Blessings Of Afflictions 6

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Transcript

And God gives us a unique privilege of testing His promises. That’s one of the reasons He sends afflictions.

In fact, it’s the sixth one. As you turn with me to Psalm 119, right in the middle of your Bible, the 119th psalm. Psalm 119 verse 107. And I trust this morning that we will realize the blessing of affliction is that we, through afflictions, get to test the promises of God.

One of the ways we are assured of our salvation is that we get to test the promises of God here on Earth. We get to see God fulfill what He promised to do. That’s why blessing comes to us through affliction. And we’re looking at that sixth blessing. There are seven that are listed in the 119th psalm, and this blessing shows us what affliction can do in our lives.

The 107th verse tells us, I am afflicted very much, and then it continues with revive me, oh Lord, according to Your Word. But that reviving according to His Word comes in the context of being afflicted very much. The 107th verse is unique. In fact, I spent so long this week just looking at the immensity. If you just look at it, it looks like it’s just like the same as all the other five we’ve looked at, and there’s one more next time. But let me just walk you through this verse first. I’ll read it for you with a little enhancement.

I am afflicted, remember that’s the word for physical affliction. It means to bow you down. It speaks of physically pushing you down. So, I am pushed down very much. Now that’s where we get into something interesting. That’s the same word that’s used to describe the flood and the plagues of Moses. The flood of Noah and the plagues of Moses on Egypt. Now that should tell you how afflicted the psalmist feels, Ezra, in his life. He says, I am afflicted very much, like the waters of the flood and the plagues that struck Egypt. Revive me oh Lord, according to Your Word.

Now that Word revive me is exactly the same word that God uses to describe His rescue of Rahab. Now I can’t help but go back to my childhood. Any of you that are old enough to remember the old cat and mouse cartoons? I think they were silent when I was little. Maybe they had music. They were just moving characters. But that little mouse would run around, it would hide, and the cat would do something and the whole house would collapse. And there would be the mouse standing all alone. That’s what I see in my mind when I think of Rahab. I think of Rahab in her little wall house and the whole city goes, and there’s Rehab standing like this going, how did I survive this and realize the true and living God. And what the psalmist is saying here is, I am saved through my great flood-en plagues of afflictions by the Lord. He’s revived me. He has saved me. He has kept me alive.

And how does He do that? The end of the 107th verse, according to Your Word. Remember, when we looked at all 10 of these words, this word means His voice. So, what he’s saying is, God, you have talked me through the complete flood of problems, the complete disaster that has totally made my whole world crumble around me. And I’m standing here and because I hear Your voice through Your Word. I’m surviving now. That’s, testing the promises of God. Let’s look at it briefly this morning.

Back up with me to Genesis chapter 7. I want to give you a little exposition. Someone said to me once, they said you don’t, you’re not an expositor of the Word. I said, no. I’m sorry. I said, you’re talking about textual preaching. A textual preacher never leaves the text he’s in. An expositor goes to the whole Bible to look at the verses he’s looking at. So let me expound the 107th verse. It says in Genesis chapter 7 and verse 18. Wow. It uses the same word for very much. I’m afflicted very much. It’s an adverb. It’s the same Hebrew word that’s used for the waters of the flood covering the Earth in Genesis 7:18. It says, the waters prevailed and greatly increased on the Earth. There’s that word.

Now think about what it was like for the poor Earth. The poor Earth was there, and all of a sudden, this overwhelming flood of water came upon it. That’s the picture. The divine engineer, the Holy Spirit of God wanted to capture by the word He inspired His servant Ezra to record, that “greatly increased.” That is, that word.

Now keep going to verse 19, and the waters prevailed, and here is the word repeated again, exceedingly on the Earth. And all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. We’re looking at… what kind of trouble was Ezra going through when he wrote these words in 119:107? He was going through big time troubles. Now, let me ask you, do you feel sometime in life that your troubles are raining down on your life like the flood waters on the Earth during the time of Noah? Do you feel like troubles are just coming down, they’re piling up and they’re just going to drown you? Then you’re right in the right territory for this blessing of this verse. Do you feel drowned by your pain and problems? Then affliction can force you to test the promises of the Lord. He wants to revive you by you learning to listen to His voice in His Word.

Now you say, I’m really struggling. It’s really hard for me to get in the Bible, you wouldn’t believe. How did Ezra do it? Do you know how hard it was for him to get in the Word? The Word for him was like you get a roll of paper towel about this big around and start unrolling it. That’s how long the Bible was. We’re talking about, Isaiah was 55 feet long. How would you like to do a little Bible study in Isaiah and have to roll out a 55 foot long scroll? And there was only one of them for the whole community. Can you imagine how hard it was? And yet these people would sit and would inculcate and memorize the Word of God into their hearts and they would meditate on it. You think you have trouble? I have so many copies of the Word of God. I have it… endless websites. You can have it on your computer; you can have it on your PDA. You can carry around an old fashioned book like this, which I carry with me everywhere. You can have verse cards in your pocket. It’s not, you don’t have time… you don’t want to. That’s the problem. We have a problem with our wants, not with the Word. Well, he wanted it.

