"Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy, which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."
James 5:10-11
Part 1
Today: Yes, Those Who Are Godly and in God’s Will, Do Suffer
Suffering adversity and affliction in and of itself is challenging to do. But add to that the quality of patience that the Lord wants of us in our suffering. This requires a whole different level of grit, which is impossible to accomplish without God’s help.
“Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord.”
It seems ironic that the Children of Israel, God’s chosen people, could not get along with God’s prophets, the ones the LORD sent to warn and admonish His people. In fact, the life expectancy of a prophet in Israel was not too great. Jesus brought this up with the Pharisees and lawyers He spoke with one day.
“That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50-51).
Jesus had an accurate view of Israel’s history. He had been there and seen it all. Israel had shed “the blood of the prophets, from the foundation of the world.” Jesus mentioned the prophets from “Abel to Zacharias,” or we might say the prophets from “A to Z.” It is hard to imagine how God’s people could reject His prophets. This would make no sense at all unless God’s people did not have a heart for their God. And as it was, it was that generation Jesus was speaking to, that slew God’s greatest prophet of all, Jesus Christ himself!
When Jesus preached His great Sermon on the Mount, He used the prophets as examples to encourage believers to stand for the Lord even when being persecuted.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
“What encouragements do we receive from their [the prophets] example? For one thing, they were in the will of God, yet they suffered. They were preaching “in the name of the Lord,” yet they were persecuted. Satan tells the faithful Christian that his suffering is the result of sin or unfaithfulness, and yet his suffering might well be because of faithfulness! “Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). We must never think that obedience automatically produces ease and pleasure. Our Lord was obedient, and it led to a cross!”[1] (Wiersbe).
Come back tomorrow as we see some of God’s choice servants who He uses as examples of how to suffer.
Quote: “The highest honor that God can confer upon his children is the blood-red crown of martyrdom. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings that God has made are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us”[2] (Spurgeon).
[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 379–381). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Spurgeon’s quote Downloaded: Saturday, March 20, 2021. From: https://www.christianquotes.info/quotes-by-topic/quotes-about-affliction/.