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Unanticipated Benefits of Sufferings
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“We must tell people what
we have learned. . . that no darkness can keep out God’s
marvelous light. They will believe us, because we’ve been
here.” – Betsie ten Boom[1]
“It is one of the greatest
wonders in the world, how the church subsists under such fierce
and frequent assaults as are made upon it by its enemies.” – John Flavel[2]*
We
live in a day when many Christian Right political leaders
are telling people how to survive the difficult times that
are coming. One recent evangelical presidential candidate,
in a recent column, remarked that “we are on the precipice
of some potentially catastrophic–or at the very least,
challenging–days.” His practical solutions for preparation
include “moving to a more rural location,” stocking up on
provisions, getting in shape physically, and preparing for
self-defense with firearms. After many paragraphs describing
various weapons, he concludes with a brief nod to faith:
“I
strongly suggest that you seek to possess a personal
relationship with God’s only begotten Son.”[3]If we could choose for ourselves, we would escape trials and
tribulations. This is not always God’s will for us, however.
Despite our best-laid plans for survival and sustenance, God
can override us. We may find ourselves in a situation of
persecution so fierce and unrelenting that there is no
escape. So what could be the possible benefit to us – and to
others – should the Lord require this of us? John Flavel,
whose writing on this topic[4]
we have been examining in this current series of posts,
describes the many benefits of persecution. These are
tangible benefits that may not seem so clear in the middle
of a trial, but only become evident as time goes on.
Purifying the Saints
The first point Flavel makes is probably the most difficult
for modern evangelicals to grasp. Our easy-believism
doctrine just simply doesn’t accommodate this. Yet, it is
from Scripture. Titus 2:14 says that the Lord intends to
purify us: “Who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.”
James 4:8b also calls us to purify ourselves:
“Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
Flavel notes that it is trials that will purify believers:
“Hereby the most wise God doth illustrate the glory of His
own name, clearing up the righteousness of His ways by the
sufferings of His own people…. He will not indulge or
patronize their sins….”
For God’s Glory
God seeks His glory, another difficult doctrine for
ear-tickling lovers. Flavel explains that
Moreover, by exposing His people to such grievous
sufferings, He gives a fit opportunity to manifest the glory
of His power in their support, and of His wisdom, in the
marvellous ways of their escape and deliverance.This raises an immediate question, especially in light the
increasing militia rhetoric of the Christian Right: If we
take matters into our own hands to wreak our own vengeance
upon our enemies, are we thwarting God’s more perfect way,
which may be for His glory by our deliverance? Might not
others be saved by observing God’s provident deliverance?
Flavel reminds us of the biblical example of deliverance
found in Esther, chapter 6, which story begins with the most
amazing happening: “On
that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to
bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were
read before the king.”God delights in causing the Devil’s plots to backfire.
Flavel notes,
Now, you may see the most wise God going beyond a malicious
and subtle devil, overturning in a moment the deep laid
designs and contrivances of many years, and that at the very
birth and point of execution,… snaring the wicked in the
works of their own hands; making their own tongues to fall
upon them; working out such marvellous salvations with His
own hand, as fills them with astonishment and wonder….
Mortifying the Heart
Flavel observes what happens to believers under persecution
and trials. He suggests that the purpose of these occasions
is for “mortifying the corruptions that are in their hearts”
by comparing these corruptions to “rank weeds springing up
in the best soil.” To our modern era church, which has
eschewed the doctrine of biblical separation, this may seem
like a totally foreign concept. But, a church under
persecution must reconsider its focus and priorities. “If,”
says Flavel,
we reckon humility, heavenly mindedness, contempt of the
world, and longing desires after heaven, to be the real
interest and advantage of the church; then it is evident,
nothing so much promotes their interest, as a suffering
condition doth….And he concludes by stating this fact, “Adversity kills
those corruptions which prosperity bred.” In other words, a
necessary component of suffering is dying to self, and dying
to worldliness.