Affliction should force us to test the promises of the Lord. He wants to revive us. He wants us listening to His Voice and His Word. Then He guides us, leads us, rescues us from the rising flood waters of our problems and comforts us.

Keep going to the next book, Exodus chapter 9. Because the same word is used throughout and we could get an awful lot of examples of this, but it’s another beautiful picture. And you say… I was sharing this with someone. They said, oh, how do you make those things in the Bible? I said I didn’t make them. I’m just pointing them out. The Lord supernaturally engineered every person that wrote His Word. And every person in place, an event that’s named, and the Lord God made that tie together like a fabric so that these men who never saw each other, that wrote this book over a 1,400 year period of time, they, made it fit together better than the Herod masonry of Jerusalem, where they’ve got 60 ton stones you can’t even stick a credit card between. That’s how tightly the Bible fits together.

Let me show you another one, Exodus 9 and verse 3. And behold, in the middle of the plagues on Egypt, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle and on the field, and the horses and the donkeys, and the camels, and the oxen, on the sheep. Verse 3 of Exodus 9. A very severe pestilence. There’s the same idea where the psalmist said, I’m afflicted very much. It’s the very same word. It describes the absolute horrible plague that came down.

Now keep going to verse 18. Moses continues. Behold tomorrow, Exodus 9:18, about this time, I will cause a very heavy hail to rain down. The Lord is speaking about what He’s going to do to Egypt through Moses. Such as not has been in Egypt since its founding until now. But look at that 18th verse. I will cause a very heavy hail. Do you see the intensity? We’re not talking about just having, a little fogginess in the morning before you have your coffee. We’re talking about major events here.

Go to chapter 10 in verse 14, and the locusts, Exodus 10:14 went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe previously. There’d never been such locust as they, nor shall there be after them. Okay, do you get the idea? The Lord… there are many ways He could have said through Ezra in Psalm 119 that I’m [Ezra is] having trouble. He takes the zenith word. He takes the top level for problems. We’re talking about mega. I don’t know what the codes are with our terrorist alert, but boy, it was the top one we’re talking about. He’s really struggling.

Now, think about this. Are your life’s pains sometimes like the plagues of Egypt? Another one coming and you haven’t even recovered from the last one. That’s what the plagues were like. And they were big, and all of them were totally decimating and totally just destructive to the land. And the Lord says when your afflictions come, like the plagues of Egypt, when they’re just, you don’t even have time to recover… they, the crops are wiped out now. The animals are wiped out. Now the next year’s crops are getting wiped out by these locusts, which are eating the buds off the trees. And there isn’t… just… it’s hopeless then. Affliction can force you, if you’re in that situation, to test the promises of the Lord who wants to revive you by listening to the Lord’s voice and His Word. By guiding you into that place where He wants you to be and where He wants me to be, by leading us, rescuing us, and comforting us.

See, that’s why afflictions come. They come so that as they’re raining down on us, like the flood, and as they’re just coming in wave after wave, like the plagues of Egypt, we will stop and look up and say, God, you promised that you would revive me in the midst of my affliction, and I am counting on it now. And we test His promises and He fulfills it.

Well, now keep your finger, let’s go to Joshua chapter 2. Okay. So, keep going to the right to Joshua 2 and keep your finger there. Deuteronomy, Joshua, chapter 2. And go back, because I don’t want you to forget what we’re talking about, go back to Psalm 119 but keep your finger in Joshua 2. Okay? Because I want you to see this, the beauty of this in the context of what he’s saying. Joshua, we’re going to go back to, but look at Psalm 119, verse 107. He says this.

I personally. Not the nation Israel. Not my friends. Me. I am afflicted. That’s physically. The picture is just keep stacking stuff. I remember the first time I took a tour group to Egypt. I saw a lady carrying a refrigerator on her head and shoulders. She had that thing like this, and she was walking along with a refrigerator, a woman. The men don’t do that kind of work over there, it’s the ladies. And she was walking along staggering with her refrigerator and I thought for sure she was going to [drop it], can you imagine what that would do? Just break something, crush your ribs and everything else. And I thought about that when I read this word afflicted, because that is exactly the picture. It is bowed down and squashed under something so heavy. So, 107 says I’m staggering along through life, crushed down very much. Now when you read that very much again, think of two things. Think of the flood. That was a “very much” event. And think of the plagues of Egypt. That was a “very much” event. Okay.

Now Look what it says. This is what God promises He’ll do for you and for me if we’ll test His promises when we’re going through affliction. Here’s the blessing. Revive me, oh Lord. Not by taking away the problem. Not by never letting me have another problem in my life. Not by just having me live one of these life that is free of any problem. No, no, no. Revive me. How? Verse 107 says, according to Your Words. See, that’s why we have to know the Bible. We have to know the promises of God so that we know when He is doing this reviving. Let me show you what reviving is.

