”Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. . . . Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:8, 19-20).
Dear Praying Friends:
Overwhelmed with difficulties, David candidly declares, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” In the past few days, I have heard two preachers say that affliction and trouble are part of the “normal” Christian life. Jesus promised, “In the world you will have tribulation [trouble]” (John 16:33), and he keeps this promise!
On the other hand, David also claims that “the LORD is good.” As our pastor reminded us yesterday, we do not know why God allows, or even sends, trouble to his people, but we do know that he is good, and that among many purposes, he intends to use trials and suffering to draw us closer to himself and to make us more like Jesus. Eventually, he will deliver us out of all trouble and into eternal bliss.
After all, Jesus, the only truly righteous person who ever lived, saw “many afflictions,” including the manifold agonies of his last day on earth. He was only “delivered” after his death, through resurrection. And yet God sovereignly limited the degree of his suffering, for “not one of his bones was broken” (see John 1:36). God’s goodness and love were decisively demonstrated in the death of Christ for us (Romans 5:8), and his power shown in his resurrection.
We can affirm God’s goodness, therefore, in the midst of our sufferings, and we can trust that he is “near to the broken-hearted,” (Psalm 34:18), for Christ promised, “Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
”The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry" (Psalm 34:15; ESV).
Yours in his watchful care,
Wright