Poster | Thread | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| depths of affliction | |
Christians, when shut up in the depths of affliction, have their eyes on God alone, who can bring them out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay. Then their thoughts ascend to heaven, and heaven shines down into their souls; while the world, in all its glittering vanities which strike the carnal eye--is cut off.
In the dark night of adversity, there are spiritual beauties seen, which were never seen in the broad day of prosperity. O desirable distress! which discloses and magnifies heavenly excellences--and diminishes earthly vanities!
In no place better than in the profound depth of affliction, does the heir of future glory see . . . the love, the goodness, the mercy, the wisdom of God, the excellency of true religion, the beauty of divine things, the danger of prosperity, the deceitfulness of riches, the vanity of created things, the happiness of the world to come.
James Meikle
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| 2009/3/11 15:44 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: depths of affliction | | "Why does a living man complain?" Lamentations 3:39
You have no reason to complain, as long as you are out of hell. Do you murmur, because you are under pain and sickness? Nay, bless God, you are not there where the worm never dies! Do you grudge, that you are not in so good a condition in the world as some of your neighbors are? Be thankful, rather, that you are not in the condition of the damned! Is your money gone from you? Thank God that the fire of His wrath has not consumed you! Kiss the rod, O sinner! and acknowledge mercy!
Thomas Boston
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| 2009/3/11 15:45 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | |
"I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this!" Psalm 39:9
In the words you may observe three things:
1. The person speaking, and that is, David. David a king, David a saint, David 'a man after God's own heart,' David a Christian. And here we are to look upon David, not as a king, but as a Christian, as a man whose heart was right with God.
2. The action and carriage of David under the hand of God, in these words--'I was silent; I would not open my mouth.'
3. The reason of this humble and sweet carriage of his, in these words--'for You are the one who has done this!'
The proposition is this: That it is the great duty and concern of gracious souls to be mute and silent under the greatest afflictions, the saddest providences, and sharpest trials that they meet with in this world.
David's silence is an acknowledgment of God as the author of all the afflictions that come upon us. There is no sickness so little, but God has a finger in it; though it be but the aching of the little finger.
David looks through all secondary causes to the first cause, and is silent. He sees a hand of God in all, and so sits mute and quiet. The sight of God in an affliction is of an irresistible efficacy to silence the heart, and to stop the mouth of a godly man.
Men who don't see God in an affliction, are easily cast into a feverish fit, they will quickly be in a flame; and when their passions are up, and their hearts on fire, they will begin to be saucy, and make no bones of telling God to His teeth, that they do well to be angry. Such as will not acknowledge God to be the author of all their afflictions, will be ready enough to fall in with that mad principle of the Manichees, who maintained the devil to be the author of all calamities; as if there could be any evil or affliction in the city, and the Lord have no hand in it, Amos 3:6.
If God's hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.
Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs!
They see that it was a Father that put those bitter cups in their hands; and love that laid those heavy crosses upon their shoulders; and grace that put those yokes around their necks--and this caused much quietness and calmness in their spirits.
When God's people are under the rod, He makes by His Spirit and word, such sweet music in their souls, as allays all tumultuous motions, passions, and perturbations.
"I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this!" Psalm 39:9
Thomas Brooks
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| 2009/3/11 15:46 | Profile | mamaluk Member
Joined: 2006/6/12 Posts: 524
| Re: Afflictions | | Brother Christian, I like Brook's piece, thanks.
There are times we should be able to cry out to our Father for His love, mercy or even for deliverance in our afflictions, without having to develope a sense of guilt, or being reproved by others of complaining. Our loving Father would want us to run to Him with our all. "Complaining" to God, can in fact be an act of faith, as long as we don't complain against Him. However, I do see the ill of habitually complaining to man, in which case, can be a bad testimony. We see here some Scriptures:
"And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression"
"He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression."
Surely there are times for us to endure or even to embrace afflictions in order to demonstrate our faith this way as well, and our love of our Lord and His gospel, as we see in these verses. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"
"Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"
"but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions"
"choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;"
I brought this up because I have come across those who would (especially those who are hyper-spiritual) often quickly pass judgment upon us the moment they find us expressing our struggles in afflictions. Satan, I believe, likes to use such men to add on to our afflictions by imposing a sense of false guilt, so that he can hinder us from drawing near to God and crying out to Him.
In Christ,
Margaret
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| 2009/3/11 21:16 | Profile |
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