Now back up to where your finger is in Joshua 2. Because the word in Psalm 119:107 for revive is not speaking of a little country church with lots of music and a long invitation or something like that, which we think of as an old fashioned. I’m a southern preacher and I’ve preached in revivals all over the south, and I know what we think of as revival. It’s not talking about that. Look what it’s talking about. It’s a personal event. The word for revive is actually the word, save my life. It’s the same Hebrew word that’s used for the rescue of Rahab from Jericho while the walls crumbled around her and everyone else was destroyed, as she alone was rescued. Now that is a picture, if you can see it in your mind.

Look at chapter 2, verse 13, that You will spare the lives. There’s that word revive. That’s actually the same Hebrew word. Remember I told you the fascinating thing of the Bible is that there are 8,000 different words in the Bible that are translated by only 6,000 English words. So, there is a huge amount of learning because the English translators did not have time to exhaust the full meaning. That’s why we have so many versions of the Bible. I got many notes in this. Why are there so many versions? The reason we have so many versions is that God inspired this underlying body of revelation, and we’re trying to get it into the English language. Now, every Bible version, every major Bible version does it, but the beauty comes when you spend time to look at what the Hebrew words that are underlying the English words are. And here’s one I’m doing for you. I’m giving you an example.

This Hebrew word for revive is exactly the same in Psalm 119:107 but look how Joshua 2 translates it, that you will spare the lives. Now, that’s what the word means. Spare the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, that you will save us from death. Now the save us from death is a different word than spare the lives. So, there’s such beauty in the Hebrew language, but we’re looking at spare the lives.

Now look at chapter 6. Keep going in Joshua to chapter 6. Same word. We’re doing a little word study on the word revive. Verse 17 of chapter 6. Now, the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot, and here’s the same word from Psalm 119:107, shall live. She and all who are with her in her house because she hid the messengers that were sent.

Now drop down to verse 25. Very same word again. And Joshua spared. Now isn’t this fascinating? Verse 17, shall live. Verse 25, spared. Verse 13 of chapter 2, spare the lives. Do you get the idea of what it’s talking about?

The context is that this was the great city of Canaan. This was the gateway city. When you crossed the Jordan River, you came up on this looming fortress that was impenetrable walls, it was just perfectly defensible, this gigantic fortress Jericho. Ancient city. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. And here’s this monster city sitting up here. And one unrighteous woman comes to faith in the true and living God and believes what He says and gets this scarlet cord. And we could go through the whole ramifications of the scarlet cord that was stuck out of her window and the scarlet cord of redemption. But here she is perched in one of the worst places to be in the city, the wall. Her home, seemingly because of her profession, was right there by the gate so she could attract the travelers into her wickedness, in her harlotry.

And so there she was in the most dangerous place to be on the wall, especially if it’s being attacked by an enemy army. And right there on the wall, she’s standing and she sees the nation of Israel come and they march around. You remember the whole deal? Silently walking. And then seven times they go around and kaboom. The Bible says that the walls fell outward and there is one little sliver where Rahab and her family was. Now look at verse 25, and Joshua revived Rahab, the harlot. He spared her as everything around her crumbled, and her father’s household and all that she had. And she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers, verse 25 says, whom Joshua sent to spy out.

Now, here’s the question for us. Do you ever feel like you’re not going to survive what you’re going through right now? The pain, the hurt, and everything is crumbling? Everything that you’ve held onto in life and it’s just crumbling away? If that’s how you feel, then you feel like Rahab did when the city of Jericho was destroyed and God rescued her. God spared her. God revived her as Psalm 119 uses the same word. And that is what God does when He allows afflictions into our life. Did you know that the destruction of Jericho was an affliction that Rahab had to go through? She would not be the hero in the lineage of Jesus Christ without that event. She would not be one who the Bible records was still living in Israel and in that time and one who was accepted into that community without that event. It would’ve been nice to not have to have gone through that but look what it did for her. She tested the promises of God. What if she’d have said, wait a minute, I’m going to get one of those quick escape ladders, and when they come, I’m going to run down and run through and get with the army of Israel so they, nothing happens. No. God says, I want you to stay put. I want you to park. I am going to revive you when your whole world crumbles and falls apart and everything around you is destroyed. I’m going to spare you. She got to test the promises of God. Afflictions can force you and me to test the promises of the Lord. God wants to revive us. He wants us to hear His Voice in His Word. He wants to guide us. He wants to lead us. He wants to rescue us. He wants to comfort us.

Back to Psalm 119, right back in the middle of your Bible and look again at verse 107. Afflictions allow us to experientially test the promises of God. Now, notice what, if you’ve been marking these in your Bible, we started way over in verse 50. Now if you are a good obedient class member here, you’ve got something in verse 50 marked, probably the word affliction. And then skip over to verse 67, it’s there again. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. And then down in verse 71, it’s good for me, I’ve been afflicted. In verse 75, in faithfulness You’ve afflicted me. And in verse 92, unless Your law had been my delight I would’ve perished in my affliction.

