Making Use of Affliction

Behold, I have refined thee; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. --Isa. 48: 10.

The Divine intention is that affliction shall serve as a refining and purifying effect upon our lives. But we may misuse affliction, so that instead of being made better by it we are made worse. We have frequently seen cases of two persons suffering from the same affliction, one sweetened and softened, the other embittered and hardened.

It depends upon our attitude, how we take it, as to what effect affliction has upon us.

Many devout passages are found in the writings of John Ray, who was called “the ablest botanist and zoologist of his day,” and who, contrary to the notion that one cannot be a scientist and a Christian believer, “accepted fully the gospel as given in the New Testament.” Among these passages is the following prayer offered on the occasion of the death of a dear friend:

“Give us a sanctified use of these heavy afflictions, and when our hearts are moved and affected with a sense of our loss, give us to consider our sins, and to spend some part of our tears in lamenting them. Give us to consider the vanity and uncertainty of our lives, and the emptiness of all things here below to satisfy the vast desires of our immortal souls.”

This prayer points the way to the right use of affliction. Alongside it, we might put David’s prayer, offered in a time of sorrow (Ps. 39: 7,8,12,13).

“And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish . . . Hear my Prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears. . . Oh spare me, that I may recover strength.”

“That I may brighten up,” is the reading suggested in the margin.

If you are suffering from sickness or sorrow, ask God to help you make a sanctified use of it. You can be sure that His will towards you is good. Let no doubt of His love creep into your mind. Trust Him, and brighten up.