Rejoice In Tribulation

IT MAY BE THAT JEHOVAH WILL LOOK ON MY AFFLICTION, AND THAT JEHOVAH WILL REPAY ME WITH GOOD. 2 Samuel 16.12.

One morning on my way to work, I was thinking about this verse from the Bible - the pleading of King David to his God during his affliction. I happened to pass by the home of a dear friend who just had an operation. He was still in the hospital and so I had a chat with his wife, a dear old Christian sister who is known for her trust in God and life of prayer.

She was going through much affliction of her own and that of her family. She didn’t know why she was having more and more trouble every time she walked closer to God and was a witness for Him. She said that it is as if the devil was hurting her more because of this! David might have felt the same, I thought to myself. He expressed his agony and hope in God by saying, “It may be that Jehovah will look on my affliction, and that Jehovah will repay me with good”.

But dear fellow-believer, to us this is not just a hope and prayer as it was for David but a sure promise. The Word of God assures us of the blessings and benefits of the afflictions we suffer here in this life. You need to know this so that you do not despair in your afflictions, like the dear sister. For the sake of sanity and spirituality too, we need to develop a positive outlook from the Scriptures towards our afflictions. Only the promises of God and His grace can give us strength to face our trials which are many!

The Bible assures us that ‘our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’. Therefore, we must ‘fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal’ (2 Cor 5.17,18). If not for that blessed promise, ‘the eternal glory we receive will far outweigh our afflictions’, there would have been no meaning to our sufferings. God would not have allowed His children to suffer!

The Bible also teaches us that ‘our afflictions are the testing of our faith’. Though painful, it develops perseverance and makes you mature and complete, not lacking anything’ (Jas 1. 2-3). The apostle Peter says, through afflictions, ‘our faith, though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed’ (1 Pe 1.7).

So, instead of pining and groaning, which are common, we are encouraged by the apostle James to ‘consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds’ (Ja 1.4). In a similar manner the apostle Peter also tells us, ‘greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials’ (1 Pe 1.6).

Dear believer, in times of distress and depression there is great relief in deliberately expressing joy loudly in word, song or music! I have made it my daily habit! I have often proved it effective to burst out in songs of praise like, ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, How great Thou art!’ It might have startled my family or patients on the operating table! But they are better off with a happy husband or doctor!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, sometimes I am greatly weighed down by trials and afflictions. May Your Spirit sustain me and cause me to rejoice in tribulation through Your promises. Amen.