But now, look at verse 107. You can almost catch the feeling of what’s going through the psalmist mind. He says this, he says, I have been afflicted. I have been afflicted.

I have been afflicted. I’ve been afflicted. I’ve been afflicted. And I am, look at verse 107, I am afflicted very much. It’s not going away. You could almost look at the 119th psalm as a long version of the life of Ezra. And it’s like we’re afflicted, and we’re afflicted, and we’re afflicted, and we’re afflicted, and we’re afflicted, and now we’re still being afflicted and it’s not over.

Now, let me tell you a little something. That’s what life is like. Some of the hardest days in life are the last days. When you’re young, you always have something to look forward to. When you’re young, you always have at least strength or good looks or future or time or something. You always have something. But when you get older, everything is running out. Your time, your strength, your energy, your hope, at least in this perspective the horizontal hope, and that’s what he’s going through. He says, I’m afflicted, very much. Affliction usually increases as we get older but God’s Word always renews, always refresh, always revives. Often, we know so much more than we experience. And so, affliction is a reality check. And affliction seemed to grow through life more and more. But after disasters, people really listen and that’s what we see going on. He says in verse 107, I am afflicted very much, and I know You’re going to spare me because I’m listening to Your voice and Your Word.

Now, I want to go to where we’re going to close, and that’s Hebrews chapter 11. Okay? So go all the way to the end of your Bible. Near the end, Hebrews 11. Let me introduce it this way, affliction is a blessing. Trials refine us. Pains will open our eyes to the realities of life. Sorrow tunes us into what really matters in life, and on and on through life it goes. Traumatic and painful experiences actually help us to be more aware, and a part of what God is doing. And to illustrate this, Hebrews 11 verses 8 through 19. And with that introduction about how difficult life is, let me read you about a really hard life.

In fact, Bonnie, so sweetly always is asking me what I’m learning in the Bible and asked me to share a little bit. And she says, what are you learning this week? This was about Wednesday. I said, honey. I have spent all week with Abraham. And let me show you what I mean. Hebrews 11, starting in verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, listen, not knowing where he was going. Don’t let that go by you. Think about leaving on a big trip with a huge family and traveling, all told, 1,500 miles and not even know where you’re going. How do you know when you get there? How do you know when to stop? Just think about it, this is immense. Verse 9. By faith, he dwelled in the land of promises, in a foreign country, dwelling in tents.

That doesn’t mean anything unless you realize he left the most civilized city of the ancient world that had multi-story buildings that were plastered on the inside. They had indoor plumbing. This guy was in the ultimate place to live, and he moved to a tent. And he lived, after God called him, 100 years in a tent. Wow. Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. And he waited for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength, conceived seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged Him faithful who had promised. She tested the promises of God just like her husband did.

Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead… How’d you like that? That’s the way some women do think of their husbands. He’s as good as dead. You know what I mean? Not much there, not much life. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, was born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. These all died in faith. Look at this, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off they were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth.

Abraham never built anything but alters, seven of them at least. He could have, he was wealthy enough, he had thousands that were with him. Just his male, armed with swords, servants were 318. He had 318 in his army. Can you imagine how many other children and servants he had? An entourage that numbered in the thousands. If anybody could build a house, he could have built a house. He didn’t ever build a house. He stayed in tents because he wanted to confess by his lifestyle that he was a stranger, at the end of verse 13, and pilgrim.

Verse 14, for they to say such things declare plainly by their lifestyle that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come, they would’ve had opportunity to return. He could have gone back to his nice house, the riverside house over in Ur. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Whom he had received the promise offered up, his only begotten son of whom it was said in Isaac. Your seed shall be called, verse 19, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which also he received him in a figurative sense. Let me just show you just a few things from this scripture.

Verse 8, if Abraham was able to tell us what he was thinking about, I think in verse 8 he would’ve said this. Where’s the promised place we’re going? If I’m going to leave with my wife and my servant load and all of these animals that I’ve got to carry around with me and feed and birth and calve and shear and pull the thorns out, where are we going? But look what he says in verse 8. He went out not knowing where he was going. He didn’t know where, but he went.

Verse 12, this man is good as dead. How is this promised son possible? I’m too old. He would’ve said, I can’t have children. This…, I’m beyond all this. How is this possible? So, where wasn’t answered, how wasn’t answered? Verse 13. They, it says not having received the promises when, if you think about it, every possible question is asked, where are we going? How are we going to get there? And when is this going to happen? And then the last one, look at verse 17. When he was tested, he offered up Isaac. Why do you want me to do that? Every how, when, what and why. God, I don’t understand anything that’s going on. That was an affliction. His life was a hundred years of affliction, a hundred years of waiting. A hundred years of what and how and why and when, and yet… look what God does with that.

