lack faith. often your affliction is a reminder that you are his child.

Romans 8.36 again. For your sake we're being put to death all day long. We were counted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord the reasons God afflicts his saints are to bring back wandering saints and also to give them assurance thirdly for the salvation of the rest of the elect 2 Corinthians 4 again We already read it once.

But just to remind you, as we go through the reasons to secure the salvation of the elect. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7 but we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves verse 11 for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh this is part of how we adorn the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is by enduring our affliction you may be afflicted by God not because of fatherly displeasure it may not be because God is unhappy with you because of your sin you may be afflicted simply for the sake of God to bring somebody else into his kingdom How about the book of Job? Job was a righteous man.

And God permitted Satan himself to afflict Job in an amazing way. I mean, if you read it, you kind of realize, wait, this is pretty intense. It's like the first two chapters, it all happened so fast. The guy had 10 kids die in one day. I mean just that alone but he lost all his stuff too then he gets sick all so that we can have a book so that we might know that God is sovereign and none of his plans will be thwarted even by Satan himself and that at no point ought we to deny God or curse God but if we shall receive good from God we shall also receive evil and Job is with the Lord now praise God for that God afflicts people to bring back wandering saints to assure the saints that they're his children for the salvation of his elect and to edify us but also that you yourself may know God better back to Psalm 119 verse 67 before I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep your word.

He says next, you are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Psalm 119 is not just a list of fortune cookie statements. There's a context. The result of being afflicted and wanting to keep God's word is that the psalmist cries out, you are good and do good. Teach me your statutes.

It's our desire when we are afflicted to know God better. In verse 71, the psalmist says, It is good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn your statutes. It is the affliction that we get that often leads us to actually be interested in God. It is during the times of prosperity that we're too busy. that we have too many. Sometimes the good gifts that God gives us creates so much to do that we don't have time for God now, the gift giver.

Isn't that how it is when you get your kids on their birthday? And, you know, if you guys do Christmas stuff, your kids get all these gifts. And then if you wanted to sit and just have a conversation with your kid, you couldn't forget about it because they're playing with the toys, right? we're not any different. We play with the toys that God gives us to enjoy to our detriment because we ignore the God who gave them to us sometimes.

When God strips away all your comfort and all your joy in this life, it is often to cause you to cling to the one thing that you know you have even in your most difficult circumstance, and that is Jesus Christ dwelling inside you. And his comfort and his peace and his Holy Spirit. In 1 Peter 1.6, we're given another reason for affliction. So we're afflicted that God might bring back wandering sinners, that we may be assured of our salvation, that the elect may find God and be saved and that we may know God better.

And in 1 Peter 1, 6, we're told that the affliction comes that we may rejoice. He says, in this you would greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials. So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

He says, and though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. James tells us to count it all joy when we encounter various trials because of the effect of them. I'm not telling you that you rejoice about the trial, but you rejoice during the trial. And God gives us the trials sometimes that we may show that we are faithful.

God gives us the trials so that we may see for ourselves the joy that can only come from the Lord during such a difficult circumstance Turning over to James chapter 1 verse 3 The next reason for your trial is that you may persevere. James says, Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials. You're rejoicing, knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance.

He says, and let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We will persevere in our trials. Help us to persevere. They strengthen us for more difficult trials to come that we may be ready to persevere. And so we rejoice in our trials because they lead to perseverance. Psalm 119. again verse 75 we're told I know oh Yahweh that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me it is God's faithfulness towards us that causes the affliction and then we are assured of our perseverance because of it you are a Christian and you will suffer in this world if I hated you I would not tell you that but because I know it's going to happen I need to also tell you that that suffering that comes is never an indicator that you are not God's child finally the final and ultimate reason for everything is God's glory you will be afflicted in this life for the glory of God back to 1 Peter 1.7 the proof of your faith though it was tested by fire may be found and resulted in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ when Jesus Christ is revealed you will be filled with praise and although Jesus Christ is perfectly worthy of praise and always has been despite our creation the difficulty of this creation is the backdrop of darkness before which the light of Jesus Christ shines even brighter.

If you can imagine that he dwells in inapproachable light and yet the darkness of this evil world and the difficulty of the affliction we face actually helps us to see him better. and so your affliction that you will suffer is meant to bring you back if you are wandering it's meant to give you assurance that you're his child it is meant so that your affliction might be used in the salvation of others it is meant so that you will be driven to want to know god better it is meant so that you might rejoice as you're learning perseverance of the faith and ultimately it has meant that you might praise God and honor Jesus Christ better when you realize how worthless everything that you cling to in this world is compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ your Lord. Whether you're in the midst of affliction or not, you're commanded to rest upon God's mercy, trust His promises, call out to Christ as your only hope. Repent of known sin and ask God to reveal to you the unknown sins of your heart.

Although this is your duty at all times, dear Christian, affliction is often the crucible God uses to refine you of the impurities that have drawn you away from obedience to him. When we are spoiled and comfortable, we tend to forget God. When we have nothing in this world to bring us joy, we tend to draw near to him again. God will. There's an old saying that I heard that it's not exactly biblical, but it was anything that you put between you and God, God will remove it for you.

It's a secular phrase I heard, but I think the same idea applies. being afflicted is no more evidence that you are an object of God's wrath than enjoying prosperity is evidence of his grace the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer earthly blessing and suffering are inadequate indicators of God's surpassing love or holy indignation God chastises those whom he loves, the erring saint will no doubt be turned over by God to the destruction of the flesh that he may not make further shipwreck of his faith. But the adopted child of God who wanders away like a lost sheep will also be brought back by the good shepherd of his soul, often through the rod of reproof. A loving parent teaches his children by whatever means necessary, yet never ceases to love his child.

Rather, it is his pity for his child who will endure greater hardships from an unforgiving world than what the father will inflict that leads good fathers to properly afflict their children in love for training and discipline. If you then who are evil love your children enough to do this, will not God who is perfect do the same? Do not doubt the love of God for you. instead rest in it and cling more closely to your loving father at all times that is during times of affliction and also during a time of prosperity if you are a saint saint being one who has been set apart by God having been justified by his free grace God loves you and there's nothing you can do to change that.

Rest in him today. Thank you.