“Affliction and Its Remedy”

Psalm 119:25  My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to your word.

This 25th verse is just the sentiment needed by some that shared their burdens Wednesday evening.  Living in a fallen world, we face affliction on every hand.  The Psalmist was no different and the incident alluded to in this verse may be a sorrowful inward experience or an extreme outward pressure.  We know that God does not willingly afflict.  Why then do His people’s souls cleave to the dust of affliction?

            Four potential reasons for affliction in the life of a believer can be set forth:

(1) the affliction is to increase humility (2 Corinthians 1:7-9).  Those in the Corinthian church needed many things, but humility was foundational.

(2) To correct believers for past transgressions and keep them from returning to that course.  One person who called me at 3 AM Monday morning was not in church as he had promised, most likely because he had returned to both the sins that had brought him great sorrow, and now Satan literally had him trapped in a room where the door would not open.  Gently, I told him that Satan was rejoicing that he had returned to the fold when he saw those sins back in his life, and Satan assumed that the call to faith was not real.

(3) To test the strength of their character, their faith in the promises, their hope in His mercy, and their knowledge of the depth and sincerity of Christ’s love. Throughout history, the one’s we call saints did not have an easy road, but rather suffered great adversity.

(4) To awaken the spirit of prayer and thus show to the one suffering the riches of God’s grace and God’s ability to complete their recovery (Psalm 71:20-21).