Think with me real quickly. Where’s the promised place? Verse 8. Not knowing where they’re going. Sometimes we think about having that way, right? Is it worth so much to sacrifice here and now? Do I really need to be a pilgrim and stranger on this planet? Do I need my lifestyle to reflect where I’m going? Do I need my lifestyle to reflect who I worship and who I believe?

It’s not very easy to build an altar when you live in a tent. You can’t build it inside. It has to be… You know what an altar is. It’s an outside monument to what you believe in the sight of the community. And he was making markers. Now, I’m not saying go out and pile rocks in your backyard, and when your neighbors ask you what you’re doing, you tell them. No. This was in his context and his culture. It was an external, visible display of an event in his life where he met with God, and he made that. And he would return to those; he would restore them. He’d rebuild them. He’d re consecrate them because he never wanted to forget what God had done in his life.

Now, when we face questions like Abraham went through it’s time to test the promises of God and find out He’s more than enough for what we need. When we say, Lord, I don’t know where I’m going now. I don’t know what’s going on in life. I don’t know why all this is happening. I don’t know why I’m flooded, like Noah’s Flood. I don’t know why that my life is like the plagues of Moses sometime. I don’t know why my whole world’s crumbling like Rahab. Then it’s time to look up and say God, I test Your promises. Will You show me? Will You lead me? Will You guide me Your way? Verse 12. From this man, and him as good as dead, how is this promised son possible? Sometimes we face obstacles that seem as impossible as a woman who never had children, bearing a son at this ripe old age of 90, with a hundred year old husband.

What do you and I know that God has called us to do that sometimes seems impossible to accomplish? That’s when we contest the promises of God. That’s what Abraham did. He said, this is humanly impossible. And God says, I want to do something that you can’t figure and plan and orchestrate and work out so that when I do it, I’ll get all the credit. You see the idea? That’s what these impossible situations are in America. We don’t even go into a war until we’ve already declared we’re going to win it. That’s just the way things are. We have to have overwhelming firepower and superior everything and have all these, drones around and these see through the dark things and everything else. And we won’t even, we won’t even enter it until we know that the outcome is assured. And God says, you’re going to enter this situation in life not knowing humanly and trusting the outcome to Me. And see, that’s what the life of faith is about.

Verse 13, when was this going to happen? This is probably the hardest one for us. We really struggle with waiting. Abraham, between two verses will be 10, 15 years. They just go by like that. 10, 15 years? Most people have trouble, they send an email and if it’s two seconds they’re… what’s wrong with that? And the cell phone, what? We can’t wait seconds. Wait one minute at a stoplight, you’ll have people getting out of their car, kicking your car, yelling at you. I had a man just, oh, he got so angry at me and I couldn’t even figure out. The guy behind me is the one that honked, I don’t honk at people. I didn’t do anything. He just, I thought he was going to hit my car. That would’ve been okay. The back bumper fell off. He’d have knocked the front one off. But people are just so impatient. And Abraham, he had to say, when was this going to happen? He trusted God.

And finally, verse 17, the ultimate thing. He finally got the answer, the son. And God says, kill him. And we say, why does God want this? I have prepared… It reminds me of one of our dear saints who had his whole Christian adult life wanted to go to Bible school and be a missionary. And just in the last few months before he was supposed to retire and everything was going along great, he had a life threatening illness and he was laying in that bed and his wife was standing there and we thought for sure he was going to die. And I remember everyone saying, why would God do this? If anybody should be able to make it, Prince Plattner should have made it to the mission field, and there he was almost dead. He was about as close to dead as I’ve seen anybody and come back. And you know what? God just wanted to put him through that affliction with his wife and all of us, his friends, for us to say what Abraham said, why?

Let’s end back where we were, Psalm 119:107. I’m going to close out. Let me tie this together. God wants you and me in verse 107, listen and I hope this verse will come alive in your life, when you go through life and you have had affliction, and you’ve done well and affliction, and you’ve done well and affliction, you’ve done well and troubles, and God has brought you through all that. Then, you get to the point of 107 and you say I am afflicted very much. I am drowning. It is wave after wave coming in my life, and I don’t think I’m going to survive. Then this is what God says in verse 107. I will rescue you and I will keep you alive like Rahab, the only one that survived Jericho. Rahab and her family. I will do that so that, verse 107, so that I can allow you to hear My voice in My Word.

Now, wouldn’t you like to test the promises of God and know He’s really out there? Yes. And even if you don’t want to, He’s going to let you. Okay? And when He does that, and when He floods you and when He storms you, and when He sends the plagues like Moses across Egypt, what He wants you to do is to test His promises, to hear His voice and say, lo, you’re with me always. No good thing will You withhold from me. You said, if I stay with you that I will walk in Your presence and you’ll bring everything. And so, I believe You God. That’s the response He wants from you and me, when we’re afflicted very much.