Personal Peace With God
There is another blessing to persecution which may not be
anticipated. Flavel claims that by these trials a believer’s
sincerity is cleared, to the joy and satisfaction of their
own hearts; many a doubt and fear, which had long entangled
them, is removed and answered.
This is a personal joy found in peace with God.
Where Did All the
Hypocrites Go?
An interesting unanticipated consequence of persecution is
that it frees the church of “the abundance of hypocrites,
which were its reproach as well as burden.” Flavel explains
that
Affliction is a furnace to separate the dross from the more
pure and noble gold. Multitudes of hypocrites, like flies in
a hot summer, are generated by the church’s prosperity; but
this winter weather kills them: Many gaudy professors [of
the faith] grow within the inclosure of the church, like
beautiful flowers in the field, where they stand during its
peace and prosperity, in the pride and bravery of their
gifts and professions; but the wind passeth over them, and
they are gone, and their places shall know them no more; to
allude to that in Psalm 103:16.[5]
Thunder and lightning is a very terrible weather, but
exceeding useful to purify and cleanse the air.
True Reconciliation
Another unanticipated outcome of sufferings is that
it will “endear” one believer to another. Flavel states that
Times of common sufferings, are times of reconciliation, and
greater endearments among the people of God; never more
endeared, than when most persecuted; never more united, than
when most scattered, Mal. 3:16-17[6]:
“Then they that feared the
LORD spake often one to another.”There is another side to this newfound fellowship. According
to Flavel, persecution also results in “discoveries… of
the sincerity of our hearts” one to another. What was before
“entertained with jealousy” may be humbled by “reproofs of
the rod,” and what was before “wantonness and bitterness in
their spirits to each other” can be “made to cry, in the
sense of these transgressions, as Psalm 79:8:
“O remember not against us
former iniquities.”[7]
Deeper
Prayer
Flavel concludes this chapter by noting that believers reap
benefits to persecution such as being
awakened to their duties, and taught to pray more
frequently, spiritually, and fervently. Ah! what drowsiness
and formality is apt to creep in upon the best hearts, in
the time of prosperity; but when the storm rises, and the
sea grows turbulent and raging, now they cry as the
disciples to Christ, Lord,
save us, we perish….[8]
I am sure the sweetest melody of prayer is upon the deep
waters of affliction.
The Truth:
“And our
hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of
the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.” (2
Corinthians 1:7)
Endnotes:
1. Betsie ten Boom’s words of hope, said to her sister
Corrie ten Boom shortly before Betsie died in the
Ravensbruck concentration camp and Corrie was released.
Cited on page 72 of Corrie:
The Lives She’s Touched by Joan Winmill Brown
(Worldwide Pictures, 1979).
2. Works of John Flavel
(6 vol set), Banner of Truth Trust (1820, 1968), ISBN
0-85151-060-4. Flavel’s dissertation titled “Preparations
for Suffering, or The Best Work in the Worst Times” appears
in Volume 6, pages 3-83.
3. Pastor Chuck Baldwin, “A Suggested Survival List,”
December 15, 2009, published here:
http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin555.htm and
archived at:
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20091215.html
4. Flavel, Ibid, and all subsequent quotations.
5. Psalm 103:15-18 states:
“As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the
field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and
it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But
the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto
children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to
those that remember his commandments to do them.”
6. Flavel actually quotes from verse 17 of Malachi chapter
3. However, verse 17 is such a beautiful verse it is here
quoted: “And they shall be
mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son
that serveth him.”
7. Flavel’s text incorrectly identifies this verse as Psalm
70:8. We have corrected this error in our quotation.
8. Flavel is quoting from Matthew 8:25 which was the
occasion of the disciples being in
“a great tempest in the
sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves”
(verse 24), an apt analogy of persecution.*ED. NOTE: We have taken minor liberties to reformat some of
the published text by altering some of the punctuation,
Roman numerals, and other obsolete forms.
First posted by Discernment Research Group
@
12/19/2009 03:50:00 PM
© 2009 by Discernment Group
http://www.herescope.blogspot.com/
See its article
here.
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