Let’s bow before the Lord and thank Him that He is so wise and wants to do all this in our lives. Father in Heaven, I thank You that even when we’re afflicted very much you’ll rescue us. You will keep us alive. You will save us in our troubles. That You will come to where we are. You actually deliver us. We know what a delivery is. It’s when someone brings us what we need right there, where we are. And that’s what You want. You want to rescue us. You want to revive us. You want to save us right where we are so that we can test Your promises. This week we’re all facing different things in our lives, but when we feel like we’re drowning, when it feels like a wave is coming and we haven’t recovered from the last wave, that’s when You want us to hear Your still small voice through Your Word. And we want to test Your promises as we hear Your voice and say, are you really there, God? Are you really who you have always said? Can I really trust my life? And You’ll say, yes as You rescue us in the midst of our problems. You don’t take them away, but You come and You deliver us right where we are. Thank you for that truth.

And for those who have never received a membership in such a wonderful relationship, that membership is being born into Your family. And I pray that anyone today who has never been born into the family of God would realize, as the first message your great apostle ever gave in his personal soul winning. He said to that seeking heart, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That’s what we believe. That’s what we proclaim and that’s what we experience. We thank you for it. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Today we are looking at the 6th blessing that affliction can be in our lives.
Open with me to Psalm 119.107:
I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.
The 6th blessing of Affliction is: AFFLICTION FORCES US TO TEST HIS
PROMISES: Psalm 119:107 I am afflicted (6031 physical) very much (same word as
waters of flood and the plagues of Egypt); Revive me, O Lord, according to YOUR
WORD (Hearing the Divine Voice walking us through life 1697).
1. The word for “very much” is an adverb. It is the same Hebrew word used of
the way the waters of the Flood covering the earth (Genesis 7.18-19) and of
the way the plagues covered Egypt (Exodus 9.3 on cattle; Exodus 9.18 the
hail; Exodus 10.14 the locusts).
o Genesis 7:18-19 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the
ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed
exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were
covered.
o Do you feel like troubles are raining down like the Flood of Noah?
Do you feel drowned by your pain and problems?
o Then affliction can force you to test the promises of the Lord who
wants to revive you by listening to the Lord’s Voice in His Word –
guiding, leading, rescuing, and comforting!
o Exodus 9:3 behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the
horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very
severe pestilence.
o Exodus 9:18 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to
rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.
o Exodus 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all
the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such
locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them.
o Are your life’s pains like the plagues sometimes? Another one
coming and you haven’t even recovered from the last one?
o Then affliction can force you to test the promises of the Lord who
wants to revive you by listening to the Lord’s Voice in His Word –
guiding, leading, rescuing, and comforting!
2. The word for “revive” is actually save my life and is the same Hebrew word
as used for the rescue of Rahab from Jericho as the walls crumbled and
everyone else was destroyed and she and her family alone were rescued
(Joshua 2.13; 6.17, 25).
o Joshua 2:13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and
sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.” (NIV)
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o Joshua 6:17 Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who
are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house,
because she hid the messengers that we sent.
o Joshua 6:25 And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all
that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers
whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
o Do you ever feel like you are not going to survive what you are going
through?
o The pain, the hurt, the crumbling of everything you have held onto?
o Then you feel like Rahab did when the city of Jericho was destroyed –
and God rescued her, spared her, revived her as Psalm 119 says. And
that is what He allows afflictions to do in our lives (tear things down)
so He can allow us to test His promises (revive us, rescue us, spare
us)!
o Then affliction can force you to test the promises of the Lord who
wants to revive you by listening to the Lord’s Voice in His Word –
guiding, leading, rescuing, and comforting!
3. Afflictions allow us to experientially test God’s promises.
o Affliction usually increases, as we get older. But God’s Word will always
renew, refresh, and revive.
o Often we know so much more than we experience. Affliction is a reality
check.
o Afflictions seem to grow through life to be more and more.
o After disasters people often listen better.
Affliction is a blessing.
Trials refine us, pain opens our eyes to the realities of life, and sorrow tunes us in to what really
matters. And on and on through life it goes. Traumatic and painful experiences actually help us be
more aware and apart of the world around us.
This morning we find that when troubles come, and we experience affliction it forces us to test the
Promises of God. Remember that this is the 6th point in our discovery in Psalm 119 — of the Seven
Blessings of Affliction.
AFFLICTION is used by God because it —
1. PUSHES US INTO GOD’S WORD: Psalm 119:50
2. PULLS US BACK ONTO THE PATH: Psalm 119:67
3. CHISELS GOD’S PLAN INTO OUR LIFE: Psalm 119:71
4. TEACHES US THAT GOD IS FAITHFUL: Psalm 119:75
5. KEEPS US FOCUSED ON OUR TEACHER: Psalm 119:92
6. FORCES US TO TEST HIS PROMISES: Psalm 119:107
7. BRINGS GOD TO OUR DOORSTEP: Psalm 119:153
Now to illustrate this point, turn with me to Hebrews 11.8-19.
In Hebrews 11 God briefly summarizes one of the greatest men of human history – Abraham.
o Abraham is the 2nd man that God chose to appear to after Adam.
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o God walks with Enoch, talks with Noah — but APPEARS to Abraham. That makes Abraham
very special.
But with every blessing comes responsibility. And with the appearance of God to Abraham at age 75,
comes 100 years of lessons in the promises of God; and most of them would be called by us –
afflictions.
Hebrews 11. 8-19 summarizes the entire life of Abraham as a life of faith. What made it a life that God
says reflected enough faith to be called the ‘father of the faithful”? Simply this – Abraham did what
the Lord asked him to do, and went on a journey even though he didn’t know where, he did not know
how, he did not know when, and he did not know why!
Hebrews 11:8-19 Stand, read, pray!
So what are the promises that affliction forced Abraham to test? Look again at Hebrews 11:8-19. Here
are four possible questions Abraham may have thought or at least felt:
1. WHERE IS THIS PROMISED PLACE WE’RE GOING? 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when
he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out,
not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign
country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for
he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
o Sometimes we think that about Heaven right? Is it worth so much sacrifice
here and now? Do I really need to be a pilgrim and stranger here?
o When you face questions like this it is time to test the promises of God – and
find that He is more than enough for whatever we need!
2. HOW WAS THIS PROMISED SON POSSIBLE? 11 By faith Sarah herself also received
strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged
Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead,
were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by
the seashore.
o Sometimes we face obstacles that seem as impossible as a woman who never
had children bearing a son at 90, with a hundred year old husband! What do
you know God has called you to do that seems impossible to accomplish?
o When you face questions like this it is time to test the promises of God – and
find that He is more than enough for whatever we need!
3. WHEN WAS THIS PROMISED INHERITANCE HAPPENING? 13 These all died in
faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of
them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For
those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had
called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to
return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
o When you face questions like this it is time to test the promises of God – and
find that He is more than enough for whatever we need!
4. WHY DOES GOD WANT THIS GREAT OF A SACRIFICE? 17 By faith Abraham, when
he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that
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God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a
figurative sense.
o When you face questions like this it is time to test the promises of God – and
find that He is more than enough for whatever we need!
Lessons on Ending Well by Making the Right Choices Now from Psalm 71:1-24
1. Test God’s Promises by fleeing to the Lord instead of living in confusion.
Psalm 71:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
2. Test God’s Promises by crying to the Lord before giving up to troubles. Psalm
71:2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me,
and save me.
3. Test God’s Promises by running into God’s Refuge – thus trusting God’s
Word more than his fears. Psalm 71:3 Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort
continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my
fortress.
4. Test God’s Promises by asking for God’s help before becoming bitter. Psalm
71:4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the
unrighteous and cruel man.
5. Test God’s Promises by remembering His faithfulness. Psalm 71:5 For You are
my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth.
6. Test God’s Promises by praising God for His plan for your life. Psalm 71:6 By
You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
7. Test God’s Promises by allowing my life to testify for the Lord. Psalm 71:7 I
have become as a wonder to many, But You are my strong refuge.
8. Test God’s Promises by praising God so much — no time was left for
complaints. Psalm 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory
all the day.
9. David had learned he could trust God to the end of life. Psalm 71:9 Do not cast
me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10. Test God’s Promises by taking your fears to God in prayer (“do thy friends
despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms He’ll tend
and shield thee – thou shalt find a solace there!) Psalm 71:10 For my enemies
speak against me; And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, 11 Saying,
“God has forsaken him; Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.” 12 O
God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!” In a modern sense
David trusted God as much as in 911!
That’s as far as we got last time. Now the rest of the Psalm:
11. Test God’s Promises by learning to never give up – even when alone,
neglected, sick, ignored, rejected, maligned, and forgotten by everyone in
the world —– EXCEPT GOD! Psalm 71:13 Let them be confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life; Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor Who
seek my hurt. 14 But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.
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12. Test God’s Promises by finding ways to bring God into the conversation.
Psalm 71:15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits. (When is the last time you brought up the subject
of the things of God – into a conversation?)
13. Test God’s Promises by humbly depending on the Lord. Psalm 71:16 I will go in
the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
14. Test God’s Promises by making a life long commitment to the Lord! Psalm
71:17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your
wondrous works.
15.Test God’s Promises by serving God even when you get out of season, past
your prime, and old and gray – by finding young people to invest your life
into. Psalm 71:18 Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.
(Just like Bill Eddy!)
16. Test God’s Promises by seeking to never stop experiencing God daily. Psalm
71:19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O
God, who is like You? (Just like Howard Smith)
17. Test God’s Promises by seeing affliction as a blessing. Psalm 71:20 You, who
have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again
from the depths of the earth. (Just like Ezra, Job, Joni Erikson Tada, Phillip
Yancey, and many sweet saints suffering this morning!)
18. Test God’s Promises by allowing the Lord be in charge of your life. Psalm
71:21 You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side.
19. Test God’s Promises by breaking from the crowd and stay involved in
personal worship. Psalm 71:22 Also with the lute I will praise You— And Your
faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.
20.Test God’s Promises by staying enthusiastic for the Lord. Psalm 71:23 My lips
shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed.
21. Test God’s Promises by allowing God invade all of your life. Psalm 71:24 My
tongue also shall talk (hagah = meditate) of Your righteousness all the day long; For
they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt.
Overview Chart on Affliction in Psalm 119
AFFLICTION: is described in Psalm 119 by two words; the first onee (6040) seems
to portray an emotional state of misery as an affliction; the second word anah (6031)
seems to portray a physical affliction of being bowed down of squished beneath a
physical load.
1. PUSHES US INTO GOD’S WORD: Only God’s Word can really help us in
afflictions – cards, visits, gifts, activities all can only offer temporary relief
through distraction or amusement. Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my
affliction (6040 emotional), for YOUR WORD (Reading Divine Word to find and
follow God’s Will for my life 565) has given me life.
• Life often dulls or deadens us to spiritual things, so when God sends
afflictions our way God’s Word quickens us or “has given life”.
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2. PULLS US BACK ONTO THE PATH: A consistent life is built by afflictions.
God uses afflictions to pull us back and keep us on His path for our lives.
Often we only call when we need something – so He gives us reason to call.
Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted (6031 physical) I went astray, But now I keep
YOUR WORD (Reading Divine Word to find and follow God’s Will for my
life 565).
 Affliction can stop us from straying away from God, so “now I keep”.
 Have you ever been driving late at night and slowly drifted to the
side of the road? Remember when you hit those rumble strips and
the way you jerked the wheel — so that you got back on the road
quickly? Afflictions are the rumble strips God uses to make us jerk
our wheel of life to get us back on the road and to keep us from
heading into the ditch!
3. CHISELS GOD’S PLAN INTO OUR LIFE: There are truths and lessons we
only can learn in the furnace of trouble. And remember in the fiery furnace
of Daniel 3, only the things that kept them from walking properly were
burned away! So affliction scrapes away what is not part of God’s plans for
our lives – people, possessions, positions, and securities… Psalm 119:71 It is
good for me that I have been afflicted (6031 physical), That I may learn YOUR
STATUTES (Following the Divine Plans to build Life the way God intends it
to be).
• Afflictions can remind us in a life long way of God’s Hand, His
plans for us. Some of our greatest moments we will always
remember were forged in the furnaces of affliction.
4. TEACHES US THAT GOD IS FAITHFUL: God’s unchanging faithfulness is
learned best in affliction. Afflictions remind us that everything the Lord
does is good, right, and the best thing there could be for us. Psalm 119:75 I
know, O Lord, that Your judgments (Building Life upon God’s Unchanging
Decisions) are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted (6031 physical) me.
• Afflictions are very personal “me”.
5. KEEPS US FOCUSED ON OUR TEACHER: The onset of troubles marks the
beginning of a personal tutorial with our Divine Teacher. Affliction is an
opportunity to “delight” ( ) in Him or for us to “perish ( ) in our troubles.
Psalm 119:92 Unless YOUR LAW (Receiving Divine Instruction from the
Divine Teacher that is perfect). had been my delight; I would then have perished in
my affliction (6040 emotional).
• Affliction “perishes” us or squishes our lives under its weight.
6. FORCES US TO TEST HIS PROMISES: Affliction usually increases, as we get
older. But God’s Word will always renew, refresh, and revive. Psalm 119:107
I am afflicted (6031 physical) very much; Revive me, O Lord, according to YOUR
WORD (Hearing the Divine Voice walking us through life 1697).
 Often we know so much more than we experience. Affliction is a reality
check.
 Afflictions seem to grow through life to be more and more.
 After disasters people often listen better.
 Psalm 71 & 92
 The word for “very much” is the same Hebrew word used of the waters of
the Flood covering the earth (Genesis 7,18-19) and of the plagues covering
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Egypt (Exodus 9.3 on cattle; Exodus 9.18 the hail; Exodus 10.14 the
locusts).
 The word for “revive” is actually save my life and is the same Hebrew
word as used for the rescue of Rahab from Jericho as the walls crumbled
and everyone else was destroyed and she and her family alone were
rescued (Joshua 2.13; 6.17, 25).
 Afflictions allow us to experientially test God’s promises.
7. BRINGS GOD TO OUR DOORSTEP: When Ezra said deliver me – he was
asking the Lord to come to him with what he needed. Isn’t that what a
deliveryman does? He brings exactly what we need? And that is the final
blessing of affliction. Affliction comes with a promise from God for a special
delivery. He comes right to us – with everything we need. Psalm 119:153
Consider my affliction (6040 emotional), and deliver me, For I do not forget YOUR
LAW (Receiving Divine Instruction from the Divine Teacher that is perfect).
 Afflictions continue, “consider” as You watch me.